Niantic donates $400,000 to create Niantic x RIT Geo Games and Media Research Lab
Niantic has donated $400,000 to create a new research lab at Rochester Institute of Technology that’s focused on location-based games.
In the Niantic x RIT Geo Games and Media Research Lab, researchers will work to better understand how people interact with location-based games and how they can be used for good. The donation will also fund scholarships for three students in RIT’s computing and information sciences Ph.D. program.
Location-based games, which are also known as geo games, use physical and digital media to create a game experience that incorporates elements of the ordinary world into gameplay, using augmented reality. These games aren’t played on the couch — they’re primarily played on mobile devices out in the real world and the experience depends on both the events on screen and the player’s position in the physical world.