Niantic acquires company that combines board games with digital elements

Niantic has acquired the London-based company Sensible Object. The company will now continue as Niantic London and will work on augmented reality games. Sensible Object made games that combine digital and physical elements.

Niantic says Sensible Object’s expertise will help develop “a wide range of gaming experiences that bring the physical and digital worlds closer together.” Exactly what the team will do is not yet known, but according to Niantic’s announcement, the employees will be working on “completely new augmented reality experiences.” Niantic doesn’t seem to want to use the team’s expertise for its existing games such as Ingress, Pokémon Go and Harry Potter Wizards Unite.

According to Sensible Objects, support will continue to exist for the games it previously released itself. The company specifically mentions customer service and maintenance of apps. Niantic states in the announcement of the acquisition that it is a transition period in which support will be given. Financial details of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

Sensible Objects was founded in 2014 and has since released a number of games that combine physical and digital elements. For example, in 2017 the studio released the quiz game When in Rome, in which an Amazon Alexa serves as a presenter. Last year, Beasts of Balance came out, a game that combines physical elements and cards with an iOS app.