Pokémon Go Creators Raise $ 300 Million To Build ‘Real-World Metaverse’ – Cryptoast

Niantic in turn launches into the metaverse

Video game creators Pokémon Go begin developing their own metaversee. Indeed, the American company Niantic just finalized a fundraising of $ 300 million with the investment fund Coatue. All of the collected funds will be used to build a metaverse.

Appeared on Android and iOS in 2016, the Pokémon Go video game is quickly becoming a real social phenomenon. The excitement is such that the action of Nintendo climbs by more than 90% a few days after the official release of the game.

After such a success, Niantic, who is behind this video game exploiting the Pokémon license, is counting on surfing the wave of metavers and create your own virtual world. However, unlike many projects choosing the 100% virtual route, Niantic is instead betting on augmented reality, to add a virtual overlay to the real world.

With its experience in the development of games using augmented reality, Niantic has all the cards in hand to create an immersive experience that its audience will find.

However, at this time, it is unclear whether Niantic’s future metaverse will in any way incorporate blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“Niantic is building a 3D world map-based augmented reality platform that we believe will play a critical role in the next IT transition,” said Matt Mazzeo, a general partner at Coatue. “We see this infrastructure supporting a metaverse for the real world and helping to fuel the next evolution of the Internet. “

Video of Niantic presenting his future metaverse

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A completely open metaverse?

Earlier this month, Niantic unveiled its development kit AR Lightship (ARDK), which provides free tools for developers to create augmented reality games, from the Unity game engine.

This initiative shows that Niantic is not closed to external contributions, and that his metaverse could be partly built by his community.

“We are building a future where the real world is layered with digital creations, entertainment and information, making it more magical, fun and educational,” said John Hanke, Founder and CEO of Niantic. “This will require a significant investment in terms of talent, technology and imagination, and we are delighted that Coatue is taking this trip with us. “

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