Niantic and Capcom unveil location-based Monster Hunter game

The free-to-play game is scheduled to launch in September and will feature in-game purchases without making them critical to advancing in the game, executives said. — Capcom

Pokémon Go creator Niantic Inc. and Japan’s Capcom Co. unveiled Monster Hunter Now, a fantasy-themed geolocation game in the industry’s latest attempt to make augmented reality mainstream.

The role-playing game lets players find each other via their smartphones and then work together to trap or kill monsters overlaid on a fantasy version of the real world. In this alternate reality, Tokyo’s Shibuya entertainment district can become a vast desert or a swamp, teeming with the Capcom franchise’s creatures.