Pokemon Go founder and CEO, Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke wants to stay out of the metaverse conversation for now and focus on the future of worlds that can be superimposed over the real world, he said in a blog post. In it, he admits that the metaverse is a “cool concept” from a technological point of view. However, he also says that the novels and games based on this concept were actually “warning of a dystopian future of technology gone wrong”. Rather than delving deeper into the metaverse, Hanke would rather use technology to “lean into the ‘reality of augmented reality.'”
Explaining his company’s purpose, Hanke said they were focused on encouraging people “to get up, walk out and connect with people and the world around us.” He added that technology should be used to enhance the most important human experiences and not replace them.
In the blog published on Niantic’s website, Hanke says the benefits of technology in recent years have taken a “huge toll” on people, “more and more cutting us off from the experiences we enjoy most.”
Admitting that technology doesn’t disappear anywhere, as it shouldn’t, he explained that the first step in enabling technology to help us was by creating “technology that connects the real world (the atoms) to the digital world (the bit). Referring to the Lightship platform, he said the goal is to create a real experience enhanced by data, information and interactive technology.
He explained that building the real world metaverse relies on the intersection of two major tech ventures. The first was to synchronize the status of several million users along with the virtual objects they interact with. For this, he cited the example of the Niantic Lightship platform, “which supports Pokémon Go and all of our products and supports hundreds of millions of users around the world.”
The second is “associating users and objects precisely with the physical world,” Hanke said. “It requires a new kind of map,” he said, adding that Niantic was building that map, working with users.
He also added that Niantic is working on AR glasses suitable for outdoor use. “In this future version, Pokémon look like they’re really there,” explains the scope of the project.
“User privacy, responsible use, inclusive development processes, and recognizing and mitigating the potential impact of AR technology on societies should all be considered now, not after the fact,” emphasized Mr. Hanke, describing the company’s vision as an opportunity to “use technology to meet our needs, rather than the other way around.”
