Kojima Partners With Niantic Spatial on Real-World AR Storytelling

Hideo Kojima’s game studio has announced a sweeping partnership with Niantic Spatial to develop an augmented reality title that blends Kojima’s signature storytelling with Niantic’s geospatial AI. Revealed at Kojima Productions’ 10th anniversary, the joint effort aims to create interactive gaming experiences mapped onto the real world, letting users “climb real mountains” and find entertainment “beyond the screen.” The announcement was accompanied by a cryptic trailer showing AR artifacts discovered with smart glasses in urban and natural spaces. While details remain tightly held, both companies emphasize their shared vision for redefining how players and machines engage with physical environments.

Kojima and Niantic Spatial Aim to Redefine AR With Immersive Real-World Play

The partnership between Kojima Productions and Niantic Spatial signals a major leap in combining narrative depth with real-world technology. CEO John Hanke of Niantic Spatial told Game Developer, “We’re building a living model of the world that people and machines can talk to, creating a new canvas for real-world storytelling and interaction.” This announcement marks Kojima’s entry into AR, following his decades-long tradition of pushing creative boundaries in game and media design.

Hideo Kojima himself stressed that, “Until now, we have been creating games that exist on screens. What John and the technology from Niantic Spatial make possible is to unleash those experiences into real-world experiences.” Kojima envisions users connecting with both people and environments, “climbing real mountains while finding entertainment there”, hinting at a genre-blurring experience akin to Death Stranding’s connective gameplay, but mapped onto actual landscapes and cities.

Niantic Spatial, born from Niantic Labs’ refocus and led by AR pioneers behind Pokémon GO, Peridot, and Monster Hunter Now, brings advanced geospatial mapping, real-time localization, and large-scale community engagement. Its core technology enables centimeter-precision in positioning, facilitating location-based storytelling, collectible discovery, and multiplayer play in outdoor and urban scenarios. The collaboration also reflects Niantic’s evolution, marked by a recent divestment of its game division to Scopely and a pivot toward pure AR infrastructure and social layers.

No release date or platform specifics for the Kojima-Niantic project were announced, but the companies are targeting new forms of play, social engagement, and interactive storytelling, using the world itself as a game canvas. Designing these experiences to foster unity, curiosity, and social connection, Kojima and Niantic Spatial hope to create entertainment that is both personal and collective, reshaping the future of gaming interactions.