Niantic

Niantic, initially a part of Google, is the video game and software development company behind the popular AR mobile games, Ingress and Pokemon Go, which earned over USD 1 billion in revenue in 2020. Pokémon Go requires players to move in the physical world to come across action items in the digital space delivered in AR. The game was immediately received well by fans following its launch in 2016, with users collectively logging a walk distance of over 4.6 billion kilometers while playing the game within just two months after its release; a total of 23 billion kilometers walked as of March 2019.

The company launched an MR experience titled ‘Wol’ playable on Meta Quest headsets and smartphones, which features an AI-enabled talking owl powered by Inworld AI, discussing the redwood forest. Niantic launched Peridot, its AR pet game in March 2023. The company also launched its geolocation AR basketball game, NBA All-World in partnership with the NBA and NBPA in January 2023 , although this was shut down in June 2023 , with the company laying off 230 employees and canceling production on Marvel World of Heroes, a game based on the Marvel franchise.  

Additionally, in June 2023 , the company launched a new ad format, Rewarded AR powered by Niantic’s 8th Wall AR development platform, which uses a smartphone's camera to immerse players within branded content in their real-world surroundings. According to Niantic, the Rewarded AR ad campaign has shown strong performance, with an average engagement rate of 76% and an average completion rate of 95% for the experience.  In August 2023 , 8th Wall integrated generative AI features to its WebAR platform.

Niantic has been pursuing an active M&A strategy which included the acquisition of the WebAR development platform 8th Wall (March 2022). The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, the acquisition was reportedly the largest in Niantic’s history. Other acquisitions include New Zealand-based augmented reality studio NZXR (March 2022);  Lowkey (December 2021), a sports gameplay recording and editing app; Hoss (October 2021), a social gaming platform to improve its in-game social experience, and Mayhem (January 2021), a developer experience platform. In line with its vision to create a “real-world-metaverse” the company also acquired Scaniverse (August 2021) and 6D.ai (March 2020), companies focused on developing camera software to detect and scan objects and environments in 3D. Niantic’s other strategic initiatives include investment in Gowalla (January 2022), an AR-based social app.

In November 2021, Niantic released the Lightship AR Developer Kit (ARDK) which included publicly available tools for VR game development including real-time mapping, semantic segmentation, and multiplayer capability, aimed at users who are familiar with the Unity game engine. In line with this, Niantic released the Lightship Visual Positioning System to create a 3D map of the world in May 2022, with the goal of allowing all AR devices to tap into a shared digital map. This was extended to the Web in September 2022 through the 8th Wall platform.

Key customers and partnerships

Prominent brands such as Coachella, Historic Royal Palaces, Universal Pictures, SoftBank, Warner Music Group, and the PGA of America utilized ARDK to create augmented reality experiences.

In September 2023 , Niantic, in collaboration with Capcom, launched the Monster Hunter geolocation AR mobile game. In May 2023, Niantic partnered with Amazon for the launch of Amazon Anywhere, which allowed customers to purchase physical Peridot merchandise within the game’s app. Previous partnerships include that with Sony (February 2022) to collaborate and develop application software for auditory AR and Nintendo (March 2021) to develop mobile apps that combined Nintendo’s IP with Niantic's AR technology.

Funding and financials

In its most recent funding round (November 2021), Niantic raised USD 300 million in a Series D funding round from Coatue, which brought its valuation to USD 9 billion. The company aims to build evolving AR experiences based on a 3D map of the world (“a real-world metaverse”) and expand its ARDK with the fresh funds.

Key competitors: None comparable (Niantic is the leader in AR mobile game development)