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‘Pokémon GO’ dev Niantic nabs up to $30 million in funding from Google, Nintendo, and Pokemon
Augmented Reality game studio Niantic Inc has raised over $20 million in Series A funding, with investments from Google Inc, Nintendo Co Ltd, and The Pokémon Company. The developer also stands to raise an additional $10 million from its investors on the condition that it meets certain milestones.
Niantic is best known for AR mobile games like Ingress and the upcoming Pokémon GO, both of which involve location-based gameplay that require players to move about their city to accomplish different objectives. The studio began as an internal startup incubated by Google, and its founder and CEO, John Hanke, had previously been a vice president at Google working on location-based projects like Google Earth and Google Maps. Niantic spun out from Google and became independent in August 2015.
In a recent blog post, Hanke said that the funding will be used “to continue the development of Pokémon GO, to evolve and grow Ingress and its thriving global community, and to build out our real-world gaming platform.”
Hanke said that Niantic is excited about its progress on Pokémon GO, and the studio is looking forward to releasing a game that is “true to the spirit of the original Pokémon games while extending gameplay out into the real world.”
Pokémon GO is set to release on mobile devices sometime next year, and players will also have the option of purchasing Pokémon GO Plus, a wearable Fitbit-like device that provides game alerts.
“Pokémon’s strategic investment in Niantic paves the way for a social mobile experience the world has never seen before,” Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company, said in a statement. “The Pokémon Company is committed to partnering with companies like Niantic that share the same spirit of community and innovation.”
Screenshot via The Official Pokémon Channel | YouTube
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