The developers at Niantic, creators of the augmented reality game ‘Pokemon Go’, are jumping into the new year in style. Niantic has already made several headlines for updates on their game, and now the company is aiming to make several more. Most recently it was announced that Niantic Labs made the acquisition of Escher Reality, an AR computer startup that has been building technology for multiplayer, augmented reality gaming. Along with this news, it was also revealed that Niantic has already prepped another big update to drop into their game. Trainers everywhere should be getting excited for what should surely be a huge year from the company.
The acquisition of Escher by way of Niantic Labs makes plenty of sense, especially with the innovative work that Escher Reality has been doing. Escher has been working to blend both our digital and physical worlds through augmented reality. Co-founders Ross Finman and Diana Hu managed to raise nearly $3 million before catching the eye of Niantic. The company has six employees and will be immediately added to the Niantic roster. John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, praised the acquisition by calling Escher “incredibly exciting” while saying that the acquisition would help to “significantly accelerate” their work on augmented reality in the real world. Along with this maneuver, Niantic also announced the acquisition of the social media startup known as Evertoon.
Switching focus to the actual game in progress, Niantic appears to be ready to unleash Gen 3 on Trainers around the world within the next month. Trainers, particularly those on The Silph Road, have been eagerly awaiting news regarding new Legendaries and new Pokemon being added to the game. Among the Legendaries currently known to be added is Deoxys, which was recently found via network traffic by data miners. The addition of Deoxys marks the end of Kyogre as Kyogre will be departing from Gyms worldwide on February 14th.
While fans are uniquely tuned into the addition of more Gen 3 Pokemon, many are also eagerly looking forward to the next big February event with many users assuming a Valentine’s Day event must surely be on the horizon. Niantic has been surprisingly quiet regarding making any official comment on their updates, outside of the Escher Reality news. Niantic will likely be playing this information close to vest for at least another week or two. Until then, Trainers will just have to sit tight and wait for more official word.
Dil Bole Oberoi
