John Hanke, the founder, and CEO of Niantic wants people to understand that a society living in the metaverse is not a positive. In fact, the man who helped make Pokemon GO as big as it is, wants to make sure society at large understands that stories that involved the metaverse were supposed to serve as warnings for the future.
Hanke wrote a lengthy blogpost on Niantic's official website where he talked about his fears regarding the metaverse. In part, he wrote that he believes any more towards a metaverse would mean that the world was heading towards a "dystopian nightmare."
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Hanke started the post by pointing out that he thinks a lot of people are looking at the metaverse as something to aim for in regards to society at large. He added that some of the biggest names in tech and gaming are seemingly endorsing the near-future vision of a world where everyone is in a virtual reality simulation almost all of the time. The Niantic founder then explained that all of those stories were supposed to be sending the opposite message. They were supposed to be telling people why a metaverse isn't something to aim for, but rather run from.
Hanke is not someone who is anti-technology. As the founder of the company behind Pokemon GO he understands the importance of Augmented Reality. However, he said that he doesn't want people to get lost in technology.
Hanke said that people can use technology to "lean into" the reality of AR. Instead of getting online and staying online, the Pokemon GO creator wants people to stand up, go outside and interact with others. In the Niantic CEO's view, technology is not something that should be used to replace everyday life. Escapism is good, but it shouldn't be the only thing people are aiming for in their free time.
It seems as if Hanke's interest in coming up with games that deal with real-world interactions shows up in the kind of games that Niantic continues to develop. Certainly, the company is best known for Pokemon GO but there are plenty of AR augmented games in its catalog. Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, Ingress Prime, and the upcoming Transformers: Heavy Metal all use AR technology to allow players to go outside and interact with their surroundings while also playing a video game. Hanke also said that his company is working hard to make the AR experience better, perhaps to help people stay further away from a metaverse future.
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Source: John Hanke – Niantic
