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Peridot

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Peridot
Information
VR/AR Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality
Developer Niantic, Niantic Spatial; Nerd Ninjas (Peridot Beyond, in collaboration)
Publisher Niantic, Niantic Spatial
Platform iOS, Android, Meta Horizon OS, VisionOS, Snap OS
Device Smartphones, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Apple Vision Pro, Snap Spectacles 2024
Operating System iOS, Android, Meta Horizon OS, VisionOS, Snap OS
Type Game
Genre Simulation
Input Device Touchscreen (mobile), Hand tracking (Hello, Dot)
Game Mode Single-player, Multiplayer
Release Date 9 May 2023 (mobile, worldwide)
Price Mobile: free-to-play with in-app purchases; Hello, Dot: free
App Store App Store, Google Play, Meta Horizon Store
Website https://playperidot.com/
See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Peridot is an augmented reality virtual pet franchise created by Niantic, the company that developed Pokémon Go. It began as a free-to-play mobile game for iOS and Android in which players raise and breed procedurally generated creatures called Peridots, or "Dots", that appear in the real world through the phone camera. The mobile game soft-launched in selected markets in April 2022 and launched worldwide on 9 May 2023.[1][2][3]

The franchise later moved onto headsets and glasses. Hello, Dot, a free mixed reality spin-off, came to Meta Quest 3 in May 2024 and to Apple Vision Pro in November 2024, and Peridot Beyond was built for Snap's fifth-generation Spectacles AR glasses, which were announced in September 2024.[4][5][6] When Niantic sold its games business to Scopely in 2025, Peridot stayed with the newly formed Niantic Spatial.[7] On 23 April 2026 Niantic Spatial announced that it was winding down the mobile game, with its servers scheduled to close on 31 August 2026, while Hello, Dot and Peridot Beyond continue.[8]

Reviewed 6 October 2026. Release dates, platforms, soft launch, Nest and AI updates, Niantic Spatial transfer, Project Jade, mobile shutdown dates, review scores and award checked against official Peridot, Niantic Spatial, Snap, Meta, Scopely and App Store pages and the cited press and reviews. About review dates.

Gameplay

Mobile game

In Niantic's announcement, the Dots are creatures waking after "thousands of years of slumber" to a changed world, and players act as Keepers who raise them from birth to adulthood and breed them to diversify the species.[9] Players pet, feed and play fetch with their Dot, teach it tricks, dress it up and take photos and videos of it.[10] Reviewing the game for The Verge, Andrew Webster described the Dot's two main needs as eating and playing. Dots cannot die, but they are sad until those needs are met, and fulfilling their changing "desires" makes them grow through baby, teen and adult stages.[11]

The game runs entirely in AR. To forage, the player draws a circle on the screen and the Dot digs there; the food found depends on the surface it recognizes, such as water or sand. According to The Verge, Dots also sniff flowers and real pets and walk along the sidewalk ahead of the player.[11] At the 2022 announcement, Niantic told TechCrunch that Dots could distinguish terrain types such as grass, sand, water and dirt in camera-based AR, and that a Dot might ask to be taken to a nearby real-world point of interest.[1] Niantic said the game uses the real-time mapping, occlusion and semantic segmentation features of its Lightship platform.[12]

Adult Dots can be bred with other players' Dots in a process called Hatching, and offspring inherit traits from both parents. Niantic calls this genetics system "Perigenetics" and says each Dot is procedurally generated with unique DNA; it put the number of possible variations at 2.3 x 1024.[10] Certain trait combinations are marked as "Archetypes", such as "Unicorn" and "Clownfish".[2] Hatching requires Nests. At launch, Niantic's social app Campfire was built into the game so that players could find breeding partners.[11][13]

Hello, Dot

Hello, Dot is a mixed reality experience that places a Dot in the player's room using passthrough. Players use hand tracking to pet the Dot, pick it up, toss it in the air, dance with it and direct it by pointing, and can change its color by dipping it in a paint bucket.[12][14][15] UploadVR called it the first standout example of dynamic occlusion on Quest 3, describing a moment when the Dot was hidden until the reviewer lifted a laptop.[14] MIXED, which noted that it was Niantic's first native Quest app and required the Quest 3's space setup, agreed with Niantic's description of it as a showcase app of interest mainly to technology enthusiasts, and wrote that its shadow-casting and object occlusion effects were "not very convincing".[15]

The version that left early access on Quest 3 in May 2025 added an arcade-style machine that appears in the room. Pulling its lever selects activities such as Play Dates, Dotball (described by Niantic as "dodgeball with your Dot"), and an Eating Contest. These earn in-game currency for outfits and items. The update also added a generative AI customizer: the player describes a look into a virtual microphone and then dips the Dot in a paint bucket to apply it.[16]

Peridot Beyond

Peridot Beyond is designed for outdoor play on Spectacles. Players can pet their Dots up close, look for food for them while walking and play catch with them.[6] In a hands-on at the glasses' reveal, UploadVR's Ian Hamilton noted that a dotted line arcs toward the creature when it is out of view, and that it followed him from indoors into sunlight while the lenses tinted automatically.[17] A March 2025 update used Snap's Spectacles Sync Kit to make the experience multiplayer, letting friends wearing Spectacles walk together and interact with each other's Dots, and used Spectacles Mobile Kit to link it to the mobile game so that progress on the glasses earned rewards on the phone.[18][19]

Development

Niantic revealed Peridot in April 2022 as an original franchise. Senior producer Ziah Fogel wrote the announcement, and TechCrunch reported that soft-launch beta testing would begin that month in selected markets on the App Store and Google Play.[9][1] In May 2022 the team said the beta had been running for close to a month, with players in Malaysia, and by November 2022 it named Malaysia, Singapore and Norway as soft-launch regions. That November it also announced a 0.25 release that removed the original Nests system and Windchimes and reworked breeding around traits and rarity levels.[20][21] On 8 March 2023 Niantic set 9 May as the worldwide launch date and opened pre-registration. David Hollin, the game's creative director, offered a launch-exclusive party hat cosmetic to players who pre-registered and played in the first two weeks.[2] MacRumors reported that the game could already be downloaded from the App Store on 8 May 2023, a day before the official date.[3][22]

After launch, players asked for more ways to earn Nests without paying. In June 2023 Niantic said it would test alternatives with limited groups of new players, and in July 2023 it announced that from early August Nests would also be rewarded on every 30th daily login, at set Keeper levels and from at least one special quest per month.[23][24] Tuning changes announced for early March 2024 added Nests to the 7th, 14th and 21st daily login rewards and to the store for in-game currencies, and changed the Blight mechanic, in which players rescue Feral Dots, because Niantic said too much of the map remained blighted.[25]

Generative AI

In November 2023 Niantic announced that Dots would use generative AI to react to objects seen through the camera, for example by barking at animals or rolling in leftover food. Niantic said the system selects from a large library of animations instead of reactions programmed one by one.[26][27] According to Meta, Niantic's Lightship ARDK lets Dots recognize objects such as flowers, food and pets; a custom version of Meta's Llama 2 language model then takes each Dot's traits, such as personality and history, into account to decide how it reacts, choosing from the game's animation library.[28] A March 2024 update let players speak or type to their Dot. The Dot answers with gestures and emoji-style expressions rather than full conversation, using a custom version of Llama 2.[29]

Expansion to headsets and glasses

Niantic released Hello, Dot as an "early mixed reality showcase" to mark the mobile game's first anniversary. Asim Ahmed, the franchise's global product marketing lead, called it "the first step in the evolution of the Peridot franchise".[12] In September 2024 Niantic and Meta announced a partnership to expand Hello, Dot on Quest 3.[30] UploadVR reported that Niantic was planning a paid add-on for 2025 with playdates with other Dots, cosmetics and toys, and warned that the plans could still change; the version released in May 2025 was free.[16][31] Peridot Beyond was developed with the studio Nerd Ninjas, and Niantic was a launch partner for the fifth-generation Spectacles.[6] Snap said at its 17 September 2024 Partner Summit that Niantic would bring Peridot and Scaniverse to Spectacles.[32]

Move to Niantic Spatial

Scopely's March 2025 agreement to buy Niantic's games business left Peridot and Ingress Prime with Niantic Spatial, which would continue to own and operate both. The sale closed on 29 May 2025.[7] Before the split, the Peridot team said the mobile game would lose its Campfire integration and logins tied to the games going to Scopely, and would support only Peridot, Ingress and Scaniverse logins.[33] At Augmented World Expo USA 2025 in Long Beach, Niantic Spatial and Snap showed a preview of a Peridot experience outside the convention center.[34] The company calls that demo Project Jade. In it, Dot is an AI companion on Spectacles that answers questions about the wearer's surroundings using Niantic Spatial's Visual Positioning System. At Snap's Lens Fest on 16 October 2025 the company showed a version that guides visitors through a venue using maps generated from 2D floor plans, with conversational voice from Hume AI.[35][36]

Release

Title Platform Date Notes
Peridot iOS, Android April 2022 Soft launch in selected markets[1]
Peridot iOS, Android 9 May 2023 Worldwide launch; free-to-play with in-app purchases[2][11]
Hello, Dot Meta Quest 3 May 2024 Free early-access release on App Lab[4][14]
Peridot Beyond Snap Spectacles 2024 17 September 2024 Revealed with the glasses at the Snap Partner Summit[17][32]
Hello, Dot Apple Vision Pro 18 November 2024 Free on the visionOS App Store[5][37]
Peridot Beyond Snap Spectacles 2024 17 March 2025 Multiplayer update and link to the mobile game[19]
Hello, Dot Meta Quest 3 9 May 2025 Left early access; global free release with new gameplay[16][38]

In October 2024 UploadVR reported that Hello, Dot was available free on the Meta Horizon Store for Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S headsets.[31] On the App Store the Vision Pro version is listed as free, requiring visionOS 1.0 or later, and sold by Niantic Spatial, Inc.[37]

Mobile shutdown

Niantic Spatial disabled in-app purchases in the mobile game on 23 April 2026, removed it from the App Store and Google Play on 14 May 2026 and scheduled its servers to close on 31 August 2026. Past purchases are not refunded except where the law requires it.[8] The company said that "an always-on AR experience is one of the most technically demanding things you can build" and that, as the franchise grew into mixed reality and AR wearables, it had become harder to invest in the mobile game. It said the decision does not affect Ingress.[8][39] The announcement said Hello, Dot remains available on Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro and Peridot Beyond on Snap Spectacles (5th Generation), and that Niantic Spatial was exploring ways for players' creatures to carry forward into future experiences, with nothing announced.[8]

Reception

As of October 2026, Metacritic lists four critic reviews for the iOS version and shows no Metascore.[40]

Publication Score Date
TheGamer 3/5 (60 on Metacritic) 9 May 2023[13][40]
Everyeye.it 50 (Metacritic) 9 May 2023[40]
GLHF on Sports Illustrated 40 (Metacritic) 9 May 2023[40]
The Verge Unscored 9 May 2023[11]

Reviewers praised the AR technology more than the game around it. Webster called the AR "truly impressive" but found little to do with a Dot beyond a few daily feeding and play sessions. He also found the real-world map less interesting than in Niantic's Pikmin Bloom, because most of his Dots' desires could be met indoors.[11] Eric Switzer of TheGamer liked the way Dots react to flowers and pets, but criticized the Nest requirement for breeding, which he wrote cost US$5 per Nest at launch with no way to earn them for free, as well as the poorly explained currencies.[13]

Peridot won Best Mobile Family Game at the reader-voted Pocket Gamer Awards 2023.[41][42]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Amanda Silberling (2022-04-13). "Niantic's new game Peridot gives you VERY CUTE virtual pets". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/13/peridot-niantic-new-game/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 David Hollin. "Peridot is launching globally May 9th!". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/peridot-release-date. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Juli Clover (2023-05-08). "Pokemon GO Creator Niantic's New 'Peridot' Augmented Reality Pet Game Now Available". MacRumors. https://www.macrumors.com/2023/05/08/niantic-peridot-augmented-reality-game-launches/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Scott Hayden (2024-05-10). "'Pokemon Go' Studio Releases Mixed Reality Pet 'Hello, Dot', Now Available on Quest 3". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/niantic-virtual-pet-hello-dot-quest-3-release/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ian Hamilton (2024-11-18). "Niantic's Hello, Dot Arrives On Apple Vision Pro". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/niantics-hello-dot-arrives-on-apple-vision-pro/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Asim Ahmed. "Niantic's Peridot Beyond brings the Peridot franchise to Snap's outdoor-friendly AR glasses". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/peridot-beyond. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Scopely to acquire Niantic including Pokemon GO". Scopely. 2025-03-12. https://www.scopely.com/en/news/scopely-to-acquire-niantic-games-business-which-includes-pokemon-go-one-of-the-most-successful-mobile-games-of-all-time. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 "Saying Goodbye to the Peridot Mobile Game". Peridot. Niantic Spatial. 2026-04-23. https://playperidot.com/en/news/peridot-mobile-sunset. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ziah Fogel. "Introducing Peridot - Explore the World With Adorable Virtual Pets!". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/introducing-peridot. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Peridot is globally available for download now!". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/peridot-launch. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 Andrew Webster (2023-05-09). "Niantic's adorable pet game Peridot is a next-gen Tamagotchi". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/23715223/peridot-review-niantic-iphone-android-ar. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Asim Ahmed. "Experience the magic of mixed reality with Peridot!". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/hello-dot. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Eric Switzer (2023-05-09). "Peridot Review: Cute, Cuddly, Confusing, Costly". TheGamer. https://www.thegamer.com/peridot-review/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Ian Hamilton (2024-05-09). "Niantic's Hello, Dot Gives You A Mixed Reality Pet On Quest 3". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/pokemon-go-studio-niantic-lets-peridot-loose-on-quest/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Tomislav Bezmalinovic (2024-05-09). "Hello Dot is a Quest 3 exclusive mixed reality experience made by Niantic". MIXED. https://mixed-news.com/en/meta-quest-3-hello-dot/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Asim Ahmed (2025-05-09). "Niantic's Peridot launches "Hello, Dot" globally as free mixed-reality toy with all-new gameplay". Niantic Spatial. https://www.nianticspatial.com/blog/peridot-hello-dot-global. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Ian Hamilton (2024-09-17). "Hands-On With AR Peridot On Snap Spectacles". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/snap-spectacles-hands-on-peridot-pokemon/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  18. ↑ Asim Ahmed. "Niantic's Peridot Beyond releases major update including multiplayer AR for Snap's outdoor-friendly AR glasses, Spectacles". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/peridot-beyond-multiplayer. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Celebrating Six Months of Spectacles with New Lenses and Platform Features That Get You Outside". Snap Newsroom. Snap Inc.. 2025-03-17. https://newsroom.snap.com/six-months-of-spectacles. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  20. ↑ "Dot-veloper Insights: Digital Pets Made Real". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/dev-insights-may2022. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  21. ↑ "Dot-veloper Insights: Big changes and upcoming maintenance". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/dev-insights-nov2022. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  22. ↑ Jared Nelson (2023-03-08). "'Peridot', Niantic's Augmented Reality Virtual Pet Game, is Launching Globally May 9th". TouchArcade. https://toucharcade.com/2023/03/08/peridot-global-release-date-iphone-ipad-android/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  23. ↑ "We'll be running small tests for additional opportunities to earn Nests in-game". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/nest-experimentation-june2023. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  24. ↑ "More opportunities to earn Nests in-game!". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/nest-updates-07242023. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  25. ↑ "Coming soon: Game balancing and tuning changes!". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/game-tuning-updates-2024. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  26. ↑ "Bringing even more delight to Peridot with Generative AI". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/generative-ai. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  27. ↑ Aaron Astle (2023-11-16). "Niantic bringing generative AI to Peridot for "surprising" AR encounters". PocketGamer.biz. https://www.pocketgamer.biz/niantic-bringing-generative-ai-to-peridot-for-surprising-ar-encounters/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  28. ↑ "Niantic Uses Meta Llama to Bring Digital Creatures to Life". Meta AI. Meta Platforms. 2024-05-22. https://ai.meta.com/blog/niantic-peridot-llama/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  29. ↑ Iwan Morris (2024-03-14). "Niantic unveils major new AI update to Peridot that lets you 'talk' with your Dot". Pocket Gamer. https://www.pocketgamer.com/peridot/unveils-new-ai-update-that-lets-you-chat-with-dots/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  30. ↑ Asim Ahmed (2024-09-27). "Niantic and Meta partner to expand Peridot's Hello, Dot experience". Meta Quest Blog. Meta Platforms. https://www.meta.com/blog/peridot-meta-partnership/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Ian Hamilton (2024-10-01). "Niantic And Meta Plan Playdates For Hello, Dot On Quest Headsets". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/niantic-meta-playdates-hello-dot/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "SPS 2024 - Introducing New Spectacles and Snap OS: The Next Frontier of AR Glasses". Snap Newsroom. Snap Inc.. 2024-09-17. https://newsroom.snap.com/sps-2024-spectacles-snapos. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  33. ↑ "Getting Ready for Niantic Spatial". Peridot. Niantic. https://playperidot.com/en/news/peridot-nianticspatial. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  34. ↑ "Niantic Spatial unveils Snap partnership and demos at AWE 2025". Auganix. 2025-06-11. https://www.auganix.org/ar-news-niantic-snap-partnership/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  35. ↑ "Inside Niantic Spatial's AI location-aware companion". Peridot. Niantic Spatial. https://playperidot.com/en/news/project-jade. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  36. ↑ Asim Ahmed (2025-10-16). "A New Sense of Direction: How Niantic Spatial's Location-Aware AI Companion is Evolving". Niantic Spatial. https://www.nianticspatial.com/blog/project-jade-lens-fest. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 "Hello, Dot". App Store. Apple. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hello-dot/id6714449767. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  38. ↑ Scott Hayden (2025-05-09). "Niantic Spatial's Adorable Pet Sim 'Hello, Dot' Leaves Early Access on Quest 3". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/niantic-spatial-hello-dot-peridot-quest-3-release/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  39. ↑ Isa Muhammad (2026-04-24). "Niantic Spatial to shut down Peridot mobile as AR ambitions shift beyond smartphones". PocketGamer.biz. https://www.pocketgamer.biz/niantic-to-shut-down-peridot-mobile-as-ar-ambitions-shift-beyond-smartphones/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 "Peridot". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/peridot/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  41. ↑ "Pocket Gamer Awards 2023 - Winners and finalists". Pocket Gamer. https://www.pocketgamer.com/pocket-gamer-awards/2023/winners/best-mobile-family-game/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
  42. ↑ Stephen Gregson-Wood (2023-12-13). "Find out who won big at the Pocket Gamer Awards 2023". Pocket Gamer. https://www.pocketgamer.com/news/pocket-gamer-awards-2023-winners-announced/. Retrieved 2026-10-06.
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