Niantic

Niantic is an American software development company based in San Francisco, who is best known for developing augmented reality mobile games such as Pokémon GO. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015. It has offices in San Francisco, Bellevue, Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London.

History
Niantic is a company that spun out of Google in October 2015 after Google's restructuring as Alphabet Inc. They received significant investments from Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company to support their growth. Over the years, Niantic has raised additional funding through various rounds, including a Series B funding round led by Spark Capital and a Series C funding round led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), valuing the company at $3.7 billion.

Niantic has made several acquisitions and investments to enhance its capabilities. They acquired Evertoon, an app for creating personalized films, to strengthen their social systems. They also acquired Escher Reality, an augmented reality company, with the intention of allowing third-party developers to create AR games like Pokémon Go. Another acquisition was Matrix Mill, a company specializing in computer vision and machine learning, to improve Niantic's augmented reality experiences. Niantic also invested in DigiLens for the development of holographic waveguide displays and acquired Sensible Object, a London-based development studio, to advance their efforts in bridging the physical and digital worlds.

In addition to these acquisitions, Niantic acquired 6D.ai, a 3D world-scanning software company, and Mayhem, a community gaming platform. They continued their acquisition spree in 2021 by acquiring Scaniverse, a 3D scanning app, and Lowkey, a social gaming platform. In 2022, Niantic acquired 8th Wall, a WebAR development platform, and NZXR, an augmented reality studio.

Niantic has been working on the Niantic Real World Platform, which they later rebranded as Lightship. This platform provides various tools for augmented reality experiences, including AR Cloud, anti-cheat security, point of interest data, and more. Niantic aims to open up the platform to third-party developers. They launched the Lightship software development kit in 2021 and secured $300 million in funding from Coatue Management to further develop Lightship and their "real-world metaverse," valuing the company at $9 billion.

John Hanke


John Hanke is an American entrepreneur and business executive known for founding and serving as the CEO of Niantic, Inc. He played a significant role in the development of popular augmented reality games such as Ingress, Pokémon GO, and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Before establishing Niantic, Hanke held a leadership position at Google, specifically in the Geo division, where he oversaw projects like Google Earth, Google Maps, StreetView, SketchUp, and Panoramio.

Hanke joined Google when it acquired Keyhole, where he had been working. At Google, he became the Vice President of Product Management for the Geo division and played a key role in transforming Keyhole's technology into successful products like Google Earth and Google Maps. He also facilitated the inclusion of Google Maps on the iPhone, which was a significant achievement. During his tenure, Hanke nurtured a team that would later become the foundation for Niantic.

In 2010, Hanke received resources to establish a gaming unit within Google, and this internal startup became Niantic Labs. Going back to his gaming roots, the company developed Ingress, an augmented reality multiplayer game based on real-world locations. Ingress gained immense popularity, with one million players within a year of its release in 2013 and seven million players by 2015.

In late 2015, John Hanke led Niantic's separation from Google, and the company secured $30 million in funding from Google, Nintendo, and Pokémon. Hanke continued to serve as the CEO of Niantic and successfully guided the company through the launch of Pokémon GO in July 2016. The game became a massive success, generating over $2 million in daily revenues.

Field Trip
In 2012, Niantic launched Field Trip', a location-based mobile app. However, in July 2019, they announced its discontinuation and removed it from app stores.

Ingress and Ingress Prime
Ingress, Niantic's first augmented reality game, was initially released in 2012 on Android by invitation only and later made available to the public. It introduced unconventional monetization methods. In 2018, a revamped version called Ingress Prime was launched. Niantic also partnered with Craftar Studio to create Ingress: The Animation, which premiered globally on Netflix in 2019.

The following are references to Ingress present in Pokémon GO:
 * The Ingress Prime Celebration event to celebrate the launch of Ingress Prime, with themed avatar items.

Endgame: Proving Ground
Niantic's second announced (but currently unreleased) mobile game, Endgame, is a transmedia storytelling project consisting of an alternate reality game, Endgame: Ancient Truth, novels by James Frey starting with Endgame: The Calling, and the mobile app, Endgame: Proving Ground.

Pokémon GO
In September 2015, Niantic announced its collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company to develop Pokémon GO for iOS and Android devices. The game was initially released in select countries in July 2016 and quickly became a global phenomenon, boosting the popularity of augmented reality technology. It achieved remarkable milestones, including becoming the most downloaded app in its first week and surpassing 500 million downloads within two months. Players collectively walked billions of kilometers while playing the game. By 2019, Pokémon Go had been downloaded over 1 billion times worldwide. Similar to Ingress, Pokémon Go utilizes in-app purchases and regional partnerships, such as those with Verizon, Starbucks, Reliance Jio, SoftBank, and 7-Eleven.

Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
In November 2017, Niantic announced its partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and WB Games San Francisco to develop Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, an augmented reality mobile game set in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World. The game allowed players to explore real-world locations, discover artifacts, cast spells, and encounter magical creatures and characters. It was released globally on June 22, 2019, following beta testing in New Zealand and Australia. However, the game was eventually shut down on January 31, 2022.

CATAN World Explorers
Niantic confirmed their involvement in the creation of Catan: World Explorers, a massively multiplayer location-based game based on the popular Catan board games. The game allowed players to build a Catan universe in the real world using their smartphones. It was soft-launched as an open beta in select countries but was ultimately shut down in November 2021.

Transformers: Heavy Metal
In June 2021, Niantic announced its partnership with Hasbro and Tomy to develop Transformers: Heavy Metal. The game was being co-developed with Very Very Spaceship but was later cancelled by Niantic in June 2022, along with three other games, amid layoffs.

Pikmin Bloom
On October 26, 2021, Nintendo and Niantic unveiled a new smartphone app centered around the Pikmin franchise. This AR-based adventure takes place in the real world and aims to make walking enjoyable with the adorable Pikmin creatures. Developed by Niantic's Tokyo division, which was established in 2018, this app marks their first project. Following a series of soft launches the previous week, the app was released worldwide on November 2, 2021.

Peridot
Niantic announced the upcoming launch of the smartphone AR game Peridot on April 14, 2022. The game entered open beta in Norway on July 28, 2022, and was subsequently released worldwide on May 9, 2023.

NBA All-World
On June 28, 2022, Niantic revealed its collaboration with the NBA and NBPA for an AR game called NBA All-World. The game debuted globally on January 24, 2023.

MARVEL World of Heroes
Niantic joined forces with Marvel Entertainment on September 9, 2022, to develop MARVEL World of Heroes, an AR game based on the Marvel Universe. The game is scheduled for release in 2023.

Monster Hunter Now
On April 17, 2023, Niantic announced its development of Monster Hunter Now, a game based on the popular Monster Hunter franchise.

Campfire
In mid-2022, Niantic introduced the Campfire app as a companion to their games, providing social features and community groups. Previously, players relied on third-party platforms like Reddit and Discord to connect with fellow players.