2024-08-20
Our Make Green Tuesday Moves campaign wouldn’t be possible without the support of our studio partners. Thanks to their passion and commitment to working with us to tackle the climate challenge, we are collectively leveraging the power of games to make a real impact.
So, we are throwing the spotlight on some of our awesome partners, highlighting their studios, their games and their ideals.
Here we speak to Niantic about its innovative AR pet franchise Peridot, exploring the concept, groundbreaking AI technology and involvement in the Make Green Tuesday Moves campaign…
Tell us about Peridot – when/how was the concept born?
When we started developing for Peridot in 2020, we never actually intended to initially build a game. At that time, we had created a few prototypes to showcase the power of our mobile AR platform technology in action. We quickly saw glimpses of promise for true fun and then decided to concept a more full-fledged game that would be experienced completely through camera-based AR. We were inspired by the idea of having a virtual companion that was always by your side and explored how to bring that to life in unique, fun, and compelling ways.
Your HQ is in the US, but you have teams in other territories. What benefits are brought about by having international teams? And how do you all collaborate?
We are a global company by nature in that we develop games and tech to be used that are culturally relevant everywhere. We’re lucky to have several international offices and talented teams that make important contributions to our games and the underlying technology. For example, the London office is the home of our R&D team that came up with many of the AR innovations that made Peridot possible.
You’re something of a specialist in AI-powered games – how did that come about?
Experiences like Peridot are powered by years of computer vision and AI research that enable us to lean into the real world for compelling gameplay moments. For example, the game experience can understand the difference between a water environment and a grassy environment, meaning that we can have specific gameplay experiences occur depending on the environment and what’s in it. We’ve also leveraged generative AI to bring even more sophisticated and life-like interactions to life for these digital creatures. For example, instead of manually programming a limited range of reactions when your creature encounters various elements in the real world, we can rely on a large language model to help determine how the creature might react in that situation and select appropriate responses from our vast library of animations.
What has been the secret of Peridot's success? And what have been the recent updates and additional features?
Our goal with Peridot was to deliver an innovative experience so new and different from anything else on the market. We wanted to push the boundaries of what the mobile smartphone technology could offer and bring to life a magical experience for our players. Following the launch of our mobile game in May of 2023, we’ve been able to foster a highly passionate community that really enjoys their virtual pets and the interactions they can have with them. Our team has continued our focus of innovating, experimenting, and inventing for the future, which is why we’ve expanded the franchise beyond the mobile device with experiences like Hello, Dot in May 2024 and more to come over time. We’re excited to continue delivering on that promise.
How do you see the future of the crossover between AI and games?
We believe that there are infinite possibilities to leverage generative AI to make games and game experiences more fun and compelling – all it requires is a bit of creativity. At Niantic we think deeply how gen AI can provide a greater depth to the experience or make the experience feel more immersive. In Peridot specifically, we’ve viewed the LLM as giving each Dot a ‘working, functioning, and sophisticated brain’ allowing for moments of unpredictability that feel natural and similar to how a real creature may react or respond to a situation.
Can you give us a hint of what we can expect next with Peridot?
We’re really excited about building for the future and thinking about ways that the Peridot IP can be leveraged for good. We’re keen to see what new spatial computing and wearable technologies come to life and explore what ways the Peridot franchise can be embedded on those platforms.
How does the Make Green Tuesday Moves fit with your CSR goals?
Niantic is inherently focused on making positive social impact in the world through action, in our products and out in the real world with our players. Our main tenants are sustainability and health, so we’re always looking for campaigns and projects that help support those themes. By participating in the Make Green Tuesday Moves campaign, we’re connecting in-game action with real world impact.
Niantic & Peridot Team Credits: Asim Ahmed, Sung An, Anika Benons, Alicia Berry, Jillian Bresnahan, Aaron Desin, Akshay Gawali, David Hollin, Will Jackson, Shan Jiang, Jessica Jung, Masa Kawashima, Nathan Pannell, Ashley Rosenbaum, Loren Sherman, Carrie Sloane, Yennie Solheim, Remi Sparks, Luis Tolosa and Rachel Windsor. You can find out more about Peridot here.
