Niantic has acquired 8th Wall, which assists developers in creating web-based augmented reality (AR) apps.

The acquisition of 8th Wall will “empower more Lightship developers to realize their visions for AR in the real-world metaverse”, according to Niantic’s SVP of engineering, mapping, and AR, Brian McClendon.

“We started 8th Wall to build powerful computer vision technology that would enable developers to create AR applications that could run everywhere seamlessly,” said Erik Murphy-Chutorian, CEO and founder of 8th Wall. “We did this with a complete set of tools to create WebAR. There is so much potential for web-based augmented reality and we will continue to unlock this through the lens of Niantic’s real-world AR universe. We are looking forward to working with Niantic to create the best planet-scale platform technologies to foster even more magical shared experiences.”

“As the way people experience AR continues to evolve, we look forward to working together to create the best planet-scale platform technologies for more shared experiences grounded in the real-world,” concluded McClendon.

Niantic says that with the acquisition, the company now offers one of the most complete sets of AR tools to build the real-world metaverse. 8th Wall platform to remain standalone as part of Niantic Lightship.