'Pokemon GO' Maker Niantic Closes Deal With 8th Wall | AR Projects Now on the Way?

Joseph Henry, Tech Times 11 March 2022, 12:03 am

"Pokemon GO" developer Niantic has recently made a huge move following its acquisition with WebAR-based augmented reality development platform 8th Wall.

To date, this is the largest deal that took place for the San Francisco-based software firm. This time, the company is looking forward to merging the 34 staff from 8th Wall with its team that consists of over 900 members.

Could we see a new AR project for this latest venture?

Niantic Acquires 8th Wall

'Pokemon GO' Maker Niantic Closes Deal With 8th Wall | AR Projects Now on the Way?

(Photo : Stephen Lam/Getty Images)
"Pokemon GO" creator Niantic made its biggest acquisition so far following its purchase of WebAR development platform 8th Wall.

In a report from TechCrunch on Friday, March 11, Niantic disclosed the information regarding its acquisition of the WebAR platform.

With that, the company expects to establish a strong connection with the 8th Wall when it comes to creating AR technologies. In particular, Niantic will take this opportunity to utilize useful web-based tools which are intended to improve the mobile experience for users.

In connection to this, the "Pokemon GO" creator has high hopes that the power of augmented reality can bring more realizations about the metaverse venture.

Niantic Lightship Program

It is expected that 8th Wall will contribute a lot to the upcoming "Lightship" program of Niantic this year. Tech Times reported back in November that CEO John Hanke said that users could rely on this when identifying real-time environment visuals.

Most importantly, this transition could also add more support for the existing AR-based games that Niantic released.

On its way to building a "real-world" metaverse, the company acquired Mayhem, a popular social gaming community platform back in January 2021. This move will further strengthen its campaign towards establishing a firm project in the digital space.

Ever since Niantic entered the business, its main aim is to connect people to the physical and digital world thanks to 3D mapping. With the recent deal with 8th Wall, the company is gearing for more expansion of its tools with the help of WebAr technology.

Niantic Acquisition From 2017 to 2021

Over the past five years, the company has purchased nine more companies aside from Mayhem and 8th Wall. These include Lowkey, 6D.ai, Scaniverse, Matrix Mill, Escher Reality, Seismic Games, Evertoon, and Sensible Object, per VentureBeat.

Speaking of 8th Wall, this platform paced the tech business with its AR activations and collaborated with other famous companies in several industries. Some of them include Microsoft, Universal Pictures, Netflix, Nike, Verizon, LEGO, and Pepsi to name a few.

With the progressive evolution of technology, Niantic takes another step towards its dream to bring more AR tools and platforms in the real world.

In other news, US President Joe Biden is likely leaning on the use of digital coins after he signed an executive order which will regulate the new cryptocurrency. With that, we could potentially see the digital version of the US dollar in the future.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by Joseph Henry