Niantic, the company which worked with Nintendo on apps such as Pokémon GO and Pikmin Bloom, has announced that it is offering up access to its 'Lightship' Augmented Reality technology to anyone who wishes to make use of it.
This tool will allow developers to create their own "real-world metaverse" applications by using a real-time 3D mesh map to read the surfaces and topography of the world surrounding the user. Other APIs in the toolkit can help apps understand elements of an environment, while up to five players can be synchronised as part of the same AR multiplayer session.
Niantic is offering this tech for free, but with a caveat. The multiplayer APIs will be available at no cost for the first six months, irrespective of how many users an app has. After six months, a fee will be payable – but only if the APIs are used in an application that has more than 50,000 monthly active users. Universal Pictures, PGA of America and Warner Music Group are just three companies that have taken up the offer, having previously taken part in a private beta.
In related news, Niantic has also announced a generous $20 million investment fund to support developers who "share our vision for the real-world metaverse and contribute to the global ecosystem we are building."
Niantic's work on Pokémon GO has resulted in incredible commercial success, but not all of its AR ventures have been smash hits – its Harry Potter game was recently closed down, for example..
[source engadget.com]
Comments 13
More games like Pokémon Go are welcomed greatly. Pikmin Bloom did not live up to my expectations and I deleted it shortly after using it twice. However, if a Digimon or Yo-kai Watch game appeared in the Pokémon Go style, I would be super excited.
I feel like "Metaverse" has become the latest buzz word for tech companies...
I've been working on an ARRPG in my spare time for a few years now — sort of a Diablo meets Stardew Valley meets Pokemon GO.
Niantic's issue is that they're focused on the AR that shows up on the screen, rather than the world itself. Nobody that I know in the Pokemon GO community plays with AR mode on. It's a useless battery hog. I can get more out of Google's Playable Locations API where it gives information about each POI, it's biome, etc. Niantic, provide that information in your API, along with some "bigger picture" data like weather and sunset times, and it would be a lot more appealing to me.
I feel like the AR style games have a ton of potential, but very few ideas can actually pull this off well.
The Ghostbusters game from a couple years back was a good idea that made sense, but Harry Potter never felt like it fit that niche.
Honestly, Shin Megami Tensei and their 'digital demons' would be a perfect fit for the Pokemon Go formula.
@montrayjak is it for mobile? Also that’s cool.
Also can we use this tech to make our own AR game? Like anyone could do this? Not just developers
@Desrever facts. SMT would be perfect for it
@Kaden there actually is a Yo-Kai watch AR game that was released only in japan!
Everyone forgets that Nintendo did the "Go/Bloom" AR first with The Denpa Men on the 3DS!
@anoyonmus Thanks! Yeah, it's a mobile game using your location. A lot like POGO.
It looks like anyone can sign up for the free tier at lightship.dev. They have a Unity SDK so you could probably get some low-code games done if you're not a developer.
Would love a persona game like this, especially as it already deals in the "metaverse"
@montrayjak I see. Thanks
@Desrever Have you played Dx2 SMT Liberation? It's similar to what you describe, though it doesn't involve going to actual places to catch demons.
Their pants Pikmin game doesn't even work! Keep it!
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