For ‘Pokemon Go’ lovers, this holiday season unwraps amazing updates. As announced by developer Niantic Labs, the game has partnered with Sprint to convert more than 10,000 Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint-RadioShack stores into PokeStops and Gyms. The update would be rolled out on 12th of December in United States along with announcements relating to new Pokemons and additions. Yay! new Pokemons! (I can finally move past catching Pidgey and Ratatta)
Talking about the same, John Hanke, CEO of game developer Niantic Labs, said,
We are thrilled to announce that we are working with Sprint to create a special ‘Pokemon GO’ experience at over 10,500 Sprint locations around the United States.
The partnership is expected to increase the traffic for the game as well as for the Sprint stores. As per the deal, Sprint would be paying Niantic for its increased store traffic and in return would be the exclusive wireless partner for the game. The partnership has already shown its impact on Sprint Corp’s stock price whose value increased by 8.94%.
For those of you unaware, these PokeStops and Gyms would provide in-store chargers, Razz Berries and Pokeballs to the gamers. Strategically it would enable Sprint employees to sell their products to all new Pokemon Go audience. Here, Handle adds:
As part of this collaboration, Sprint, Boost Mobile and Sprint at Radioshack stores will become PokéStops and Gyms, giving you even more places to stock up on Poké Balls and Razz Berries and to battle your friends. Sprint locations will also feature in-store charging stations to keep your ‘Pokemon GO’ sessions going even longer.
As previously reported, it is also expected that update would bring along player versus player battles, trading Pokemon between players, and raising plus training you own hatched eggs. The announcement regarding introduction of new Pokemons would include all second generation Pokemons in the game. Further it is yet to unveil which stores would be Gyms and which would be PokeStops in turn.
Allegedly, Starbucks would be following Sprint’s footsteps by turning retail outlets in PokeStops. Furthers rumors speak it would launch new cups having Pokemons featured on them.The game has seen major downfall and loss of traffic past few months. With the introduction of PokeStops and Gyms with new Pokemons it might gain its position back in near future.
