At Niantic, we’re focused on delivering amazing, shared AR experiences through the conduit of our real-world AR mobile games. The ongoing rollout of Verizon’s 5G network and compatible ecosystem devices presents a number of exciting opportunities; we’re confident they will accelerate our vision of bridging the physical and digital worlds with advanced AR functionality, such as real-time synchronous multiplayer AR experiences in a shared environment.
Earlier this month, we began actively testing on Verizon’s MEC in a lab environment for the development of an exclusive real-world AR experience. This is a key outcome of the Niantic Planet-Scale AR Alliance that we initiated last year, and we’re thrilled to progress this work as partners.
These early trials demonstrate how 5G Ultra Wideband and MEC enable further throughput and ultra low-latency that will enable truly next-level experiences – those that were once only achievable on game consoles. These tests prove we will scale on smartphones, and this is only the beginning of the next era for gaming.
Industry collaboration is an important driver of consumer AR for the devices and networks of today–and those of tomorrow. We believe working together with a broad group of partners is the best way to develop and promote the adoption of consumer AR, while continuing to amaze Niantic explorers with great experiences.
Together with Verizon, we’re progressing a shared goal of creating amazing real-world AR experiences that demonstrate the possibilities of 5G. We’re excited to continue our work with Verizon to push these efforts forward.

– The Niantic team