Peridot

Peridot is a franchise by Niantic that blends augmented reality, mixed reality, and mobile gaming to create genetically unique AI pet companions. The core concept revolves around inventing the future with AI-driven creatures that exhibit distinct genetic traits, allowing each digital pet to have its own appearance, personality, and behavior. These pets are brought to life through various hardware and software experiences. One notable product is Peridot Mobile, a mobile game where players care for, raise, and breed AI pets that interact with the real world using location-aware technology. The game uses Niantic’s real-world mapping and spatial computing to let pets explore actual parks, streets, and landmarks, responding to the environment and the player’s movement. Players can feed, play with, and train their pets, while also discovering new genetic variants through breeding mechanics that combine traits from different “dot” lineages. Beyond mobile, Peridot extends into mixed reality with experiences like “Hello, Dot,” a free-to-play mixed-reality toy that projects the AI pet into the user’s physical space through AR glasses or MR headsets. This allows the pet to sit on tables, follow the player around a room, and respond to hand gestures or voice commands. The franchise also includes “Peridot Beyond,” a vision for advanced MR headsets that create a persistent, always-on companion that coexists with the user throughout the day. Using Niantic Spatial technology, the pet can remember locations, recognize objects, and even interact with other people’s pets when they are nearby. The AI companion learns from repeated interactions, such as favorite walking routes, preferred play activities, and emotional cues from the player’s tone or facial expressions. A key feature is the g