Gabe Newell thinks Pokemon Go should have a bigger impact on mobile gaming

Almost six years after its debut, Pokémon Go remains one of the most popular mobile games in the world. But the promised AR revolution has yet to happen, and Valve co-founder Gabe Newell is one of those disappointed.

Speaking to Rock Paper Shotgun to mark the launch of Steam Deck, Newell said he thinks Pokémon Go should have “more impact” for mobile gaming. Instead, follow-ups like Harry Potter Wizard’s Unite have largely disappeared.

Instead, Newell hopes Valve will continue to launch Steam Deck by creating more mobile experiences that make sense for the platform.

“I think Pokemon Go should have had more of an impact on people considering its possibilities than it could with mobile games, and it really didn’t.” said Neval. “I think that’s one of the things that really excites us, you know, we built this building block, this very critical set of components, to make that happen. And now we can do really nice things. Switch to R&D mode.”

Valve has a history of making games that take advantage of hardware innovations. Half-Life: Alyx is a recent example because it was clearly made with Valve’s VR hardware in mind.

Newell says he’s looking forward to exploring new possibilities. “[I]It’s also very exciting to say that we’re going to prototype three or four different new ideas for what you can fit into a mobile gaming platform that enhances the experience. Go to the software developers and ask them to say “Trash” or “Oh, that’s great”. Or “OMG, you should do this” and “Let’s work together on a software prototype that matches your hardware prototype to really test these features.” It’s quite exciting to fully explore it, not only is it a point where you can do it, but also when you start to unlock what you can do in these environments. So yeah, we’re pretty excited. We want to keep trying to be really innovative.

We’ve recently come to grips with the Steam Deck, which we call a “well-built piece of hardware” that doesn’t offer a particularly smooth user experience. We also spoke to Newell about the launch and future of the platform, where he confirmed that Valve has no plans to increase the price of any of the three original hardware configurations.

As for Pokémon Go, it still works after all these years. Lots of Pokemon announcements are planned this weekend to celebrate Pokemon Day 2022. Expect more Pokemon Go news on February 26.