Pokemon Go developer Niantic has announced Ingress Prime, a sequel to its original augmented reality game created while the company was still a part of Google.
While it will launch sometime next year as an update of the existing , will be a complete redesign with a new story and updated graphics, The Verge . That story should be a revisionist version of the original, and even be paired with an anime series filling in the gaps.
In the current game, two factions -- "The Enlightened" and "The Resistance" -- engage in a battle of territorial control over newly discovered energy. Players have to find and tap this energy at real-world locations, and are encouraged to build alliances with other players to help their cause.
The new app will use the same core technologies as , but should have better anti-cheating protections, and take advantage of new AR platforms like Apple's ARKit.
Although Ingress predates Go, the latter -- launched in July 2016 -- has been its biggest hit, downloaded over 20 million times. The game was briefly a pop culture phenomenon and still has a dedicated fanbase, if smaller than last year.