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通过与网易公司的合作，Niantic终于能将他们的重磅之作“精灵宝可梦”带到中国市场。但这只是他们野心的一小部分。未来，他们将会继续为中国玩家带来更多作品，甚至是为中国量身定做的作品。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
orbit ['ɔːbɪt] n. 势力范围，轨迹
acquisition [ˌækwɪ'zɪʃn] n. 获得；购置物
franchise ['fræntʃaɪz] n. 特权，特许经销权
gimmick ['gɪmɪk] n. 暗机关，小发明
secretive ['siːkrətɪv] adj. 秘密的；偷偷摸摸的
阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
Pokémon Go is finally set to make its debut in China after its developer Niantic struck a partnership with local games company NetEase.
Alongside a new Harry Potter game, the company says launching in the world's largest mobile market will help it return to growth after revenues dropped in 2017, compared with the Nintendo-backed game's blockbuster debut a year earlier.
“In 2016, our hair was blown back by the launch and the after-effects of the [Pokémon Go] launch,” John Hanke, Niantic's chief executive, told the Financial Times in an interview.
“Revenues [in 2017] were not as high as they were in 2016 for the year but they were very strong.”
Pokémon Go's sudden surge in popularity in the summer of 2016, when hundreds of millions of people downloaded the app, “really felt like a SpaceX launch”, he said, referring to Elon Musk's rocket company.
But, Mr Hanke added, many of those users had stopped playing by the end of the year, leaving a smaller but “solid” community of Pokémon Go gamers who saw more regular updates and new features in 2017. These included real-world weather affecting the virtual gameplay.
“I would say 2017 was about firing the second stage and getting into a stable orbit,” he said, continuing the rocket metaphor. “2018 is about the journey to Mars.”
Niantic's fuel for that voyage is a new $200m funding round from investors including NetEase, providing the partner that the US company needed to launch legally under Chinese internet regulations.
“We absolutely intend to bring our existing games into China,” Mr Hanke said, without disclosing a launch date. “Beyond that, there are opportunities to build games in China, both for China and for the world.”
The next big game Niantic has announced is based on the Harry Potter franchise. Mr Hanke said Niantic teamed up with Warner Bros to develop a title for the series because — like Pokémon Go — it is a “real rarity” that has the potential to appeal “across generations”, to women as much as men and to players all over the world.
Harry Potter also lends itself well to the augmented reality format that Niantic popularised with its original hit game, by inserting virtual objects into the real world as seen through the lens of a smartphone camera.
“The ‘muggle’ world and the wizarding world are only separated by this thin veil,” Mr Hanke saiD.“It's very easy for us to imagine bringing that kind of magic into our everyday lives… It would be much harder to bring a convincing Star Wars game into AR in any way that is not just a gimmick.”
The Harry Potter game is scheduled for release in the second half of 2018. Since Pokémon Go's sometimes chaotic debut — during which servers were overloaded by demand, causing recurring service outages — Niantic is “so much better positioned” now, Mr Hanke said.
The lessons from Pokémon Go were not just technical, though.
“In terms of dealing with public locations, government policy, regulations and public reaction to people being out in the real world [playing its games], we have built up our expertise there,” he said, so that in-game hotspots that cause real-world problems can be removed or changed.
Many analysts tip 2018 to be a turning point for the augmented reality industry. Apple, Google, Facebook and Snap have all released new platforms for developers to create AR experiences in recent months.
Magic Leap, the secretive Google and Alibaba-backed start-up, also plans to release a “creator edition” of its long-awaited AR goggles in 2018.
Apple's ARkit technology was added to Pokémon Go in late December, allowing for more realistic positioning of its monsters on the street around the player and adding new gameplay features, such as having to sneak up on characters in order to catch them.
“We wished we had been able to do that at the very beginning of Pokémon Go,” Mr Hanke saiD.“That was always the vision but it wasn't as convincing as we would have liked it to be — it didn't really feel like they were part of your world.”
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
A.In 2014.
B.In 2015.
C.In 2016.
D.In 2017.
答案 (1)
A.Many users no longer play Pokémon Go in 2017.
B.Pokémon Go's user community is not solid enough.
C.Real-world weather affects Pokémon Go's performance.
D.Niantic adds few new features in Pokémon Go.
答案 (2)
A.NetEase.
B.Nintendo.
C.Warner Bros.
D.Magic Leap.
答案 (3)
A.Magic Leap's AR goggles.
B.Apple's ARkit Technology.
C.Facebook's AR platform.
D.Real-world weather effect.
答案 (4)
(1) 答案：C.In 2016.解释：Niantic与任天堂合作的重磅游戏首发一年后，公司2017年的利润下滑。
(2) 答案：A.Many users no longer play Pokémon Go in 2017.解释：Hanke先生表示，2016年夏天Pokémon Go的突然走红就像是SpaceX 的火箭发射，但他又说，很多用户在年底之前就不再玩了。
(3) 答案：C.Warner Bros.解释：Niantic宣布他们的下一个大制作是与华纳兄弟公司合作的哈利波特游戏。
(4) 答案：B.Apple's ARkit Technology.解释：12月底，Pokémon Go加入了苹果公司的ARkit技术。