- Kojima Productions and Niantic Spatial partner to leverage latter’s geospatial AI technology.
- Project’s scope looks huge, hinting at potential city-wide adventures for players.
A surprise announcement by popular video game creator Hideo Kojima got fans talking at Beyond The Strand, Kojima Productions’ 10th anniversary event. Kojima stepped on stage with Niantic CEO John Hanke to reveal a partnership that could bring Kojima’s iconic stories into the real world using Niantic’s geospatial AI technology.
If you’ve played Pokémon GO, you know Niantic has been levelling up AR on mobile for years. Since then, their ambitions have only grown, and this project feels like a perfect fit for phones. The partnership teaser showed scenes where a person interacts with digital objects over real-world objects.
Niantic Spatial brings advanced AR tech to create interactive mobile experiences
You can see the central character catching a “seed“, marking an artifact canvas, as he plants it to make it a tree, all in the AR world. This is kind of like Pokémon GO, where you catch Pokémon, but way more Kojima-style. The scope looks massive, and honestly, this could easily become an experience you can explore around your city.
John Hanke said that they are “building a living model of the world that people and machines can talk to, creating a new canvas for real-world storytelling and interaction.” He expressed delight to be working with KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS, and is looking forward “to exploring what our combined creativity and innovation can accomplish for new and existing fans.”
Honestly, with these visuals, it seems like mobile will be the perfect fit for this kind of storytelling. It doesn’t feel like just another AR gimmick, as it feels like the next step for mobile experiences. AR, in everyday life, is just an awesome way to tell a story.
KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS has an amazing storytelling record, but mobile hasn’t been its launch area. Death Stranding: Director’s Cut came to mobile last year, but only on iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max and above, which is a small audience on handheld devices.
Niantic, on the other hand, makes AR experiences for a wide range of devices, which gives me confidence that this collaboration could actually reach most mobile players. More details are expected to come out soon, so exciting days!
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