We’re excited to announce the renewal of our ongoing work with the National Park Foundation (NPF), which helps protect wildlife and park lands, preserve history and culture, educate and engage youth, and connect people everywhere to the wonder of more than 420 parks across the country. When we started our journey together in 2018, we were eager to think about new ways to use technology to encourage outdoor exploration, especially in places that are lesser known and often close to home.

Today, we’re announcing that we will continue working together, and will be focusing our work on NPF’s Outdoor Exploration initiative through the ParkVentures program, which supports equity-focused outdoor leaders and organizations in bringing people together for joy-filled and meaningful experiences in parks. 

ParkVentures is integral to NPF’s mission to connect people everywhere to the wonder of parks. With ParkVentures, NPF joins numerous efforts across the country to make national parks and public lands more accessible and welcoming to everyone.

In its inaugural year, the ParkVentures program is supporting projects that focus on the following core themes that leaders in outdoor recreation and equity spaces identify as barriers:

• Representation: A lack of representation of historically excluded communities among visitors, staff, volunteers, and in materials used to raise awareness about public lands. A lack of representation prevents people from seeing themselves in parks and feeling a sense of belonging.

• Accessibility: A lack of understanding for the spectrum of information and accommodations needed for people, including people with disabilities, to participate in the outdoors. A lack of accessibility inhibits participation and prevents people from feeling a sense of belonging.

• Interpretation: A lack of diverse perspectives in the stories shared and historical figures featured in parks. A lack of interpretation prevents people from having a broad understanding of history, seeing themselves reflected in parks, and understanding how parks connect to their personal identities and lives.

We are thrilled to continue working with the National Park Foundation to support affinity spaces and promote access and a sense of belonging in parks so that more people can experience the social, mental, and physical health benefits of spending time outside.

Learn more about NPF and how you can support America’s national parks.

– Yennie Solheim, Director of Social Impact

Hello!

I’m Ziah, Senior Producer at Niantic, and I’m excited to share details about a new Niantic game in development, which will be entering a soft launch testing phase in select markets soon.

If pets are a part of your life, you already know the joy that they can bring. The simple act of caring for an animal and watching them grow is immensely rewarding, especially when you’ve forged a real bond with your pet.

Introducing Peridot: an all-new, real-world AR mobile game, and original franchise that puts the joy of caring for, raising, and breeding adorable one-of-a-kind creatures in your hands.

After thousands of years of slumber, Peridots (or Dots for short) are waking to a world vastly different from the one in which they used to roam, and they’ll need our help to protect them from extinction.

You’ll foster your own Peridots as you embark on this experience. These are creatures who feel so real, you’ll love every moment raising them from birth to adulthood. While you explore the world together, you’ll get to learn more about your cute new friends, develop a bond as you nurture and play with them, and work with other players to diversify their species.

Here are some snapshots that show a glimpse of the gameplay experience:

We hope you’re excited for this new heartwarming game. Throughout the soft launch period, we will be testing and iterating on the gameplay experience as we gather feedback from our beta testers. Please sign up for our email newsletter to stay informed of future updates and to pre-register for the game.

– Ziah Fogel, Senior Producer

Today, we’re announcing we’ve acquired NZXR, a world-class AR studio based in New Zealand. NZXR has led the creation of AR-first experiences for years, helping companies and brands create engaging and interactive AR apps and prototypes for mobile phones and AR headsets. Joining Niantic, the NZXR team will become an integral part of the design and development of multiplayer real-world AR experiences unique to Niantic.

Our goal has always been to create augmented reality experiences that can be enjoyed by millions of people and to build the technology that powers them and third-party applications – Niantic Lightship. From Ingress to Pokémon GO, and Pikmin Bloom, people around the world have come together to complete Ingress missions, catch Pokémon, collect Pikmin, and explore the world. The NZXR team will help us accelerate new kinds of AR experiences for the real-world metaverse where our explorers can create, contribute, and interact with digital objects in a way that is persistent and shared by everyone.

NZXR shares this vision for how technology can positively impact our lives out in the physical world. They have created unique multiplayer AR experiences that blend the real and digital worlds for mobile phones, and AR headsets from Qualcomm and Magic Leap. The team has built dozens of experiences and supported projects ranging from interactive theater to AR skateboarding to multiplayer AR demos, and more.

We’re excited to welcome NZXR to Niantic and continue building the future of AR and the real-world metaverse together. For NZXR’s shared perspective on the news, please see the blog post from James Everett, the co-founder of NZXR.

-Dennis Hwang, VP of Visual and Interaction Design