And if we talk about AR in games, we have to talk about Niantic, creator of Pokémon Go, a company that wants to create experiences of augmented reality on a planetary scale.
To do this, they will add a feature to encourage players to create and upload 3D scans of real-world locations. He has also just acquired the AR 6D.ai mapping company for an undisclosed sum, with the aim of creating a dynamic and three-dimensional map of the world in order to enable new types of AR experiences.
But it’s not the only company with that goal in mind. Remember that in February Facebook acquired Scape Technologies, an emerging AR company that was creating a three-dimensional map of the entire world, and Microsoft’s Minecraft Earth AR mobile game promotes the same type of AR game on a planetary scale.
Look at how the AR world was in 2015:
Niantic’s story is interesting. Originally called Keyhole Inc, it was acquired by Google in 2004, and was instrumental in the creation of Google Maps. In 2010, Keyhole changed its name to Niantic and focused on games, and remained part of Google until 2015, when it became an independent company again. In 2012 they launched the famous Ingress, a game with which they obtained the necessary data to later create the best-known Pokémon Go or the recently released Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
In December 2019, Niantic raised funds and reached a value of $3.9 billion, so they have the ability to transform the world with Augmented Reality, and not just in the video game market.
