Seven years ago, the mobile game “Pokemon Go” took the world by storm, and now its creators are looking to infuse the same “real world” appeal into their new basketball game.

While “Pokemon Go” players were guided by their mobile phones to real-world locations to collect magical creatures, “NBA All-World” allows players to challenge each other in street games.

John Hanke, the boss of Niantic, which produces both games, emphasizes that as with Pokémon, players of the NBA game will also need just a mobile phone, without expensive headsets or virtual reality glasses.

He is pushing this hybrid-style game as a “metaverse of the real world,” distinguishing it from the experience promoted by Microsoft and others of users sitting at home with masks strapped to their faces.

“I think it’s important…