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Niantic, the NBA and the NBPA official launched NBA All Worlda free geolocation game from the creator of Pokémon Go.
The basketball game uses augmented reality and allows players to find each other on a map of the world, in places such as community courts, sneaker outlets, energy drink stores, a bank or NBA venues. The title not only aims to let people play a mobile game, but also to bring people together to celebrate the culture and lifestyle of basketball.
The game had a soft launch in countries such as Canada, Singapore, Australia and the Philippines. And now it’s available worldwide on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Niantic had been working with HypGames for the past four years to create the title, and the whole mission was to do something different, Andrew Macintosh, senior product marketing manager at Niantic, said in an interview with GamesBeat.
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“It’s not just a game for us. This is a game made by true NBA fans who care about the game of basketball,” he said.
Similar to Pokémon Go, you play it with a smartphone and use location-based maps to find, challenge and beat other players or NBA stars. You can initially recruit as many as 80 NBA players to bolster your team as you place them on the field.
The idea behind NBA All-World is much like Niantic’s other games: getting people out of the house and connecting face to face. It takes players to neighborhood courts, where you can find an arena for competition or drop zones where you can score virtual goods.
“Niantic’s stories start with getting out there, getting off your ass, off the couch. You go out and explore the real world. And of course you can do that with basketball, but we’re not trying to replace basketball. We’re trying to improve it,” Macintosh said. “When you’re on the bus, going to a field, when you’re between pick-up games, this is something you can do to participate in the world of basketball at all times. We are making it a lot more accessible.”
Fans can meet today’s NBA players, recruit them to their teams, take them to the next level and compete to become one of the top 10 leaders of a local basketball court. Players will have the chance to equip their squads with the latest gear by searching for real-world drops from various well-known brands, as well as some made by Niantic itself.
In-game, players can also show off their teams, chat with in-game friends, and compete in 1v1 tournaments to win exclusive in-game items.
“Sports is a big part of people’s lives and a big part of pop culture,” Niantic CEO John Hanke said in a statement. “Our version of an NBA basketball game begins with exciting one-on-one gameplay and expands from there to include key elements of basketball culture, including music, fashion, sneakers and more, all integrated into real-world locations.”
Through NBA All-World, players learn about real-world locations that are the personal favorites of today’s NBA players. Niantic will additionally support the launch of the game with a marketing campaign, “go. all. out.” as well as the NBA All-World short documentary series, “Where I’m From,” featuring NBA players like Jalen Green, Jordan Poole, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins.
“We look forward to fully immersing our fans in NBA All-World as they develop deeper connections with players, the league and each other,” said Matt Holt, NBA chief of consumer products, in a statement. “Through our partnership with Niantic and the NBPA, this game helps expand the world of the NBA and its culture to virtually every neighborhood around the world.”
Explore and play
As Niantic’s first officially licensed sports title, NBA All-World inspires people to explore the world and experience everything the game has to offer. It encourages you to explore your world. You can get out of the house, play sports and move around in the real world to discover NBA players to compete against and recruit to your roster, as well as equipment, boosts, challenges and more.
“The map is so important to us,” he said. “But we use the map differently. And it looks different. It’s much more complex in the kind of things that show up on the map.”
The landmarks in the game will not only be in big cities. With many of the developers working remotely, they made sure there were plenty of things to do in the suburbs.
You can build your team and compete against the current NBA stars in various challenges to recruit new players. If you’ve already recruited a player, challenge them again in your next encounter to practice your shot and earn more Cred. Recruit stronger players as your team level increases.
You can also push the limits of your NBA players by making them stronger with offense, defense and fitness boosts. You can also keep your energy high with Energy Drinks.
For gameplay, you can tap on a player and challenge Draymond Green to a three-point game. You try to time your shots exactly to a meter. If you do it right, you take the picture. You can do the same in a neighborhood field where you have to make more shots than the leader in a certain amount of time in an asynchronous match. The play session can last 45 seconds. If you challenge more advanced players like Lebron James, you’ll have a harder time beating them. To recruit them, you need more experience.
Some items in the game are available in real world places where you would normally get them. If you need cash, you can go to a bank. If you are thirsty, you can grab an energy drink from a store. If you want to get equipment in the game, you can stop by a real fashion store. Maybe get some exclusive sneaker drops in a Drop Zone in a neighborhood and use them for your digital character.
“We’re trying to get more people to play the game,” Macintosh said. “Whether you’re seven years old or 70 years old, I think that’s really important.”
Basketball games are very popular on game consoles, but it’s hard to compete with fans who play many hours a day. That makes the console games less accessible.
Niantic has found and marked over 100,000 basketball courts in the real world on the map. You can compete in the game to reach the top 10 places on the leaderboard with the Rule the Court mode. You can challenge friends and other players for first place.
You can also purchase rare gear from some of your favorite brands at Drop Zones. You can look forward to special gear that improves player stats and outfit your team with sneakers and accessories that will help you stand out from the crowd.
NBA marketing
Multiple NBA players will help with marketing, including Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins of the NBA Warriors championship team. Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets will also be a brand ambassador for the game. A number of real brands also participate, such as Adidas, Puma and musicians such as T-Pain. All of that is aimed at making the NBA All-World more authentic.
“We want to help make NBA All-World as authentic as possible and reach new audiences by bringing NBA players to Niantic’s augmented reality game,” said Josh Goodstadt, chief commercial officer for Think450, the partner and innovation arm of Think450. the National Basketball Players Association, in a statement. “We look forward to users competing against and building their rosters of their favorite NBA players around the world.”
And while it’s different, Macintosh said NBA All-World is an authentic game.
“Basketball is more than just the teams, the logos and the players. It’s also the music, the style, the culture around it, and we’ve focused more on that,” Macintosh said.
When you start the game, you will see the real world map and where you can go to join the game.
“You find those players in the real world, you recruit them by challenging them to mini-games, and eventually you become” those NBA players, Macintosh said. “You can style your player the way you want with real world brands, as well as some fun brands we’ve created ourselves.”
Lightship platform
Built on Niantic’s Lightship platform, players of all Niantic games will feel right at home in NBA All-World if they’ve played Pokémon Go, Pikmin Bloom or Ingress.
Niantic’s Campfire social app adds a real-world social aspect to the game, making it easy to connect with other hoops fans and the wider NBA All-World community.
The AR technology allows you to go to a place in the real world and see visualizations that show off sneakers and other gear that you can collect in the game. Those AR features may appear more around spring.
You don’t need to physically touch anything on a map location. While Niantic could in theory make deals with venues like sneaker stores or banks to drive traffic to them, it’s not doing that right now. There is no way to buy something from a sneaker store and get credit for that in-game purchase. Perhaps something like that could be done over time, Macintosh said. Still, foot traffic can be helpful.
“We’ve been successful in other games by directing people to sponsor locations. And we’re not here today to discuss such a thing,” Macintosh said. “But I think there’s definitely value we can create by bringing people to meaningful locations.”
When comparing this game to other titles, Macintosh said it’s not a simulation game or a twitch game where you mash the controllers. The gameplay emphasizes simplicity and arcade style play. Niantic is yet to say anything about whether it will expand to more players than one-on-one gameplay. There aren’t many cutscenes in the game either, and there’s no motion capture from professional players.
“I think a lot of people who might have missed Pokemon Go might give this game a try,” said Macintosh.
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