Today (March 11) Pokémon GO developer Niantic announced that it has acquired web-based augmented reality developer 8th Wall. Founded in 2019, 8th Wall provides an augmented reality development platform for creators across PC, mobile and AR/VR devices. The developer says it will continue as a separate entity and will join Niantic’s AR engineering group.
Additionally, the acquisition is said to further expand Niantic’s Lightship development kit offering. Erik Murphy-Chutorian, CEO and founder of 8th Wall, said: “There is a lot of potential in web-based augmented reality, and we will continue to do so with Niantic’s direction for the real-world AR world.”
“We look forward to working with Niantic to create the best planetary-scale platform technology to foster even more amazing shared experiences.”
The acquisition comes a year after Niantic acquired social media site Lowkey, API solutions developer Hoss, 3D mobile scanning app Scaniverse and community gaming platform Mayhem.