Ingress Prime Is a Major New Update For Niantic's First AR Game

While Niantic's big break with AR mobile gaming was with Pokémon Go, the company first pioneered the technology with a sci-fi mobile game called Ingress. Now, five years after the launch of the original Ingress, Niantic is returning to its first game with a revamped version called Ingress Prime. It is a new update that redesigns the game for a more modern experience that Niantic hopes will please old fans and draw in new ones.

Niantic released a rather cryptic, live-action teaser to advertise Ingress Prime, but the game works in a very similar way to Pokémon Go. Players are divided into two factions, Enlightened and Resistance, and battle each other by venturing out into the real-world, while communicating with the global game board through their smartphones.

Ingress Prime boasts a completely redesigned user interface and visuals. Ingress Prime will also be moved to the same technology platform as Pokémon Go, so changes and improvements that can be made to Pokemon Go can also be moved to Ingress Prime. It will also utilize new technologies made available by Google's ARCore and Apple's ARKit.

While Niantic also says there will be a massive new story arc for new and old players, current Ingress players will keep all their previous progression like levels and items in Ingress Prime.

Ingress original (left) vs Ingress Prime (right)

Ingress Prime arrives sometime in 2018 to iPhone, iPad, and Android. In the meantime, Niantic is still working on Pokémon Go, as well as an upcoming AR game set in the Harry Potter universe.