Pokemon to Develop Game about Sleeping

Tokyo, May 29 (Jiji Press)--Nintendo Co. <7974> affiliate Pokemon Co. said Wednesday that it will develop a new smartphone game featuring sleeping. The new Pokemon Sleep game is set to be released next year. Depending on the user's sleep data, "something good happens when a user checks a smartphone in the morning," the company said. The data including sleeping hours will be measured and sent to the smartphone by a separately sold sensor placed by the user's pillow. The company's smash-hit smartphone game Pokemon Go, launched in 2016, caused a social phenomenon with crowds of people walking around the streets looking for virtual Pokemon monsters. This time, the company will focus on the hours of sleep, following Pokemon Go's hours of walking. "It is tough to be desperate to sleep, and that is why we want to make a game to find ways to get comfortable sleep," Pokemon President Tsunekazu Ishihara told a press conference in Tokyo. The company will announce details of Pokemon Sleep at a later date. END