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Niantic, Inc.

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Niantic, Inc.
FormerlyNiantic Labs @ Google or simply Niantic Labs
IndustryMobile applications, mobile games, alternate reality games
Founded2010; 14 years ago (2010)
FounderJohn Hanke
Headquarters
San Francisco
,
U.S.
Key people
John Hanke (CEO) Mike Quigley (CMO)
ProductsIngress, Field Trip, Endgame, Pokémon GO
Websitewww.nianticlabs.com

Niantic, Inc. is a software development company best known for developing the augmented reality mobile games Ingress[1][2] and Pokémon GO. It was formed by Keyhole, Inc. founder John Hanke in 2010 as Niantic Labs, an internal startup at Google.[2] It spun out of Google as an independent entity in October 2015, soon after Google's announcement of its restructuring as Alphabet Inc.[3][4][5][6]

Niantic's systems[7] utilize high throughput real-time geospatial querying and indexing techniques to process more than 200 million game actions per day as people interact with real and virtual objects in the physical world.

History

The company takes its name from the whaling vessel Niantic, which came to San Francisco during the California Gold Rush.[2][8] The fictional in-game investigative project that provides the narrative premise for Ingress is similarly named The Niantic Project.

Niantic's first product, published in 2012, was Field Trip, a location-based mobile app which acts as your guide to the cool, hidden, and unique things in the world around you. Their first augmented reality mobile game Ingress followed in November 2012 as an invite-only Android app. It was opened to the public in October 2013 and an iOS version was released in July 2014. Niantic's next announced mobile game, Endgame, "is" (unreleased) a transmedia storytelling project consisting of an alternate reality game, Endgame: Ancient Truth, novels by James Frey starting with Endgame: The Calling, and the mobile app, Endgame: Proving Ground.[1][9][10][11]

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. However, following the split with Google in 2015, in-app purchasing was implemented for Ingress. Founder and CEO John Hanke has noted that Ingress is a sort of proof of concept, adding that a next step could involve packaging application programming interfaces (APIs) from the Ingress application in order to entice developers.[12] Existing partners, marketed through the narrative of Ingress rather than direct marketing techniques, include Hint Water, Vodafone, Motorola, AXA, SoftBank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Lawson (store) and Ito En.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

In September 2015, it was announced that Niantic is co-developing Pokémon GO with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android.[20] The following month, Niantic announced Google, Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company would invest $30 million ($20 million upfront with an additional $10 million conditioned upon the company achieving certain milestones[21]) in it to support the growth of the company and its products.[22] In February 2016, Niantic announced that it secured an additional $5 million[23] in Series A funding including investment[24] from venture capital firms Alsop Louie Partners and You & Mr Jones Brandtech Ventures as well as angel investors Lucas Nealan, Cyan Banister and Scott Banister.[25] 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 to its board.[26]

On July 6, 2016, Pokémon GO was released in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store, with a small wearable device[relevant?] developed by Nintendo[citation needed], which uses a Bluetooth low energy connection to notify users when a Pokémon is nearby with an LED and vibration,[27] hinted to be released later in the month. A release in Europe is planned, but was postponed after the initial launch overwhelmed the servers.[28]

References

  1. ^ a b Frank, Blair Hanley. "Google's Niantic Labs merges another virtual world with reality in upcoming game". Geekwire.com. Geek Wire. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Markowitz, Eric (20 December 2012). "Exclusive: Inside the Mind of Google's Greatest Idea Man, John Hanke". Inc.com. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  3. ^ Kessler, Sarah. "Can A Startup Live Inside Google? Niantic Labs, Creators Of Field Trip And "Ingress" Try". Fast Company. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  4. ^ Olanoff, Drew (12 August 2015). "Niantic Labs, Maker Of Ingress, Spun Out Of Google As Its Own Company". Tech Crunch.
  5. ^ Groden, Claire (13 August 2015). "Google's internal start-up Niantic Labs spins off". Fortune.
  6. ^ Ingress. "Important Account Information: Niantic Labs is becoming an independent company..." Ingress Google+ page. Google. Retrieved August 12, 2015.
  7. ^ "Employment Opportunities | Niantic". www.nianticlabs.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  8. ^ Upbin, Bruce. "The Niantic Project: What Is Google Up To?". Forbes. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  9. ^ Rosenblatt, Seth Google's Niantic follows Ingress with Endgame Cnet retrieved 9th Sept 2014
  10. ^ Takahashi, Dean (17 December 2014). "Google's Niantic Labs embarks on a giant interactive transmedia project with controversial author James Frey". Venture Beat.
  11. ^ Robertson, Adi (28 July 2014). "Google is helping James Frey build a multimedia sci-fi juggernaut". The Verge.
  12. ^ Newton, Casey (13 December 2013). "The everywhere arcade: How Google is turning location into a game platform". The Verge.
  13. ^ Holly, Russell (25 February 2013). "Google makes Ingress codes available through HINT water partnership". GEEK.
  14. ^ Hanke, John (19 August 2013). "Vodofone Germany Announcement". John Hanke Google+ Page. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Niantic Labs, Inc. (1 August 2013). "Ultra Strike Weapon Revealed - INGRESS REPORT - EP19". Ingress Youtube Page. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ AXA Financial, Inc. (16 December 2014). "AXA and Google's Niantic Labs Partner to Integrate 20,000 Global Retail Agencies into Ingress' Interactive'Real World' Mobile Gameplay Experience". AXA Press Release. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  17. ^ Softbank Group, Corp. (27 July 2015). "ソフトバンクショップがIngressに登場！". Softbank Press Release.
  18. ^ The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (20 June 2015). "BTMU announces a partnership with "Ingress", using its vast network of branches and ATMs as portals in Japan!". MUFG Press Release.
  19. ^ Ito En, Ltd. (31 July 2015). "スマートフォン用モバイルゲームアプリ「Ingress」（※）とコラボレーション". ITO EN Press Release.
  20. ^ Pokémon GO Press Conference. YouTube. 10 September 2015.
  21. ^ "Niantic Inc. Raises $20 Million in Financing from The Pokémon Company, Google and Nintendo". nianticlabs.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  22. ^ McWhertor, Michael (October 15, 2015). "Nintendo, Google and Pokémon Company invest $20M in Pokémon Go developer". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  23. ^ Nutt, Christian. "Pokémon Go dev Niantic Labs scores another $5 million in funding". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  24. ^ "Welcoming Gilman Louie, David Jones, Fuji TV, Cyan & Scott Banister, and Lucas Nealan to the Niantic Family". www.nianticlabs.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  25. ^ "Feb 25, 2016: Niantic Labs - Funding Round - Series A | CrunchBase". www.crunchbase.com. Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  26. ^ "Niantic raises another $5m in Series A". Retrieved 2016-07-07.
  27. ^ "Pokémon GO Plus | Pokémon GO". www.pokemongo.com. Retrieved 2016-07-08.
  28. ^ "'Pokémon Go' international rollout will be 'paused' as players overload the system". uk.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
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