What is Campfire? Niantic's AR social network explained

Niantic is the world's most prominent producer of augmented reality mobile games, with its most famous title being Pokemon Go.

Since these games require players to move around in the real world, it has become commonplace for people to organise meetups, in-game raids and tournaments using existing platforms like Discord and Reddit.

Now, though, Niantic is creating its own social platform for these purposes and it's called Campfire. So, let's dive in and find out what Campfire is all about.

What is Campfire?

Campfire is a companion app that will work with all of Niantic's AR experiences including Pokemon Go, Pikmin Bloom and the upcoming Transformers: Heavy Metal and Peridot games.

Niantic says the app starts with a map and adds people, events, communities, and messaging. In some ways, it's like Snapchat's Snap Map using real-time location data for socialising purposes.

Campfire will allow you to discover other players in your local area, message each other, share content and organise events and meetups. Niantic wants it to be the "homepage of the real-world Metaverse."

"There are the Niantic gaming communities that have already been formed all around the world, with tens of thousands of enthusiastic explorers. These local groups already exist," said Niantic CEO John Hanke at its Lightship Summit.

"We're giving them a platform to better conduct their activities and … for players to find these groups. Basically, just providing some tools to make all this smoother and easier for these users."

With the launch of Campfire, Niantic aims to provide a way for people to discover new creations designed to make the real world a more magical and entertaining place.

When can I use Campfire?

There's no date set in stone right now, but the feature is live in Niantic's development builds and the company says it will be coming soon to all Niantic experiences.

We'll be updating this article as soon as we know more.

Source : https://www.pocket-lint.com/apps/news/161284-what-is-campfire-niantic-s-ar-social-network-explained