Settlers of Catan to get AR treatment, courtesy of Niantic

Wood for sheep? Just tap right here.

At a board game makers conference in Germany last month, the creators of the popular board game Settlers of Catan announced they were working on an “upcoming massively multiplayer location-based game” that would “[transform] the entire Earth into one giant game of CATAN.” According to Techcrunch, that game is an augmented reality (AR) mobile game that will rely on technology from Niantic. Niantic is the AR wizard behind titles like Ingress and Pokemon GO.

The upcoming game, called Catan: World Explorers, will utilize Niantic’s Real World Platform suite of tools, which include the same software, servers, game engine, and database information that Niantic’s other titles use.

As such, Catan: World Explorers bears a striking resemblance to Pokemon GO upon first look. However, gameplay will be very Catan-esque; players will create settlements, horde resources, and earn Victory Points. All of this will be done through an AR interface that transforms the world around the player into a Catan game board.

More details will be available sometime in early 2020, and the release date isn’t known at this time. Until the game is released, it may be a good time to sharpen those bartering skills before you set out to settle the world.