<P> The concept for the game was conceived in 2014 by Satoru Iwata of Nintendo and Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokémon Company as an April Fools' Day collaboration with Google, called the Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge . Ishihara was a fan of developer Niantic's previous transreality game, Ingress, and saw the game's concept as a perfect match for the Pokémon series . Niantic used the crowdsourced data from Ingress to populate the locations for PokéStops and gyms within Pokémon Go, data from Google Maps to spawn specific Pokémon on certain terrain, and map display from OpenStreetMap since December 2017 . In 2015, Ishihara dedicated his speech at the game's announcement on September 10 to Iwata, who had died two months earlier . Tatsuo Nomura, who joined Niantic in 2015 after he developed the Google Maps Pokémon Challenge, acted as Director and Product Manager for the game . The game's soundtrack was written by longtime Pokémon series composer, Junichi Masuda, who also assisted with some of the game's design . Among the game's graphic designers was Dennis Hwang, who previously created the logo of Gmail while working for Google . </P> <P> On March 4, 2016, Niantic announced a Japan - exclusive beta test would begin later that month, allowing players to assist in refining the game before its full release . The beta test was later expanded to other countries . On April 7, it was announced that the beta would expand to Australia and New Zealand . Then, on May 16, the signups for the field test were opened to the United States . The test came to an end on June 30 . </P> <P> At Comic - Con 2016, John Hanke, founder of Niantic, revealed the appearances of the three team leaders: Candela (Team Valor), Blanche (Team Mystic), and Spark (Team Instinct). Hanke conveyed that approximately 10% of the ideas for the game were implemented . Future updates, including the addition of trading, more Pokémon, implementation of Pokémon Centers at PokéStops, a patch for the "three step glitch", and easier training, were also confirmed . He also stated that Niantic would be continuing support for the game for "years to come". In an interview with TechCrunch in September 2016, Hanke hinted that player vs. player Pokémon battles would be released in a future update . In December 2016, coffeehouse chain Starbucks and telecommunications company Sprint collaborated with Nintendo to add PokéStops and gyms at certain locations of theirs throughout the United States . That same month, a companion app for Apple Watch devices was released, which allows users to receive notifications about nearby Pokémon, but does not allow for them to be caught . In January 2017, an additional 5,000 more Starbucks locations became available as gyms . In February 2017, an update was released which introduced over 100 species based in the Johto region from the second generation of the core Pokémon series, which were added alongside the original 151 . The update also included the addition of new berries, new Pokémon encounter mechanics, and an expanded selection of avatar clothing options . Some of the Pokémon introduced in Ruby and Sapphire were added in late 2017, starting with a Halloween event in October and 50 more in December . A weather system was added alongside the latter, allowing real - world weather to affect gameplay . </P> <P> The Pokémon Go Plus is a Bluetooth low energy wearable device, developed by Nintendo's Platform Technology Development division, that allows players to perform certain actions in the game without looking at their smart device . When a player is near a Pokémon or PokéStop, the Plus vibrates . The player can then press the button to capture the Pokémon or receive items from the PokéStop; the player cannot check what they have received until the next time they sign into the app on their mobile device . The design consists of a Poké Ball and the shape of the Google Maps pin . The decision to create the device rather than create a smart watch app was to increase uptake among players for whom a smart watch is prohibitively expensive . It was released in the United Kingdom and North America on September 16, 2016 . </P>

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