New Augmented Reality Game Swaps "Pokemon GO" Nostalgia for Cryptocurrency
Michael McGehee is positive about the future.
CryptoHunt wants to take on the beasts of mobile gaming, and it wants to do so through the blockchain. The augmented reality game uses a cryptocurrency reward system to give players real-life money for completing tasks. If successful, it could revive the kind of summertime craze when millions scouted local parks while playing Pokémon GO.
“We believe the greatest downfall of Pokémon GO was their lack of preparation for the adoption that took place upon release,” Michael McGehee, assistant director of marketing at CryptoHunt, tells Inverse. “Our support is poised and ready for mass adoption.”
Pokémon GO was an instant hit when it launched in the summer of 2016, with 75 million installs in just one month. However, server issues from unexpected demand led to ruined parties and a tapering of demand. While CryptoHunt can’t bank on nostalgia to fuel demand, the draw of cryptocurrency could entice players, considering how the market moved from being worth $24.9 billion to $459 billion in just 12 months.
The demo version of the game that launched last month bears striking similarities to Pokémon GO, with a user interface that sees a virtual avatar walking over green hills that correspond to real-life location. This was a purchased interface used for demonstration purposes, and the final version will use an in-house design when it launches in June 2018.
CryptoHunt's interface.
In the game itself, a character called Professor Crypto asks a question, and the player has to search around a city for the answers. Items are stored on the blockchain, and there are bonuses for solving in record time. Players are rewarded with tokens that have real value, and a future Visa CryptoHunt card will be able to cash out their earnings. Users that complete 10 levels in the demo version will receive a 10 percent bonus on the final game.
“The main difference is that rather than catching value-less nostalgic Pokémon characters, you’ll be opening treasure chests filled with Crypto Hunt (CH) coins,” says McGehee. “CH are ERC-20 tokens built on the Ethereum platform, storable as an asset and tradable for other crypto.”
An initial coin offering started Thursday and is set to conclude March 15. After that, the team will build up to its goal of taking on a Nintendo giant.
