A year ago, Niantic welcomed the 8th Wall team to complement and expand our set of AR tools and services to build the real-world metaverse. With that acquisition of the leading WebAR development platform, we greatly enhanced our ability to power AR everywhere.

Since combining forces, we’ve seen our teams come together and implement Niantic Lightship technology and services, as well as core Niantic Research breakthroughs, into the 8th Wall product mix. The energy and heart that this team infused into Niantic was immediate, and their ability to ideate and ship on first-to-browser features has exceeded our expectations.

Within three months of the launch of Lightship VPS, the teams were able to quickly release Lightship VPS for Web, which allows anyone to create webAR content and anchor it to a specific location with incredible precision. Lightship VPS enables us to deliver the most accurate, dynamic 3D map of the world, and by making it seamlessly available to both Lightship and 8th Wall developers, we are able to help power more experiences where precise location matters as much as the delivery of rich, engaging AR experiences. Better, those experiences can persist and bring developer built and user generated content together in magical new ways. The expansion of this service and an exciting set of experiences to come are one of the things we’re most looking forward to in year two as one team.

Together, we’ve also helped our 8th Wall team scale their business, becoming the go-to destination for consumers to experience webAR, as well as supporting more than 2,500 commercial experiences to date with top brands like Bloomingdales, Coca-Cola and Burger King.

What’s more, we’re continuing to make AR more accessible. By bringing Niantic technology to the web, we’re expanding the footprint and possibility of AR by supporting devices globally, including the more than 5 billion mobile devices across iOS and Android, most of which do not have LiDAR, as well as computers and head mounted devices. This will only become more important in the years ahead as next generation hardware unlocks the full potential of AR, and more brands and businesses discover the power of this technology to help bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds.

Since the beginning of the company, Niantic has set out to build AR technology that enables people to connect to others, discover new places, and play with friends in the real world. With the acquisition of 8th Wall, we’ve been able to provide the tools and services that developers want and need to create more AR experiences for everyone to enjoy.

We know we are just getting started in many ways, especially as today’s web and mobile experiences grow to include new form factors in the coming years. But as we drive our industry forward, we are excited to continue to find ways to power AR everywhere with 8th Wall.

– Caitlin Lacey, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Developer Platforms