Congrats Henry!

We're talking trend fatigue! 💤 Trend-hopping gets clicks, but at what cost to authenticity? Final takeaway: use trends with purpose.

Niantic Spatial’s @tomglover.bsky.social put it best when he said “It’s better to lean into strategic story-telling than just the meme.” ✨

#YAS2026 #Battenhall

Mapping the future of cities starts here. 🌍

SF Mayor Daniel Lurie visited the Niantic Spatial office, then joined CEO John Hanke for a walk through Fisherman’s Wharf to see how geospatial AI and Niantic VPS help robots & AR glasses understand the real world.

KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS and Niantic Spatial: A New Dawn YouTube video by Niantic Spatial

This week @nianticspatial.bsky.social announced an exciting new technology partnership with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS to bring the work of @hideokojimaen.bsky.kojimaproductions.jp into the real world. youtu.be/oKyj6CDUH64?...

Meet Dot, a cute local guide that helps you discover your surroundings. We partnered with Niantic Spatial and Snap, and developed the concept, UX and the AI brain that drives the experience.

#creative #technology #AR #AI #context #peridot #hyperlocal

Niantic Spatial SDK brings centimeter-accurate outdoor VPS, live scene meshing, and semantic segmentation to Quest 3 & Quest 3S.

Details here: www.uploadvr.com/niantic-spat...

Meow Wolf's Weird Physical Universe Is Planning to Extend Into Augmented Reality Exclusive: The creators of Pokemon Go and the artists behind a series of hallucinatory installation exhibits are combining to create an augmented-reality portal universe. They talked to me about what'...

More news today from @NianticSpatial at #AWE - we’re teaming up with the imaginative minds at @MeowWolf to expand their universe beyond physical walls and into the world of #AR www.cnet.com/tech/computi...

More exciting news from @nianticspatial.bsky.social today. We've announced a partnership with Snap Inc. to build a next generation #AI map that will serve as the foundation for #AR glasses and AI agents to understand, navigate and interact with the real world.

Pokemon Go Made Niantic Billions. Now It’s Ditching Gaming For AI. Niantic was still raking in hundreds of millions a year from the beloved mobile game when CEO John Hanke decided to sell its games business and pivot to enterprise AI. Why blow it all up now?

New: I chatted with Niantic CEO John Hanke and other company brass about the bombshell decision to sell off Pokemon Go and the rest of the games business and pivot to enterprise AI.  “It was like two bodies running a three-legged race,” one investor said.
www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

Pokemon Go Made Niantic Billions. Now It’s Ditching Gaming For AI. Niantic was still raking in hundreds of millions a year from the beloved mobile game when CEO John Hanke decided to sell its games business and pivot to enterprise AI. Why blow it all up now?

www.forbes.com/sites/richar...

It’s a big day for @niantic-labs.bsky.social! We’ve reached an agreement for Scopely to acquire our games business and we’re spinning off our pioneering geospatial AI business into a new company, Niantic Spacial Inc.

Monster Hunter Wilds review – prepare for the most epic fight of your life Supercharged by modern gaming technology, this venerable action series has never been more fun

Monster Hunter Wilds is relentlessly awesome. I used to play this game with my hands clawed around a PSP, fighting dragons on a tiny screen. It's so huge & beautiful now that it takes my breath away. Veterans be aware: the challenge starts AFTER the story's over

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/f...

Good to see that Peter Mandelson used, um, diplomatic language when @georgewparker.bsky.social asked him about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

on.ft.com/4hmbvNG

Meta sinks more than $100bn into virtual reality and smart glasses bet Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has declared 2025 will be a ‘defining year’ after more than a decade of heavy losses

Meta sinks more than $100bn into virtual reality and smart glasses bet

www.ft.com/content/c513949e-3fc1-43...

Illustration of Amber outside Regenerating Gaming LTD, with people looking through the shop window or entering the shop, with Niantic and Safe In Our World logo.

"I was shy growing up and often felt people around me did not understand my hobbies. After I accepted who I am and the love I have for my hobbies, I was able to express myself more and naturally attracted other like-minded people." safeinourworld.org

We've been chatting with some friends of Safe In Our World! Starting with @cherebi.bsky.social 💚

We asked Amber for her thoughts on loneliness and how video games can help us build friendships and a sense of self.

Here's what she said about her own experience.

DeepSeek challenges the "bigger is better" narrative underpinning the AI arms race in recent years and suggests we may see more investment into smaller startups (Kevin Roose/New York Times)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

oh my god the fuckers are trying to destroy the best thing about Leicester Square so they can make a horrible windowless coffin hotel

Hello! 👋

Get ready for Pokémon GO Tour: Unova with the Road to Unova event!

As well as Pokémon Go's first battle pass ahead of Unova Go Tour Global, we're also getting shiny Meloetta Masterwork research, a Pokédex update, and what sounds like an increase in wild spawns in both "number" and area 👀 A big week!

Go wild with MH Wilds Collab Event I, coming soon! – Monster Hunter Now

Between February 1st and March 31st, playing Monster Hunter Now will grant you rewards for Monster Hunter Wilds:

Amazing ❤️

Beautiful if frosty morning in Stratford for a day of swimming 🏊‍♀️

A time for truth and reconciliation Trump’s return to the White House augurs the ‘apokálypsis’ of the ancien regime’s secrets

I cannot recommend enough that you read this op-ed written by Peter Thiel in the FT today (free to read!) for a direct look inside the mind and grievances of the libertarian tech billionaires who have helped Trump to power - and what they want next

www.ft.com/content/a46c...

a man and a woman are sitting next to each other with the woman saying wondered the same thing ALT: a man and a woman are sitting next to each other with the woman saying wondered the same thing

The Silo is one of the best things on TV. Such a great end of work Friday bonus.

Scott Stein wraps up the smart glasses news from CES www.cnet.com/tech/computi...

VG247 budget is committed to existing contracts in the short term, but over the next few months I'm anticipating some changes - freelancers, especially those with good interview and feature experience, make yourselves known.

The Video Games Industry Memo reader starter pack is up now.

Get yourself added to it by liking this tweet ❤️

Or follow the people contained within it by thwacking the link below👇

go.bsky.app/HxU4bNy

Apple steps up expansion of its News platform Tech group now a force in driving revenues for publishers in US, UK, Canada and Australia

Apple steps up expansion of its News platform

www.ft.com/content/48685786-f0fc-43...

Sources: Apple plans to expand Apple News in more countries and considered building locally focused news coverage in the UK; Apple News has 125M monthly users (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)

Main Link | Techmeme Permalink

Planning a summer holiday? Here are the dates for this year’s #PokemonGOFest2025!

🌏 Osaka, Japan: May 29–June 1

🌎Jersey City, New Jersey: June 6–8

🌍Paris, France: June 13–15

Stay tuned for more information!