Marvel World of Heroes is Niantic's next attempt at an AR hit

Pokémon Go developer Niantic announced their next game, marvel world of heroes, another mobile AR game scheduled for release in 2023.

Last weekend, a number of announcements were made at D23, including a teaser for Niantic's next game, another AR game, this time putting the Marvel universe into the hands of the player. “In Marvel World of Heroes, players will be able to create their own unique superhero identity and origin story,” the trailer description reads. Players will have to patrol their areas, solving crimes, completing superhero missions and preventing interdimensional threats."

The description also notes that as players level up, players will be able to unlock equipment and abilities, as well as team up with heroes such as Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America, where they will face various villains in order to save the multiverse.

On Niantic's website, the game's lead designer Neil Melville and senior producer Lisa Failona revealed some details about what the game will be like. Melville expressed excitement about character customization, noting that players will be given "greater flexibility to express different body types, gender expressions, and customize outfits."

Failona also noted that they enjoy MMORPGs and that they are excited to bring that “to the real world,” which suggests that the AR game will borrow from the aforementioned genre in terms of design.

Players will also apparently be able to travel to "multiple alternate realities within the Marvel Multiverse to interact with different characters and stories in the same location."

Earlier this year, Niantic laid off 8% of its employees and canceled four of its then upcoming projects, which included a game about transformers, a game called Hamlet, and two more unannounced games called Blue and Snowball. And last year, the company announced that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite was closed. So the developer has yet to find a hit as big as Pokémon Go.