Niantic Labs, the minds behind Pokémon Go, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, and, prior to all that, Ingress, are specialists in augmented reality games. About the only thing that could make their efforts better would be the introduction of an easily-accessible pair of AR glasses. The concept is cool, but the execution could use a little work. Or could it…?
A nod to Niantic Labs
Exciting to see the progress we’re making to enable new kinds of devices that leverage our platform… pic.twitter.com/yYglk4q89G
— John Hanke (@johnhanke) March 29, 2021
Company CEO John Hanke (who we’re trying mightily not to refer to as Mr. Hanke, and failing miserably) tweeted something appropriately cryptic last night. He mentions new devices that leverage the company’s platform, and shows off a close-up of what looks like Niantic-branded glasses. We’re not sure about you but we don’t think they’re getting into the optometry game at all.
Niantic Labs is known to be actively working on a set of AR glasses, with a recent partnership with Qualcomm being the major avenue for the creation of reference hardware. The company reportedly doesn’t plan to release any hardware of its own, it’s just helping out with building something that’ll make its AR experiences a little more… real. What form that will take… that will have to wait for Hanke and the rest of the folks at Niantic stop teasing us.
Source: John Hanke (Twitter) via Engadget