Niantic, Inc.
Niantic, Inc. (/naɪˈæntɪk/ ny-AN-tik)[2] is an American software development company based in San Francisco. Niantic is best known for developing the augmented reality mobile games Ingress and Pokémon Go. The company was formed as Niantic Labs in 2010 as an internal startup within Google. The company became an independent entity in October 2015 when Google restructured under Alphabet Inc.[3] Niantic has additional offices in Bellevue, Los Angeles, Sunnyvale, Seattle, Lawrence, Tokyo, London, Hamburg, and Zurich.[4]
Formerly
- Niantic Labs
- (2010–2015)
2010
- John Hanke (CEO)
- Dennis Hwang (art director)
- Tatsuo Nomura (director)
See § Products
~800[1]
Google (2010–2015)
- Escher Reality
- Matrix Mill
- Seismic Games
- Sensible Object
- Lowkey
- 8th Wall
- NZXR
Controversies[edit]
Lawsuits[edit]
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,[98] and a $1.58 million settlement following gameplay issues during a real-life event in Chicago.[99]
Spoofing and hacking[edit]
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, including Ingress and Pokémon Go.[100] 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 the games' codes. Eventually Global++ had to shut down their services, PokeGo++ and Ingress++, and their social media services.[101] 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.[101] The lawsuit was settled for $5 million following a decision on January 12, 2021, and Niantic was granted a permanent injunction.[102]
In-game COVID-19 pandemic bonus rollbacks[edit]
In August 2021, Niantic faced criticism from the playerbase due to reverting safety measures implemented during the COVID-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 to have their pandemic bonuses reverted on August 1. Despite increasing rates of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in the U.S., Niantic kept the bonuses disabled. Players began boycotting Pokémon Go in the first week of August 2021.[103][104][105][106] Niantic responded to the community on August 26 by permanently changing the interaction distance to 80 meters.[107][108]
In April 2023, Niantic changed Pokémon Go's remote raiding feature, which was introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The in-game prices for remote raid passes were increased, and the number of remote raids a player could do was limited to 5 a day.[109]