Gotta catch em’ all! That has been the motivation for the latest craze sweeping not only the nation but the world. Pokemon GO has been an astoundingly popular mobile game that has people out on the streets catching Pokemon through their phone screens. This latest craze has affected children and adults alike, being a drive for people to get out there and meet people as well as a new game to feed their possible Pokemon addiction.

The company that has partnered with Nintendo to create this game is called Niantic. Niantic was not well known until this partnership with a game release of incredible reception. However, they have created another lesser known augmented reality game by the name of Ingress.

Ingress, much like Pokemon GO, uses different factions pitted against each other vying for control of different landmarks, though unlike Pokemon GO it is much more developed with many many layers of gameplay.

Unfortunately many people have only recognized Pokemon GO for using the real world as a platform for the game itself, and find that it is something outstanding and revolutionary without giving credit or sometimes even knowing of its predecessor.

In large part this is due to the massive audience that Nintendo has garnered over the years, die hard Pokemon fans that simply awaited the release of this mobile game anxiously and thus spread the word on its arrival. This was something that Niantic’s previous partner, Google, did not do for them. Google however, is not known for making games, but rather as the huge company that controls the largest search engine and has branched out with different projects, Niantic being one of them.

Although it is sad to see that Ingress, an incredible mobile game, is hardly recognized now by the masses flocking to Pokemon GO it can also be said that Ingress has had a huge influence on the way Pokemon GO has developed in terms of game play. In other words Ingress is the reason Pokemon GO does not suck.

Thanks to Ingress the mistakes and hurdles that came before with augmented reality games using real world locations greatly diminished making the launch of Pokemon GO something to awe at with a good basis for its gameplay and mechanics, apart from the server hiccups here and there.

Niantic has come a long way since Ingress, a game that may have started small but as time went on received a massive following with events, a YouTube channel on the lore and happenings, and so much more.

What does this all mean for Pokemon GO in the future? Well, this means we can expect growth, not only do they have the experience and creative insight from Niantic but they are being backed now by Nintendo’s money, influence, and established popularity of the Pokemon franchise.

This means we can expect much much more to come to this already world changing phenomena. The only thing we can hope for is that with this newfound popularity Niantic does not become a one-track minded company that seeks only to invest into Pokemon GO, or only create these types of games.

There is much to look forward to, but for now we just Gotta catch em’ all!