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Tamagotchi meets Pokémon Go in Niantic Labs' upcoming 'Peridots' game
Niantic Labs, developer of Pokémon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, is working on an original AR mobile game.
Niantic Labs started out as a division of Google working on the mobile augmented reality (AR) game Ingress, but after becoming an independent company in 2015, the company focused on AR games based on third-party media franchises (like Pokémon Go). Niantic today revealed its first original game since Ingress and Ingress Prime, called Peridot.
Niantic announces Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will close in January 2022
Niantic has announced that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will close in January 2022. The company also announced a number of events.
Niantic is the developer behind hit games like Pokémon GO and Ingress, but another game the company launched in 2017 was Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. The unique selling point of Wizards Unite was that it made use of the same augmented reality technology that the company's other two games had implemented. However, it clearly wasn't as popular as the spontaneous summer wonder that Pokémon GO was in 2016, as Niantic has announced that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will shut down on January 31, 2022.
Niantic could expand into augmented reality space with newly teased AR glasses
Niantic could be working on its first-ever wearable that could possibly include augemented reality capabilities. Check them out!
Niantic is a popular name when it comes to augmented reality (AR). The company started off with Ingress and soon after took the world by storm by launching Pokémon GO, bringing the popular franchise to the mobile platform with an AR twist. In a recent tweet, John Hanke, CEO at Niantic has teased a pair of Niantic branded glasses, which could be the company’s first-ever augmented reality wearable device.
[Update: Live] Niantic considers adding options to explore and raid from home in Pokémon GO
Pokémon GO will reportedly gain the ability to virtually explore areas and participate in Raid Battles from home, as Niantic adapts to COVID-19. Read on!
Pokémon GO began its journey in July 2016, building upon Niantic's Ingress and the infrastructure the game put in place. Much like Ingress, Pokémon GO focused on exploring real-world locations to play the game. The initial response to the game was historic, as it fundamentally changed how geolocation-based games, as well as AR-based genres, are experienced by the public. While the focus has always been to go outside, there may be many reasons why someone cannot go outside -- which is why we saw a great increase in activity on our threads that discussed location spoofing. Niantic clamped down on the idea of playing the game without moving, and one of the first steps it took was to block rooted devices (usually a pre-requisite for location-spoofing) from entering the game, and more recently, check aggressively for even hints of root or modifications. Now, COVID-19 health advisories have enforced the ideas of social distancing and staying indoors. Consequently, Niantic is being forced to rethink how players enjoy its geolocation and community-focused games in such difficult times. The company is now considering allowing players to explore areas and do Raid Battles with other players from the comfort of their homes.
Discord alpha hints at upcoming Pokémon GO collaboration, and surfacing COVID-19 channel
Discord is working on a collaboration with Niantic for creating Pokémon GO servers for Raid Battles, and it is also working on COVID-19 server surfacing.
Discord began its journey in 2015 as a chat service that primarily focused on gamers, providing VoIP services to supplement real-time strategies in MOBAs. Over the years, the service has solidified its place as a chat platform, and it has also emerged as a good alternative to IRC. Discord as an app and service allows users to create different servers for a dedicated umbrella topic, and then create different channels within the server for further topic bifurcation. Users can then talk to each other within these channels, and you can keep track of the expected conversation topics within the channel. Discord has been growing in popularity recently, adding in features like displaying game activity to friends, AMOLED dark theme, temporary muting, slash commands, QR Code logins, and more. The latest Discord alpha reveals that the app is working on a collaboration with Pokémon GO, as well as surfacing helpful COVID-19 channels to more users through the Discover feature.
[Update 2: Niantic will revert bans] Pokemon GO is reportedly banning users on Redmi 5 and other Xiaomi phones after latest MIUI update
Pokemon GO developer Niantic appears to be unfairly striking down accounts of Pokemon hunters with Xiaomi Redmi 5 running MIUI 10.3.2.
Pokemon GO is one of the most popular games because of its augmented reality gameplay and its popularity seems to have outlasted any other game on Android. While its userbase has dropped from 60 million last June to nearly 11 million as of July 2019 in the US alone, the game is still fairly enjoyed among users and has many pop culture icons like Uncle Pokemon associated with it. It has even got a Starbucks Frappuccino to its name. For its popularity, the Pokemon GO developer, Niantic, also has one of the strictest policies against spoofing. While bans against cheating in the game are fair and just, hundreds of Xiaomi users claim to have been unfairly targeted by Niantic's systems and this time, the victims are users with Redmi 5 and other Xiaomi smartphones.