Niantic's recent partnership with Starbucks has made the popular coffee chain an integral part of Pokemon GO. They initially had 7,800 different Starbucks locations added to the game as a PokeStop or Gym, as per their collaboration back in December 2016. This month, Starbucks has added 5,000 new sites to the game, which means a grand total of 12,800 Starbucks stores are now officially PokeStops or Pokemon Gyms.

12,800 actually makes up more than half the total number of Starbucks locations worldwide, which means there's at least a fifty percent chance that the local Starbucks in your area is now an in-game Poke-place. The new sites can be either PokeStops where players can gather items and hang lures or Pokemon Gyms--where players can battle other players in PvP mode. iTechPost reports that there are no official details as to how many of each were added.

Game Rant calls this decision a "smart marketing play" on Niantic's part, stating that the seamless interaction between the game and their everyday activities may keep players around longer. They also report that the reason behind the Starbucks-Niantic collaboration is largely due to the physical component.

Niantic CEO John Hanke says so in a public statement. "We look for ways to use technology to encourage exploration, exercise, and real world social interaction," he says. "...Starbucks' footprint throughout the U.S. provides an awesome platform."

It's starting to look like Niantic is paving the way to total world domination via their augmented realty game. Following their 5,000 Starbucks announcement, Niantic has also publicized their decision to add 1,000 new PokeStop locations in shopping malls across Europe. A recent agreement with Unibail-Rodamco has made this mass conversion possible.

Keeping in line with Pokemon GO globalization, Niantic has plans to expand their collaboration to other popular retailers in different countries. Aside from Starbucks, they've also partnered with Sprint stores around the U.S. In Japan, their partnership with McDonald's allows players to visit the fast food chain for a chance to win rewards.