Seismic Games, the studio behind Google Daydream’s Blade Runner: Revelations (2018), has been acquired by Niantic, the force behind popular location-based games Pokémon GO, Ingress, and the upcoming Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

Seismic Games released the news via a blog post, saying that from now on the team will be working closely with Niantic on “exciting new projects that will add depth to their narrative-driven releases and to help evolve the Niantic Real World Platform.”

Niantic’s recently announced Real World Platform is an upcoming AR platform that aims to blend machine learning and computer vision to tackle the classic challenge of building a useful and realistic AR experience on mobile devices. The company will also allow third-party access to the platform.

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“We recently gave a peek under the hood of the Niantic Real World Platform, and we see the addition of Seismic Games as a significant accelerant for realizing our vision of an operating system that bridges the digital and the physical worlds,” Niantic said in a statement.

The acquisition amount is still undisclosed at this time (although we can bet it wasn’t in PokéCoins).

Seismic says they’ve also been working on “a couple of new licensed IP projects,” which if they’re anything like their past work on the mobile title MARVEL Strikeforce or Daydream’s Blade Runner: Revelations, we’re likely in for a mobile-optimized treat.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Lucidfeuer

    It’s very odd they would invest in Seismic given how stalling their game has been. They’re also doing everything to alienate their players and have them quit with their exclusivity and rare bullshit.