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☆ 26-year-old cold-emailed a CEO weekly to get $150,000 for his startup: 'That's brilliant, and I hate you,' says Mark Cuban
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-22 | by ( Natalie Wu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Niantic initially rejected Bell's pitch, so he emailed the company's CEO once per week for three months — ultimately securing $150,000 in startup funds, Bell said. "That's brilliant, and I hate you, because now everybody out there is going to send us 600 emails a week," investor judge Mark Cuban told Bell in response. His Austin-based app, Card.io, is a social game where users compete for turf in their city by walking, running or biking. The app is free, with individual and group subscription tiers that remove ads and offer social media-type functions for members. "I told my mom, 'We're going to be on this show one day, Mom, and I'm going to bring you,'" he said.

Persons: Destin Bell, Bell, Niantic, Mark Cuban, Austin, Card.io Organizations: Developers Initiative, CNBC

☆ Capcom shares lunge 6% on 'Monster Hunter' mobile launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Sam Nussey | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

TOKYO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Japanese video game company Capcom (9697.T) enjoyed a 6% jump in its stock price on Monday as gamers flocked to the mobile instalment of its long-running "Monster Hunter" franchise, developed with "Pokemon Go" maker Niantic. "Monster Hunter Now", which combines monster fighting action with the location-based gameplay of "Pokemon Go", has been downloaded 5 million times since its Sept. 14 launch, Niantic said last week. The strong start is a boost for Capcom, whose shares have gained a third this year supported by the strength of franchises such as "Resident Evil". In Japan, where the "Monster Hunter" franchise has a loyal following, the new game is the top grossing app on Apple's iOS, showed data from Sensor Tower, ahead of local favourites such as horse racing idol game "Uma Musume Pretty Darby" and manga app Piccoma. "Monster Hunter Now" has received praise for translating the storied series for a mobile audience.

Persons: Hunter, Niantic, Darby, Serkan Toto, Sam Nussey, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Capcom, Kantan Games, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Japan

LOS ANGELES, July 25(Reuters) - Fans who play Pokemon late into the night have a new incentive to get to bed in the form of a sleep app that rewards them with the franchise's signature monsters. Pokemon Co, Niantic and Nintendo (7974.T), the companies behind the wildly popular Pokemon Go augmented reality mobile game, released Pokemon Sleep this month. The app monitors sleep through the user's phone, placed on the bed. Originating in Japan in the 1990s, Pokemon, named for "pocket monsters," spawned a global multi-billion dollar media franchise spanning trading cards, games, TV shows and movies. “Pokémon Sleep provides another opportunity for anyone with a smart device to interact with Pokémon and provides an opportunity to look forward to waking up in the morning and also to get lots of sleep,” said Yuri Horie, product marketing manager at The Pokémon Co.

Persons: ”, Yuri Horie, Danielle Broadway, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: Nintendo, Thomson Locations: ANGELES, Japan

☆ Meta's new Threads app gained an 'unprecedented' 150 million downloads in under two weeks. Now it has to keep users happy.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

With 150 million downloads, Threads set a new record for app growth far surpassing Pokémon Go. Threads has kept about 100 million active users a week, according to a data research firm. Instagram Threads continued to set a growth record into its second week, surpassing 150 million downloads of the app. 100 million active users a week is about one-fifth of the user base of Twitter, Data.ai added. When Zuckerberg posted on Sunday about hitting 100 million sign-ups, that meant Threads had seen an average of 20 million sign-ups each day.

Persons: Pokémon, Randy Nelson, Nelson, Data.ai, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Cox, I've, Zuckerberg, Cox, Andrew Bosworth, Naomi Gleit, Charles Organizations: Twitter, Meta, Elon, CNBC Locations: Niantic, India, Brazil, US, Mexico, Japan

☆ Pokemon Go maker Niantic is laying off 230 employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Niantic, the creator of hit mobile game Pokemon Go, announced it is laying off 230 employees and reorganizing its business as it grapples with new macroeconomic uncertainty. In a letter to staff announcing the job cuts, Niantic CEO John Hanke said the company is taking other significant actions as well: shuttering its Los Angeles studio, sunsetting its NBA All-World game and halting production on Marvel: World of Heroes. The privately held company’s breakout hit, Pokemon Go, was among the first mobile games to embrace augmented reality when it launched in 2016. “In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively, expanding existing game teams, our AR platform work, new game projects and roles that support our products and our employees,” Hanke wrote. Eventually, however, “our revenue returned to pre-Covid levels and new projects in games and platform have not delivered revenues commensurate with those investments,” he added.

Persons: New York CNN — Niantic, John Hanke, sunsetting, Hanke, ” Hanke, “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, NBA, Marvel, Layoffs.fyi Locations: New York, Los Angeles

☆ The biggest takeaways from Microsoft's courtroom showdown with the FTC over Activision Blizzard
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +21 min

The impulse to expand Microsoft's gaming business on mobile devices at least in part inspired the Activision acquisition. The impulse to expand Microsoft's gaming business on mobile devices at least in part inspired the Activision acquisition. Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, wasn't happy with a Microsoft-generated list of Activision Blizzard games that would remain accessible on the PlayStation after the acquisition closes. Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, wasn't happy with a Microsoft-generated list of Activision Blizzard games that would remain accessible on the PlayStation after the acquisition closes. Activision Blizzard and Microsoft have agreed to terminate the deal if it's not done by July 18.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Phil Spencer, Spencer, James Weingarten, Weingarten, Jim Ryan, Sony, Ryan, Amy Hood, Bobby Kotick, Sarah Bond, Kotick, Amazon Weingarten, Bond, Tim Stuart, Nadella, Bernstein, Mark Moerdler, Hood, Stuart, it's, Jacqueline Scott Corley, she'll Organizations: Northern, Northern District of, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Sony, PlayStation, Mobile, Activision, Xbox, Zynga, Sega Sammy, Nintendo, Enix, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Management, Sony Group, Amazon, Microsoft's Xbox, Bernstein Research, Symantec, Sony PlayStation Locations: U.S, Northern District, Northern District of California, San Francisco, cybersecurity, United Kingdom, FarmVille, Asia, Japan, Tokyo

☆ Niantic Is Laying Off Around 25% of Its Workforce, Shutting Down Some Games
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Preetika Rana | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Niantic Is Laying Off 230 Employees, Shutting Down Some Games
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Preetika Rana | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Pokemon Go maker Niantic lays off 230 employees, cancels games
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Pokemon Go players are seen in search of Pokemon and other in-game items in the Pasadena Playhouse District. Niantic, a mobile games developer based in San Francisco, announced Thursday that it would lay off 230 employees as part of a reorganization. It will also shutter a Los Angeles-based studio, where most of the affected employees are based. The move highlights how the mobile games industry has shifted in the years since Niantic landed its first major hit, Pokemon Go, in 2016. Overall, App Store spending on games declined 5% in 2020 to $110 billion, according to an estimate from Data.ai, a research firm.

Persons: John Hanke, Niantic, Hanke, Pokémon Organizations: Pasadena Playhouse, Marvel, Apple, Google, Meta, Quest Locations: Pasadena, San Francisco, Angeles, Silicon

☆ Businesses Seek Out ChatGPT-Tech for Searching and Analyzing Their Own Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Belle Lin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the recent Google I/O keynote session. Photo: josh edelson/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesThe hope that searching workplace documents could match the ease and efficiency of a consumer search engine has been largely unrealized. But now generative artificial intelligence may offer potential to help businesses do just that. So far, companies “have been unable to find and [deliver] an enterprise search that came even within an order of magnitude as good as Google search is outside,” said Brian McClendon, senior vice president of engineering at software development and gaming company Niantic.

NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O) said on Tuesday it had begun selling users of mobile games related physical items such as T-shirts and toys as it teamed up with the makers of Pokemon GO to provide merchandise related to a new game. The e-retailer announced a business-to-business program called Amazon Anywhere allowing video game makers to sell goods directly through their respective platforms. However, most retailers to date have focused on making digital replicas of physical goods, rather than selling related real-life merchandise. Amazon Anywhere will be offered to any gaming company that wants to turn its platform into an e-commerce site, the retailer said, allowing players to shop from video games, augmented reality apps and other mobile apps. The Amazon service is now available on Peridot, an augmented reality pet game made by Pokemon GO developer Niantic.

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