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Pokemon Go Niantic Nintendo

Pokemon Duel hopes to emulate Pokemon Go - without the draw of augmented reality

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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

January 25, 2017 | 2 min read

Nintendo hopes to follow up on the critical and commercial success of augmented reality smartphone game Pokemon Go with the launch of Pokemon Duel, a separate strategic battle game where trainers can face-off online.

Pokemon Duel

Pokemon Duel game footage

The free game has been released on iOS and Android and tasks players with building teams of six Pokemon whereupon the objective is to seize enemy territory and collect digital Pokemon figures.

Nintendo, which only owns an undisclosed stake in 'Go' developer Niantic, and 32% in the Pokemon company, couldn’t fully reap the financial benefits of Pokemon Go’s success. As a result, the news took a bite out of analyst forecasts shortly after launch.

Offered in Pokemon Duel are booster packs that can be bought with in-game currency or cash, this provides the app its monetization potential.

It shows how serious Nintendo is about entering into the mobile gaming market, closely following the roll out of the premium priced Super Mario Run. If correctly handled the titles can open the Japanese company up to the largest potential audience in gaming, the mobile market (across iOS and Android).

Pokemon Duel marks the third free-to-play Pokemon game, however the Candy Crush-esque Pokemon Shuffle was launched exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan.

Below is the trailer for the game.

Pokemon Go Niantic Nintendo

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