I think it’s fair now to say that Pokemon GO (Free) is a huge hit, probably beyond any expectations, and is rapidly becoming a cultural phenomenon. Despite its popularity, though, there are those voices who question whether the game can retain its player base and complain about the game’s lack of depth and many issues – most of those related to server strain. I’m guessing that those are concerns shared by the developers as well. According to this interview by Niantic CEO, John Hanke, the development roadmap for the game includes getting deeper gameplay mechanics to ensure the game retains its huge player base. While he didn’t really go into specifics, he did say that currently Pokestops and Gyms exist in their most basic versions. In the future, there will be more ways to play with Pokestops and Gyms, including the ability to “customize their functions in other ways."

The other major feature that’s planned for the future is the ability to trade Pokemon, which Hanke called a core element of the game. The game will also see global leadership scoreboard of some sorts and improvements to the AR technology. Hanke teased that Pokemon GO could be coming to dedicated AR devices, which would be an interesting experience. With the game being so successful, I’m pretty confident we’ll be seeing more features in the future, but it remains to be seen whether the game will manage to hold on to its gazillion of fans.

[via Business Insider]