Pokémon Go developer shifts work on Peridot virtual pet franchise to launch VR experience

Pokémon Go developer Niantic has released a new mixed-reality experience, as the next step in its virtual pet franchise Peridot.

Named as Hello, Dot, it’s available to download now for free from the Meta Quest storea year on since the launch of Niantic’s Peridot game for smartphones.

Hello, Dot is the speedy product of three months’ work as the Peridot team shifts focus, following the launch of a recent major update to the mobile game. (That update added Chaos Traits, a new feature which leans the app’s future more towards user-generated content, and away from set species Archetypes.)

In a demo session for Hello, Dot attended by Eurogamer, I was able to test out the VR experience for myself, interacting with a cute Peridot creature as it floated gracefully around the room I was in. Various gesture controls can be used to interact with the Peridot – and it all felt like I was sharing the space with a pet, and giving them commands.

By pointing my finger, I created a laser pointer that the Peridot then noticed and began to scamper afterwards, recreating a very similar game to one I played with my cat at home. This time, however, I could direct my Peridot up the walls and across the ceiling – and not worry about the curtains.

Recalling your creature to you is as simple as holding out your palm. Picking it up via the scruff of its neck is also possible, and allows you to dunk the ‘dot into a virtual reality paint bucket, changing its color patterns.

For now, the app is small and limited, but it does immediately provide an experience akin to sharing a space with a pet – and feels more natural to interact with using gestures than staring through your mobile phone screen. Niantic’s clever occulsion technology works well, too – allowing your creature to run behind tables and chairs and disappear from view.

But like many of Niantic’s projects, its clear the idea is one limited by current technology – as the company and the wider games industry waits for AR/VR to get its ‘iPhone moment’ – when suddenly the technology is powerful, reliable and affordable enough that it becomes a must-have and far more ubiquitous.

Speaking with Eurogamer, executive producer Alicia Berry acknowledged that Peridot was something Niantic was invested in for the “long game”, and that while the Peridot team was small, the development of the mobile app would ultimately benefit from the release of Hello, Dot as feature ideas bounced back and forth between the two discrete experiences.

After a string of experiments with other mobile apps ended in job losses, Niantic has said it is doubling down its main focus on Pokémon Go for the time being – and has said that game’s recent Sinnoh Tour event was one of its most successful yet.