Niantic unveils Transformers AR mobile game

Pokémon GO developer Niantic has teamed up with Hasbro and Tomy to create a new augmented reality title based on the Transformers franchise.

The game, titled “Transformers: Heavy Metal”, is similar to other entries in Niantic’s roster. Players can battle with characters from the Transformers series in real-world settings with the game’s AR features.

Development on the title is being led by Seattle-based studio Very Very Spaceship, using Niantic’s Lightship platform.

“Transformers is the perfect franchise for AR. Battling and interacting with giant robots in the real world is an amazing experience,” said John Hanke, CEO of Niantic. “We want to live up to the high expectations of Transformers fans around the world and bring them a game unlike anything they’ve played before.”

Transformers: Heavy Metal is slated for a global release later this year, and will enter soft launch in selected markets shortly.

Niantic also recently announced a deal with Nintendo that’ll see the developer creating AR-focused mobile games using Nintendo IP.

The first project shown as part of the deal is a Pikmin game, due to release later this year. It is also the debut release from Niantic’s Tokyo Studio.