Pokemon Go Has a New Owner, While Niantic Is Evolving Its Maps to Fold in AI and AR

Your next game of Pokemon Go could be changing. The game is getting a new corporate boss. Meanwhile, previous parent company Niantic has other plans: a future that's less about gaming and more about maps that are AI-generated by those games. I've already seen pieces of that future, and AR glasses may just be one part of where it all plays out. However, it may still involve some games, too. Niantic retains control of Ingress and Peridot, two of its most augmented reality-focused, location and map-connected games. And those games, along with Niantic's further pivot to becoming known as Niantic Spatial, could be a sign of what's happening next: tech companies exploring how AI can understand the world around us instead of repeating broken attempts with AI glasses like Meta Ray-Bans. Niantic didn't have any additional comment on the news. Still, I recently demoed the Quest-native Scaniverse app, acquired in 2021. The app focuses on discovering existing 3D scans of real-world locations, an ... Read full article.