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Niantic, Inc. ( ) is an American
software development Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invo ...
company based in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. Niantic is best known for developing the
augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...
mobile games '' Ingress'' and ''
Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...
''. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
. The company became an independent entity in October 2015 when Google restructured under
Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent company of Google and se ...
Niantic has additional offices in Bellevue and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.


History


Founding

The company was formed in 2010 by
John Hanke John Hanke (born 1967) is an American technology executive. Hanke led Google's Geo product division, which includes Google Earth, Google Maps, StreetView, SketchUp, and Panoramio. He is founder and CEO of Niantic, Inc., a software company spun o ...
as Niantic Labs, an internal startup within
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
. The company took its name from the whaling vessel '' Niantic'', which came to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
during the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...
in the 1800s. At the time Ingress was launched, Niantic had 35 employees.


As an independent, private company

The company spun out of Google in October 2015 soon after Google's announcement of its restructuring as
Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It was created through a restructuring of Google on October 2, 2015, and became the parent company of Google and se ...
During the spinout, Niantic announced that Google,
Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
, and
The Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, '' Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video ga ...
would invest up to $30 million in Series-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. In February 2016, Niantic announced that it had secured an additional $5 million in Series A funding including investment from venture capital firms Alsop Louie Partners and You & Mr. Jones Brandtech Ventures, as well as angel investors Lucas Nealan,
Cyan Banister Cyan Banister (born 1977) is an American angel investor and entrepreneur. She is a partner at Long Journey Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund. She was an early investor in Uber, Niantic, Postmates, DeepMind, Carta, Thumbtack, Flexpor ...
, and
Scott Banister Scott Banister (born 1975) is an American entrepreneur, startup founder, and angel investor. He cofounded the anti-spam company IronPort, and he was an early advisor and board member at PayPal. He invented paid search advertising via keyword au ...
. While adding more support for the growth of the company, this investment enabled Niantic to bring in strategic industry pioneers including the addition of
Gilman Louie Gilman Louie (born 1960) is an American technology venture capitalist who got his start as a video game designer and then co-founded and ran the CIA venture capital fund In-Q-Tel. With his company Nexa Corporation he designed and developed multipl ...
to its board. In November 2017, Niantic raised $200 million in Series B funding from multiple investors, led by Spark Capital. Spark's Megan Quinn joined Niantic's board of directors during this investment round. In January 2019, it was reported that Niantic had raised an additional $245 million in a Series C fundraising round. The round was led by Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), but also included investments from strategic partners such as AXiomatic Gaming and Samsung Ventures. The investment valued the company at $3.7 billion, excluding the investment itself.


Acquisitions and investments

In November 2017, it was announced that Niantic had acquired ''Evertoon'', an app which allows users to make short, personalized films. According to the company's announcement, the acquisition is meant to help build social systems. At the time of the acquisition, Evertoon was only 18 months old and had only 5 employees. 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 to ''
Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...
''. 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. In July 2018, Niantic announced the acquisition of LA-based gaming studio, Seismic Games. The gaming studio consists of industry veterans from EA/Pandemic and
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...
, and best known for co-developing '' Marvel Strike Force''. 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. 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 iantic'sefforts in developing a wide range of gaming experiences that bring the physical and digital world closer together". In March 2020, Niantic acquired 3D world-scanning software company 6D.ai. In January 2021, Niantic acquired community gaming platform Mayhem. In 2021, Niantic acquired Scaniverse, a 3D scanning app, and Lowkey, a social gaming platform in which users can record and share gameplay moments. In 2022, Niantic announced the acquisition of 8th Wall, a WebAR development platform, and NZXR, an augmented reality studio.


Lightship

In June 2018, Niantic shared a sneak peek behind the technology they had been developing for years: the Niantic Real World Platform. The core platform consists of a suite of tools including: AR Cloud, anti-cheat security, POI data, IAP, social, analytics, CRM, sponsorship, and more. Niantic mentioned that they intend to open up the platform in the future for use by third-party developers. In December 2018, Niantic announced their Beyond Reality Developer Contest offering third-party developers an opportunity to develop a new game experience on the Niantic Real World Platform for a chance to compete for a prize pool of more than $1 million. In early 2021, Niantic rebranded the Niantic Real World Platform as Lightship. In November 2021, Niantic launched the Lightship
software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific ...
for augmented reality based on
Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...
. The company raised $300 million from
Coatue Management Coatue is an American technology-focused investment manager led by founder and portfolio manager Philippe Laffont. Coatue invests in public and private markets with a focus on technology, media, telecommunications. the consumer and healthcare se ...
for further development of Lightship and Niantic's "real-world metaverse", valuing the company at $9 billion.


Products


''Field Trip''

In 2012, Niantic's launched its first product, ''Field Trip'', a location-based mobile app which acted as "your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you." In July 2019, Niantic announced they would shut down the app later that year, with the app itself being removed from app stores immediately.


''Ingress'' and ''Ingress Prime''

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. An iOS 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 and
in-app purchases Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...
. However, following the split with Google in 2015, in-app purchasing was implemented for ''Ingress''. John Hanke has noted that ''Ingress'' is a "
proof of concept Proof of concept (POC or PoC), also known as proof of principle, is a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that some concept or theory has prac ...
", adding that a next step could involve packaging
application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...
s (APIs) from the ''Ingress'' application in order to entice developers. Companies that partnered with Niantic were marketed through the narrative of Ingress rather than direct marketing techniques. These companies included
Jamba Juice Jamba Juice, doing business as Jamba, is an American company that produces blended fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies and similar products. The company is co-owned—with Moe's Southwest Grill, Schlotzsky's, Carvel, Cinnabon, McAlister's Del ...
,
Zipcar Zipcar is an American car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition ...
, Hint Water,
Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...
,
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
,
AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The ...
,
SoftBank Group is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...
, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG),
Lawson Lawson may refer to: Places Australia * Lawson, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Lawson, New South Wales, a town in the Blue Mountains Canada * Lawson, Saskatchewan * Lawson Island, Nunavut United States * Lawson, Arkansas * ...
,
Ito En () is a Japanese multinational drinks company specializing in tea production, distribution, and sales. Ito En is the largest green tea distributor in Japan. The Ito En Group includes subsidiaries based in Japan, Indonesia, the United States, Aus ...
, and
Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian chain of convenience stores headquartered in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by the multinational company Couche-Tard. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in ...
. In November 2018, Niantic released a revamped version of the game branded as ''Ingress Prime''. Prime is completely rewritten within Unity and the company used critical learnings gained from ''Pokémon Go'' and ''Ingress'' for its development. Niantic also retained the older Ingress game as a separate download named ''Scanner EDACTED'. 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. In collaboration with Craftar Studio, '' Ingress: The Animation'', a television series based on the popular augmented reality game was produced. It began airing in Japan on
Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...
's +Ultra programming block in October 2018. On April 30, 2019, the series premiered globally on
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
.


''Endgame: Proving Ground''

Niantic's second announced mobile game, ''Endgame: Proving Ground'', was a part of the
transmedia storytelling Transmedia storytelling (also known as transmedia narrative or multiplatform storytelling) is the technique of telling a single story or story experience across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. From a producti ...
project that also included an
alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...
, ''Endgame: Ancient Truth'' and novels by James Frey starting with '' Endgame: The Calling''. Nothing has been heard of it since, making the game a
vaporware In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled. Use of the word has broade ...
.


''Pokémon Go''

In September 2015, it was announced that Niantic had been developing ''
Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...
'' in partnership with
Nintendo is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards ...
and
The Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, '' Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video ga ...
for iOS and Android devices. Tatsuo Nomura, who joined Niantic in 2015 after he developed the '' Google Maps: Pokémon Challenge'', acted as Director and Product Manager for the game. The game was initially released in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States in July 2016 (and released to much of the rest of the world throughout the remainder of 2016), where it became an overnight global phenomenon, significantly increasing the use and visibility of
augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...
technology. In addition to topping app store charts in most regions, Apple Inc. announced that ''Pokémon Go'' had become the most downloaded app in a first week ever, which was topped by '' Super Mario Run'' later that year. Reports indicated that users were spending more time on ''Pokémon Go'' than on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...
,
Tinder Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
, and
Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
. In one month, ''Pokémon Go'' was downloaded more than 100 million times, with daily revenues exceeding $10 million. Exactly two months after its launch, at
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
's September keynote,
John Hanke John Hanke (born 1967) is an American technology executive. Hanke led Google's Geo product division, which includes Google Earth, Google Maps, StreetView, SketchUp, and Panoramio. He is founder and CEO of Niantic, Inc., a software company spun o ...
announced that ''Pokémon Go'' exceeded 500 million downloads worldwide and that players around the world had walked over 4.6 billion kilometers. 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 to
Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...
. By the end of February 2017, ''Pokémon Go'' had surpassed over 650 million downloads. During ''Pokémon 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 the solar system. On June 8, 2017, it was revealed that ''Pokémon Go'' had been downloaded over 750 million times globally. In 2019, it was revealed that ''Pokémon Go'' had been downloaded over 1 billion times. Like '' Ingress'', ''Pokémon Go'' has a similar approach to monetization. The game has two main revenue streams,
in-app purchases Microtransactions, often abbreviated as mtx, are a business model where users can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. Microtransactions are often used in free-to-play games to provide a revenue source for the developers. While microtransact ...
and regional partnerships. To date, ''Pokémon Go'' has established several partnerships around the globe among which include
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
and
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 cou ...
in the United States, Reliance Jio in India,
SoftBank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...
and
7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
in Japan.


''Harry Potter: Wizards Unite''

In November 2017, it was announced that Niantic had been developing '' Harry Potter: Wizards Unite'' in partnership with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and WB Games San Francisco, under the
Portkey Games Portkey Games is a video game label owned by Warner Bros. Games founded in 2017 and dedicated to creating gaming experiences related to the Wizarding World. Overview Portkey Games first announced their first game in 2017, working with ''Poké ...
banner. The mobile AR game, inspired by J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World and
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at ...
, 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". The game was released in New Zealand as an open beta on April 16, 2019. Beta testing in Australia began on May 1, 2019. The game was released worldwide on June 22, 2019. The game shut down on January 31, 2022.


''Catan: World Explorers''

After a few months of silence regarding the possible deal, Niantic confirmed to ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...
'' that they had been involved with the game's creation. In November 2019, CATAN GmbH announced at the 2019
Spiel Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, often called the Essen Game Fair after the city where it is held, is an annual four-day boardgame trade fair which is also open to the public held in October (Thursday to the following Sunday) at the Messe Essen e ...
that it was working on a “upcoming massively multiplayer location based game” titled '' Catan: World Explorers''. The game was to be based on the ''
Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. P ...
'' board games; players moved through the real world, using their smartphones to build a Catan universe. The game was soft-launched as an open beta for New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Switzerland, and Singapore. The game shut down in November 2021.


''Transformers: Heavy Metal''

In June 2021, it was announced that Niantic had been developing ''Transformers: Heavy Metal'' in partnership with
Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
and
Tomy is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Ta ...
. The game was being co-developed with Seattle-based studio Very Very Spaceship, but Niantic ultimately cancelled the game and three others in June 2022 amidst layoffs.


''Pikmin Bloom''

On October 26, 2021, Nintendo and Niantic announced launching a brand new smartphone app for the franchise ''
Pikmin is a real-time strategy and puzzle video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and published by Nintendo. The games focus on directing a horde of plant-like creatures called Pikmin in order to collect items by destroying obstacles, avoiding ...
''. The project is an AR-based adventure in the real world that has the meaning of making walking fun with the little creatures named Pikmin. This app is the first one to be developed by Niantic's Tokyo division established in 2018. The app was released worldwide on November 2, 2021, following a series of soft launches the previous week.


''Peridot''

On April 14, 2022, Niantic announced launching a new smartphone AR game Peridot, set to be launched later in 2022. Peridot open beta was initially released in Norway on July 28, 2022.


''NBA All-World''

On June 28, 2022, Niantic announced that it had partnership with the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...
for an AR game titled ''NBA All-World''.


Campfire

Around mid-2022, Niantic began rolling out its "Campfire" app, intended to function as a companion app to its games in lieu of social features within the games themselves. The app is intended to allow players to find community groups, which had previously been based on third-party platforms such as
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...
and
Discord Discord is a VoIP and instant messaging social platform. Users have the ability to communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called "servers".The developer documenta ...
.


Controversies


Lawsuits

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 by ''Pokémon Go'' players, and a $1.58 million settlement following gameplay issues during a real-life event in Chicago.


Spoofing and hacking

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 for the purpose of cheating in Niantic's augmented reality games, including ''Ingress'' and ''Pokémon Go''. 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 and
reverse engineering Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
the games' codes. Eventually Global++ had to shut down their services, ''PokeGo++'' and ''Ingress++'', and their social media services. Niantic has also claimed that Global++ was also in the process of creating ''Potter++''—shortly before the release of the actual content—which Niantic stated would harm the success of the game. The lawsuit was settled for $5 million following a decision on January 12, 2021, and Niantic was granted a permanent injunction.


In-game COVID-19 pandemic bonus rollbacks

In August 2021, Niantic faced criticism from the playerbase due to reverting safety measures implemented during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, in which gym and Pokéstop interaction distances were increased from . New Zealand and the United States were the first to have their pandemic bonuses reverted on August 1. Despite increasing rates of the
SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant The Delta variant (B.1.617.2) was a variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It was first detected in India in late 2020. The Delta variant was named on 31 May 2021 and had spread to over 179 countries by 22 November 2021. The ...
in the U.S., Niantic kept the bonuses disabled. Players began boycotting Pokémon Go in the first week of August 2021. Niantic responded to the community on August 26 by permanently changing the interaction distance to 80 meters.


References


External links

* {{Authority control American companies established in 2010 2010 establishments in California Augmented reality Companies based in San Francisco Mobile game companies Privately held companies based in California Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Video game companies established in 2010 Video game companies of the United States Video game companies based in California Video game development companies Pervasive games Virtual reality companies