Peridot shuts down today as Niantic Spatial exits one of its most experimental AR games

Niantic Spatial's Peridot reaches the end of service today, August 31, closing a little more than three years after its global launch in May 2023. The augmented-reality pet game was one of Niantic's most technically ambitious experiments outside Pokémon GO, using computer vision to place virtual creatures called Dots into real environments and allow them to understand surfaces and objects around them.

Niantic disabled in-app purchases earlier this year and removed the game from mobile storefronts in May, giving remaining players several months to spend currency and interact with their creatures before the servers closed. Peridot's shutdown is notable because much of the underlying technology remains relevant to Niantic Spatial's broader ambitions in geospatial computing and AI. Commercial success and technical sophistication are not always the same thing.

Players may appreciate advanced AR interactions without adopting the long-term progression loop necessary to sustain a live game. Peridot therefore becomes an instructive example of how difficult it remains to build large mobile businesses around augmented reality without an enormous existing entertainment franchise.