If you’ve been dreaming of a proper immersive AR experience from Pokémon GO, you’ll be happy to know that Microsoft and Pokémon Go developer Niantic are experimenting with the idea. Today during Microsoft Ignite, the companies showed off a proof-of-concept for a multiplayer version of Pokémon Go running on HoloLens 2.

Update (February 4th, 2021): We’ve added a video of the demo below.

To demonstrate the capabilities of the newly announced Microsoft Mesh, Niantic CEO John Hanke took to the Microsoft Ignite keynote stage to show off a proof-of-concept version of Pokémon Go running on HoloLens 2. In the demo, Hanke was at a park with a handful of Pokémon while another player met up with him to battle.

The companies were careful to say that the demo “does not represent a consumer product,” but said it highlights “a new collaboration that will build on Microsoft’s and Niantic’s mixed and augmented reality capabilities.”

The demo was also designed to highlight the capabilities of Microsoft Mesh, a new service from the company which aims to accelerate the development of multi-user XR applications.

“Niantic’s mission is to create technologies that allow people to socialize and explore the world together, whether that’s kids using Pokémon Go to explore their neighborhoods with parents or friends, or thousands of people gathering at parks for festivals,” Hanke said. “Microsoft Mesh offers a whole new way of doing that. This notion of bringing my virtual friends along with me as I go out and walk and explore the world—I just love that concept and I’m really interested to see what we can do with that.”

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • no video?

  • Oh wow, this is cool! The future of pokemon go?

    • Cragheart

      This is a dumb microtransaction filled game for mainstream users. Will they release it for $2000-3000 headsets?

    • Michael Levine

      Future … key word

  • Lucidfeuer

    If there’s one sign that AR is completely dead (for the decade to come) it was this PoGo video

    • Cragheart

      True AR will be the stuff of the 2030s. Current AR is trash.

      • Lucidfeuer

        Yes, it needs a whole lot of development and UX which is why the very first VR headset and smartphone should’ve pushed for video-through computer vision way earlier. Still remember that shameful Tango debacle but this vapordecade is over

  • Cragheart

    Pokemon Go is a negative example of overhyped AR game which works horribly and is useless (no one uses AR mode in PG). It’s overall a boring and a very repetitive experience. I don’t recommend to anyone, especially if you value your time.