New Pokemon App Looks To 'Turn Sleeping Into Entertainment'
(CBSDFW.COM/CNN) -- Gotta catch 'em all! Even while you're sleeping.
Three years after the Pokémon Go craze temporarily boosted Nintendo's market value, the Pokémon Company on Wednesday revealed a new suite of products in Tokyo including an app called Pokémon Sleep.
The company shared few details on the app, but said it would track the amount of time players spend sleeping and when they wake up, information that will have an effect on gameplay. An external device that comes with the app will send sleep data to users' smartphones.
We're pleased to announce the development of Pokémon Sleep, a new app from @Pokemon_cojp that tracks a user's time sleeping and brings a gameplay experience unlike any other!
— Pokémon (@Pokemon) May 29, 2019
Several Snorlax were consulted on this, in case you were wondering. #PokemonSleep is coming in 2020. pic.twitter.com/nJ7mJY09Dl
The app, which is expected to launch sometime next year, "aims to turn sleeping into entertainment," The Pokémon Company said in a statement.
The Pokémon Company was set up 20 years ago by three Japanese game developers that share copyrights for the Pokémon franchise — Nintendo, Creatures Inc. and Game Freak.
Wednesday's announcement also included a play for the world's biggest gaming market.
The Pokémon Company said that its first mobile game in China would be an "enhanced version" of Pokémon Quest. The company also said that 1.7 million players in China have signed up for Pokémon Quest since early May, when it said it would bring the game to China as part of a partnership with Chinese developer NetEase.
Nintendo has faced limited access to the Chinese market, but its shares soared last month on news that one of its other Chinese partners, Tencent, had won preliminary approval to distribute the Nintendo Switch device there.
To keep the momentum going, the Pokémon Company now plans to blitz the market with more new titles across platforms, including "Pokémon Masters," a new game for iOS and Android, and "Detective Pikachu," a Nintendo Switch game that aims to capitalize on the success of the recently released hit movie of the same name.
It also plans to debut "Pokémon Home," a new app that will let users access all their Pokémon from the Nintendo 3DS, Switch and Pokemon Go games in one place, starting next year.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. CNN Wire contributed to this report. The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company contributed to this report. All rights reserved.)