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John Hanke worked atKeyhole in 2001, a software development company specializing in geospatial data visualization applications. Hanke was hired by Google in 2004 as part of Google's acquisition of Keyhole. Hanke led Google's Geo division, which wasGoogle Maps,Google Earth, andGoogle Street View.[4] The move to the Geo division included Keyhole employees such asBrian McClendon and Bill Kilday.[4][5]
Hanke left the Geo division in October 2010 to form Niantic Labs, an internal startup withinGoogle.[6][7] The company took its name from the whaling vesselNiantic, which came toSan Francisco during theCalifornia Gold Rush in the 1800s.[6] At the time Ingress was launched, Niantic had 35 employees.[8]
The company spun out of Google in October 2015, soon after Google's announcement of its restructuring asAlphabet Inc.[7] Niantic also announced that Google,Nintendo, andThe Pokémon Company would invest up to $30 million inSeries-A funding, $20 million upfront and the remaining $10 million in financing conditioned upon the company achieving certain milestones, to support the growth of the company and its products.[9] In February 2016, Niantic announced that it had secured an additional $5 million[10] in Series A funding including investment[11] from venture capital firms Alsop Louie Partners andYou & Mr. Jones Brandtech Ventures, as well as angel investors Lucas Nealan,Cyan Banister, andScott Banister.[12] While adding more support for the growth of the company, this investment enabled Niantic to bring in strategic industry pioneers including the addition ofGilman Louie to its board.[13]
In November 2017, Niantic raised $200 million inSeries B funding from multiple investors, led bySpark Capital.[14] At the same time, Spark's Megan Quinn joined Niantic's board of directors during this investment round. Niantic acquiredEvertoon, an app that allows users to make short, personalized films.[15][16][17] According to the company's announcement, the acquisition is meant to help build social systems. At the time of the acquisition, Evertoon was 18 months old and had five employees.[18]
In February 2018, Niantic announced that it had acquired augmented reality company Escher Reality, a team focused on building persistent, cross-platform, multi-user experiences. Hanke stated that Niantic planned to allow third-party developers to build AR games similar toPokémon Go.[19]
In June 2018, Niantic announced the acquisition of computer vision and machine learning company Matrix Mill. The Matrix Mill team has spent years focusing on perfecting augmented reality occlusion by building deep neural networks that can infer 3D information about the surrounding world. The acquisition significantly advances Niantic's efforts to deliver planet-scale AR and provide even more realistic AR experiences.[20][21]
In July 2018, Niantic announced the acquisition of LA-based gaming studio, Seismic Games.[22] The gaming studio consists of industry veterans fromEA/Pandemic andActivision, and best known for co-developingMarvel Strike Force.[23]
In November 2018, Niantic invested in DigiLens alongside Mitsubishi Chemical's Diamond Edge Ventures. The investment will help DigiLens develop holographic waveguide displays for augmented reality applications.[24]
In January 2019, it was reported that Niantic had raised an additional $245 million in aSeries C funding round. The round was led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) but also included investments from strategic partners such as AXiomatic Gaming and Samsung Ventures.[25] The investment valued the company at $3.7 billion,excluding the investment itself.[26]
In June 2019, Niantic announced the acquisition of London-based development studio, Sensible Object. Niantic CEO Hanke states on behalf of the company that the acquisition "significantly advances [Niantic's] efforts in developing a wide range of gaming experiences that bring the physical and digital world closer together".[27] In March 2020, Niantic acquired 3D world-scanning software company 6D.ai.[28] In January 2021, Niantic acquired community gaming platform Mayhem.[29]
In 2021, Niantic acquired Scaniverse, a 3D scanning app, and Lowkey, a social gaming platform in which users can record and share gameplay moments.[30][31] In 2022, Niantic announced the acquisition of 8th Wall, a WebAR development platform, and NZXR, an augmented reality studio.[32][33] In 2023, Niantic closed its Los Angeles based studio and laid off 230 employees.[34]
In June 2018, Niantic shared a sneak peek behind the technology they had been developing for years: the Niantic Real World Platform.[35] The core platform consists of a suite of tools including: AR Cloud, anti-cheat security, POI data, IAP, social, analytics, CRM, sponsorship, and more.[36] Niantic mentioned that they intend to open up the platform in the future for use by third-party developers.[37]
In early 2021, Niantic rebranded the Niantic Real World Platform as Lightship.[38] In November 2021, Niantic launched the Lightshipsoftware development kit (SDK) for augmented reality based onUnity.[39] The company raised $300 million fromCoatue Management for further development of Lightship and Niantic's "real-world metaverse", valuing the company at $9 billion.[40]
On February 18, 2025,Bloomberg reported that Niantic was in talks to sell its video game business toScopely for $3.5 billion.[41][42] On March 12, the acquisition was confirmed.[43] Niantic announced spinning off its geospatial business into a separate company,Niantic Spatial Inc.[44][45] In April 2025, 68 employees were laid off as part of the company's restructuring.[46] The acquisition was completed on May 29, 2025, with a press release stating the acquired game development teams as the Niantic games team.[47]
Niantic's first augmented reality game,Ingress was initially made available on Android by invitation only in November 2012. It was then released publicly in October 2013. AniOS version was released in July 2014.
Initially, Niantic had taken an alternative approach to monetization, veering away from more traditional mobile application development standards such as ad placements andin-app purchases. However, following the split with Google in 2015, in-app purchasing was implemented forIngress. John Hanke has noted thatIngress is a "proof of concept", adding that the next step could involve packagingapplication programming interfaces (APIs) from theIngress application to entice developers.[48] Companies that partnered with Niantic were marketed through the narrative of Ingress rather than direct marketing techniques.
In November 2018, Niantic released a revamped version of the game branded asIngress Prime. The game is completely rewritten within Unity.[49] Niantic also retained the older Ingress game as a separate download namedScanner [REDACTED]. The intention of the older Ingress game was to help aid players with the transition to Prime as feature parity was reached between both games in 2019.[50]
In collaboration with Craftar Studio,Ingress: The Animation, a television series based on the game, was produced. It began airing in Japan onFuji TV's+Ultra programming block in October 2018. On April 30, 2019, the series premiered globally onNetflix.
The game was initially released in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in July 2016 (and released to the rest of the world throughout the remainder of 2016), where it became an overnight global phenomenon,[54] significantly increasing the use and visibility ofaugmented reality technology.[55] In addition to topping app store charts in most regions,Apple Inc. announced thatPokémon Go had become the most downloaded app in a first week ever, which was topped bySuper Mario Run later that year.[56][57] Reports indicated that users were spending more time onPokémon Go than onFacebook,Twitter,Snapchat,Tinder, andInstagram.[58][59] In one month,Pokémon Go was downloaded more than 100 million times, with daily revenues exceeding $10 million.[60] Exactly two months after its launch, atApple's September keynote,John Hanke announced thatPokémon Go exceeded 500 million downloads worldwide and that players around the world had walked over 4.6 billion kilometers.[61] By December, it was announced that the kilometer distance achieved in September had nearly doubled to over 8.7 billion kilometers, meaning that players had collectively walked further than the distance toPluto.[62] By the end of February 2017,Pokémon Go had surpassed over 650 million downloads.[63] DuringPokémon Go's Adventure Week in-game promo in May 2017, Niantic announced that players had collectively walked over 15.8 billion kilometers, roughly the distance from Earth past the edge of theSolar System.[64] On June 8, 2017, it was revealed thatPokémon Go had been downloaded over 750 million times globally.[65] In 2019, it was revealed thatPokémon Go had been downloaded over 1 billion times.
LikeIngress,Pokémon Go has a similar approach to monetization. The game has two main revenue streams,in-app purchases and regional partnerships. To date,Pokémon Go has established several partnerships around the globe among which includeVerizon[66] andStarbucks[67] in the United States,Reliance Jio[68] in India,SoftBank,7-Eleven in Japan, and McDonald's in Canada.
On October 26, 2021, Nintendo and Niantic announced the launch of a brand new smartphone app for the franchisePikmin calledPikmin Bloom. The project is an AR-based adventure in the real world that aims to make walking fun with the little creatures named Pikmin. This app is the first developed by Niantic's Tokyo division, established in 2018.[69] The app was released worldwide on November 2, 2021, following a series of soft launches the previous week.[70]
On April 14, 2022, Niantic announced the launch ofPeridot, set to be launched later in 2022.[71] Peridot open beta was initially released in Norway on July 28, 2022.[72] The app was released worldwide on May 9, 2023.
On April 17, 2023, Niantic announced it was developing a game withCapcom based on theMonster Hunter franchise titledMonster Hunter Now.[73] The game was released in September 2023.
In 2012, Niantic launched its first product,Field Trip, alocation-based mobile app that acted as "your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you."[74][75][76] In July 2019, Niantic announced it would shut down the app later that year, with the app removed from app stores.[77]
In November 2017, it was announced that Niantic had been developingHarry Potter: Wizards Unite in partnership withWarner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and WB Games San Francisco, under thePortkey Games banner.[78][79] The mobile AR game, inspired byJ.K. Rowling's Wizarding World andHarry Potter, is said to allow players to "explore real-world neighborhoods and cities to discover mysterious artifacts, learn to cast spells, and encounter legendary beasts and iconic characters along the way".[80] The game was released in New Zealand as an open beta on April 16, 2019.[81] Beta testing in Australia began on May 1, 2019.[82] The game was released worldwide on June 22, 2019. Niantic announced in November 2021 that the game would shut down on January 31, 2022.[83][84]
On June 28, 2022, Niantic announcedNBA All-World, a partnership with theNational Basketball Association (NBA) andNational Basketball Players Association (NBPA).[85] The game was released worldwide on January 24, 2023.[86] On June 29, 2023, Niantic announced that the game will be sunsetting as part of the company's layoff of 230 employees from their Los Angeles office.[87][88]
CATAN GmbH announced at the 2019Spiel that it was working on an "upcoming massively multiplayer location based game" titledCatan: World Explorers.[93][94] The game was to be based on theCatan board games; players moved through the real world, using their smartphones to build a Catan universe.[95] The game was soft-launched as an open beta for New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, and Singapore.[96] The game shut down in November 2021, never officially launched.[97]
In June 2021, Niantic announcedTransformers: Heavy Metal, a partnership withHasbro andTomy. The game was being co-developed with Seattle-based studio Very Very Spaceship,[98] but Niantic cancelled the game and three others in June 2022 amidst layoffs.[99]
In September 2022, Niantic announced it was teaming up with Marvel Entertainment to createMarvel World of Heroes, based on the Marvel Universe. The game was scheduled to launch in 2023.[100] On June 29, 2023, Niantic announced that the game was cancelled as part of the 230 employees laid off.[87]
Niantic has been sued in at least two class-action lawsuits: one starting in 2016 due to complaints from homeowners regarding trespassing and nuisance caused byPokémon Go players,[101] and a $1.58 million settlement following gameplay issues during areal-life event in Chicago.[102]
In 2023, two former female employees that Niantic laid off sued the company for denyingequal pay to female employees andto women of color.[103][104] One employee accused the company of being paid $10,000 less than her job's posted pay range, and between 2021 and 2023, she had learned that a less experienced male colleague had a higher salary than her.[105]
Wolfpack, a human resources for women, found in a survey that many female employees viewed Niantic as "sexist"[106] and referred to them as a "boys' club".[107]
On June 15, 2019, Niantic sued Global++, an unauthorized third-party software created by an "association of hackers" which allowed players to spoof their GPS location to cheat in Niantic's augmented reality games, includingIngress andPokémon Go.[108] Niantic claimed that the hacked versions of the applications were infringing on their intellectual property rights. The developer of Global++ earned money by selling subscriptions and asking for donations via the hacked apps. This resulted in Niantic forcing the developers to terminate their illegitimate distributions of the hacked apps andreverse engineering the games' codes. Global++ had to shut down their services,PokeGo++ andIngress++, and their social media services.[109] Niantic has also claimed that Global++ was also in the process of creatingPotter++—shortly before the release of the actual content—which Niantic stated would harm the success of the game.[109] The lawsuit was settled for $5 million following a decision on January 12, 2021, and Niantic was granted apermanent injunction.[110]
In August 2021, Niantic faced criticism from the Pokémon Go playerbase due to reverting safety measures implemented during theCOVID-19 pandemic, in which gym and PokéStop interaction distances were increased from 40 to 80 meters (130 to 260 ft). New Zealand and the United States were the first countries to have the pandemic bonuses revert on August 1. TheDelta variant of COVID-19 in the U.S. became dominant in July 2021, along with outbreaks.[111] Players began boycotting Pokémon Go in the first week of August 2021.[112][113][114][115] Niantic responded to the community on August 26 by permanently changing the interaction distance to 80 meters.[116][117]
In April 2023, Niantic changed the game's remote raiding feature, which was introduced during the pandemic. The in-game prices for remote raid passes were increased, and the number of remote raids a player could do was limited to five a day.[118]
