Google’s Niantic Labs to become independent company

A new perspective, concentrated on independence and autonomy, will allow Niantic to focus on growth, in order to become more close to investors and partners in the entire entertainment space.

Newsbrief: Niantic Labs, Google’s in-house game studio, and the team responsible for augmented reality cyberpunk thriller, Ingress, will soon become an independent company.

Niantic Labs is the developer of Ingress, a game which involves users traveling to different landmarks around the world, such as historical sites and public sculptures.

Niantic Labs and Ingress, both the firms were operating under the Google’s umbrella; however, after the split, the change will be implemented in the coming weeks.

Within the email Niantic sent out, they indicate that Google will be transferring that information over to them. “We’ll be taking out unique blend of exploration and fun to even bigger audiences with some incredible new partners joining Google as collaborators and backers”. It was through Hanke’s Keyhole produced technology that Google products such as Maps, Earth, and Streetview were born.

The new split is highly unusual for the way Google manages its resources and it means that Niantic Labs will no longer be part of Alphabet, another new company that will take shape later this year, aiming to include Google and other parts of the organization.

The split with Niantic suggested that Google might be looking to slim itself before the upcoming reorganisation.

Niantic Labs first launched Field Trip, and Android app which helps users find interesting places nearby. In case a user opts out, their data will be deleted from Google servers, and they will have to start from scratch if they want to play the game again.

Niantic Labs added that it will look to build upon the success that it found with Ingress, which has been downloaded over 12 million times and has attracted over 250,000 people to live events happening across the world.