Niantic is working on a brand-new real-world Monster Hunter game! 

While Pokémon GO remains their top game, Niantic is eager to expand their game lineup, and today they announced a partnership with Capcom to bring a Monster Hunter mobile game to life later this year.

New game set to launch in September 

Get ready for Monster Hunter Now, set to launch in September on both iOS and Android. Players will have the chance to “hunt monsters in the real world,” as the official website puts it. If you’re interested, you can follow the game’s official Twitter account and sign up for the closed beta on the website. Starting April 25th, they’ll be sending out invites to around 10,000 lucky people.

While we don’t have a ton of details about the gameplay yet, being a Niantic title means you can probably expect lots of exploration, going to different places to battle monsters, gather materials, forge weapons, and level up your character. Niantic mentioned in a press release that players can “venture forth and team up with fellow players in order to take down the fiercest monsters in the world,” adding a social aspect to the fun.

Battles with monsters 

Battles with monsters will be limited to 75 seconds, and you can play in either landscape or portrait mode. Niantic has experimented with non-Pokémon games before, such as NBA All World, Pikmin Bloom, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (which shut down in 2021). Last year, they reduced their staff by 8% and canceled four projects, including a Transformers game.

In other news, last April Niantic introduced a beta for a game called Peridot, where users can care for virtual pets and take them on walks. That game is now set to release on May 9th. So, there’s plenty of excitement happening in the world of Niantic games!