Coatue just invested $300 million in Niantic's "real-world metaverse." Read more!
The creator of the famous augmented reality game Pokémon Go has reportedly raised enough funding to build its own metaverse. The company, Niantic, revealed the achievement of their $300 million funding goal.
Niantic says this money will be invested in the creation of a metaverse that will be just like the “real world.”
Where Did the Funding Come From?
On Nov. 22, 2021, Niantic Inc. officially unveiled that the company, Coatue, has invested $300 million in the firm, valuing it at a whopping $9 billion.
Coatue Management L.L.C. is a well-known blockchain and cryptocurrency investor, having startups, including Chainalysis, an organization of blockchain analytics; Fireblocks, a cryptocurrency company; and CertiK, which is a blockchain security firm.
What Will the Niantic Metaverse Entail?
Niantic is developing an augmented reality (AR) platform on the basis of a 3D model of the planet that can definitely prove to be very important in the upcoming computing revolution, and likely will be a critical addition to the world of AR.
“We’re building a future where the real world is overlaid with digital creations, entertainment, and information, making it more magical, fun, and informative,” said Niantic’s CEO and founder, John Hanke. He further stated that this vision would require an investment of technology, talent, and imagination in order to come to fruition.
Will the Niantic Metaverse Make Use of Crypto or Blockchains?
Although Niantic didn't openly state whether they will implement or introduce non-fungible tokens (NFTs), blockchain technology, or cryptocurrency in its metaverse. However, with blockchain's increasing popularity amongst games and NFTs proving to be awesome collectibles, it would be quite fitting for Niantic to employ these features in its metaverse.
But all of this is speculation, as Niantic has not made any clear statements on the implementation of these technologies.
The Success of Pokémon Go
The objective of Niantic, as the company itself puts it, is to encourage people to discover the world collectively. This mission is clearly reflected in the collaborative spirit of Niantic's video games, such as Pokémon GO and Ingress, which are played by millions of gamers every month.
In particular, Niantic's Pokémon Go, which was released in 2016, is among the most popular smartphone games in history, with sales reportedly surpassing $5 billion in early 2021. Some gamers from the blockchain industry were influenced and intrigued by Pokémon Go to the extent that one software developing company, IoTeX, launched a project titled "PebbleGo," inspired by Pokémon Go. This goes to show how influential Niantic’s endeavors are in their field. One can only wonder what revolution their metaverse will bring about.
Final Thoughts
Unlike Facebook’s metaverse, which is based on virtual reality, Niantic’s metaverse is based on augmented reality. It has referred to VR headset-bound metaverses as a “dystopian nightmare,” which doesn’t come as much of a surprise given Niantic’s enthusiastic investments and projects related to AR.
Niantic aims to build such a technology (in this case, the metaverse) that allows people to be more connected to their real-life surroundings. The company believes that the connection between the physical and virtual world is important and one depends on the other to enrich the experiences of both.
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