NBA All-World, an augmented reality-enabled mobile game, tapped Jalen Green, Jordan Poole, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins for a docuseries campaign.
Pokémon Go developer Niantic is officially launching its augmented reality-focused mobile basketball game, NBA All-World, in partnership with the NBA and the NBPA.
The trio first announced they were partnering to create NBA All-World last summer. NBA All-World leverages geolocation capabilities to let players find and compete with basketball fans and NBA players in their area. Like Pokémon Go, the free-to-play game requires players to move around in the real world to recruit their roster and compete in games.
As of Tuesday, the game is live to download via Android and iPhone devices.
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NBA All-World is launching with a marketing campaign called “go. all. out” and a short-form documentary series starring Jalen Green, Jordan Poole, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Andrew Wiggins. In the series coined “Where I’m From,” the NBA ballers share their favorite real-world locations to play basketball around where they grew up.
“We look forward to our fans fully immersing themselves in NBA All-World as they develop deeper connections with players, the league, and each other,” said Matt Holt, head of consumer products at the NBA, in a press release. “Through our collaboration with Niantic and the NBPA, this game helps expand the world of the NBA and its culture into virtually every neighborhood around the globe.”
The AR-enabled game is Niantic’s first officially licensed sports title, and it also signals the NBA’s deeper interest in games that leverage technological advancements like the metaverse.
Through the game, players can discover new locations and courts in real life and interact with NBA players to recruit them to their teams, collect gear from Drop Zones to outfit virtual players, and compete in tournaments to win exclusive in-game items. NBA All-World was built on Niantic’s Lightship platform, and players can further connect through Niantic’s Campfire social app.
“Our version of an NBA basketball game starts with exciting one-on-one gameplay and expands from there to include the major elements of basketball culture, including music, fashion, sneakers, and more, all of which are integrated into real-world locations,” Niantic Founder and CEO John Hanke said in a statement.
Niantic worked closely with NBPA’s innovation arm, THINK450, to bring the game to life and offer new experiences to NBA fans worldwide.
“We want to help make NBA All-World be as authentic as possible, as well as reach new audiences by bringing NBA players to Niantic’s augmented reality game,” THINK450’s Chief Commercial Officer Josh Goodstadt said in a statement. “We look forward to users competing against and assembling their rosters from their favorite NBA players around the world.”
NBA All-World will continue to evolve with IRL experiences and activations with notable brands.
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