Pokémon has announced the release of a new app game that rewards users for sleep following the success of Pokemon Go, which got 800million users worldwide out and about walking.
The aim of the game, which is set to launch in 2020, is to "make sleep entertainment," where a user's sleep patterns will be recorded and the time they wake up will affect the game.
"After walking, we decided to focus on the act of sleeping," said the Pokémon Company's president and chief executive, Tsunekazu Ishihara, speaking at a press conference in Tokyo.
He added: "Everyone spends a large part of their lives sleeping, and turning that into entertainment is our next challenge at Pokemon.
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"The concept of this game is for players to look forward to waking up every morning.
"Pokémon Sleep utilises information such as the player's time spent sleeping or the time they wake up to create a new kind of entertaining game play."
The new game was announced alongside Nintendo's new Pokémon Go Plus+ device, which features an accelerometer to track the user's sleep and send the data to their smartphone via Bluetooth.
"By combining these sleep tracking features with the functionality of a Pokémon Go Plus, this device can help transform both the time spent walking during the day and also the time spent sleeping at night into something more fun and enriching for everyone," said Kazuhiro Maruyamam, head of Nintendo's hardware development group.
The Pokémon Company is working with Select Button to develop the game, although no details were provided on how the game would work.
