People wondering how Niantic Labs will monetize their highly successful Pokemon Go app have been given a bit of news. Pokemon Go already has in-app purchase options, but Niantic chief John Hanke has said that the game intends to create “sponsored locations”, which is similar to their earlier game Ingress. Thanks to our Redditors, we may have found out who their first sponsored location may be.
Australian student Manu Gill has discovered what he believes is a sponsorship system that is already in the game’s code. One of the strings mention the most popular hamburger chain in the world, McDonald’s, by name. This code has not been activated yet. Reddit user KcYoung has published an image of the McDonald’s logo he claims to have found in the game’s code. NeoProfessorWillow has also claimed to have stumbled across the image.
Image via Gizmodo
Image via Imgur
Manu has reported his findings to Gizmodo via private messaging saying, “In /assets/bin/data/managed/metadata, I found a file that looked like it was promising. So I opened it in a hex editor. The first chunk was garbage, but I eventually got to a bunch of strings. I just searched things until I got things that were promising, for instance, I searched sponsor and partnership and got to the McDonald’s string set.”
If the information we were given is true, then McDonald’s first sponsorship is a big one. “Based off what I’ve found it looks like they’re going to hold a promo with McDonald’s which’ll turn them into all gyms,” NPW told Gizmodo, also via Reddit private message. All of them will be gyms. Gosh.
According to NPW, he also unpacked some of the game’s data that has led to some discoveries about the game’s mechanics that has yet to be available. These include legendary monsters, a trading system, four additional types of berries and incense, an item called “sweet honey”, and natures like “stoic” and “raider” that might have effects on trainers or Pokemon themselves. Yikes, things are getting serious.
If there are anymore updates, we will be reporting it.
In other news, thanks to Pokemon Go being such a success, Nintendo’s stocks skyrockets! Not only that, but Pokemon Go may be getting VR support. For more news about anything Pokemon Go and Nintendo, stay tuned to TICGN.com.
