The concept of augmented reality gaming isn’t really all that new, but admittedly it took off in a huge way when Niantic launched Pokemon GO. We imagine that the popularity of the Pokemon franchise probably played a big role in helping the game achieve its success, but regardless, it did help take AR gaming to the mainstream.
Now it looks like Niantic’s next trick could be to convince people to wear AR glasses while playing games. This was announced during Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit where Niantic revealed that they would be working with Qualcomm on the Snapdragon XR2 platform, the successor to the XR1.
For those who are unfamiliar, the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 is a reference design for a pair of AR glasses. The XR2 will be its successor where it is expected to introduce new features like 5G connectivity (meaning that you might not need to be tethered to your phone to use it), and also voice-based interactions.
Qualcomm also revealed that there are five manufacturers (who were not named) who are working with the company on building the hardware for it, and that products based on the XR2 are expected in the second half of 2020. With Niantic’s games like Pokemon GO, Harry Potter, and Ingress all based on AR, it will be interesting to see how they might be played using such a device.
Filed in . Read more about Augmented Reality (AR), Niantic, Pokémon GO and Qualcomm. Source: nianticlabs