Pokémon Go creator Niantic is using players' augmented reality data to help train delivery robots.

Now rebranded as Niantic Spatial, the company has joined forces with robotic startup Coco to help its fleet of 1000 suitcase-sized delivery vehicles trundle safely through busy city streets — just as Pikachu might, if he were real.

While Pokémon Go (plus Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now) are now owned and operated by Monopoly Go maker Scopely, Niantic still retains the database of augmented reality data collected over the years — during which time, the company has received millions of real-world scans submitted by players.

To be clear, these are consciously recorded and uploaded video scans of a specific real-world location already identified in-game — a PokéStop or Gym location, essentially — such as a piece of street art or notable building. This is not something Niantic has been harvesting quietly while your phone is in your pocket.

Niantic Spatial has not been shy about its need for real-world data it can plug into an augmented reality map of the world, useful for a future where we're all using AR-enhanced technology to navigate the planet, in cars or on foot — or to receive your takeaway pizza via robot delivery.

"Everybody thought that AR was the future, that AR glasses were coming," Brian McClendon, CTO at Niantic Spatial, told MIT Technology Review. "And then robots became the audience."

"The urban canyon is the worst place in the world for GPS," McClendon continued, referencing the mass of buildings in urban environments that can play havoc with GPS location detection. "If you look at that blue dot on your phone, you'll often see it drift 50 meters, which puts you on a different block going a different direction on the wrong side of the street."

It's here that Niantic Spatial wants to use its real-world data learnings to allow robots like Coco's to navigate on their own, without the need to rely on fuzzy GPS. "It turns out that getting Pikachu to realistically run around and getting Coco's robot to safely and accurately move through the world is actually the same problem," commented Niantic Spatial founder and CEO John Hanke.

The company says it has access to 30 billion images in urban environments, though it's unclear if this refers to individual video frames. Still, it's an enormous number for Coco's robots to then learn from, as they navigate the streets of Los Angeles, Chicago, Jersey City, Miami, and Helsinki.

"If robots are ever going to assimilate into that environment in a way that's not disruptive for human beings, they're going to have to have a similar level of spatial understanding," Hanke concluded. "We can help robots find exactly where they are when they’ve been jostled and bumped." Time will tell if it's super effective.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

Former Bethesda game tester Colin McInerney once discovered so many crashes in Fallout 4 that the entire organization received emails saying, "somebody found four crashes in a single morning."

McInerney, now at Am I Your Beast developer Strange Scaffold, worked at Bethesda as a games tester during college, and said that even then, his "approach shifted out of the publisher side and into the dev side."

"I was working with the Bethesda developers and learning s*** from them directly and working on weirder stuff," McInerney told GamesRadar+. "At one point, I just decided to play hot and cold with the RAM because we were on Xbox One. The Xbox One has 8GB of RAM, so if you get above that, the game's going to crash. So I brought up a RAM readout and was just like, how can I break this? That thought occurring to me, no one else was doing that. That isn't a standard testing practice of, how can I leak memory from the game?"

McInerney added that he ended up going into the console to give himself "a billion experience," putting his character at level 247. "I walked around with the unique nuke launcher that launched two, and then gave it the add-on that made each nuke launch 10 nukes. So I was running around super-nuking the entire wasteland and found four crashes in a single morning," he added.

"Back in those days, that would send out an email blast to the entire Zenimax Media company. So, like, [Bethesda co-founder] Robert Altman was getting emails that somebody found four crashes in a single morning."

He then reflected on the advancement of AI right across gaming.

"I would love to see an AI do my job. I am professionally stupid in a way that a machine could not even dream of."

If it's been a while since you last popped in to play Fallout 4, here's our round-up of everything major added to Fallout 4 since launch. Don't forget that a selection of Bethesda games are officially making the jump to Nintendo Switch 2, including Fallout 4. Its physical Switch 2 Anniversary Edition is available to preorder right now from a variety of retailers for $59.99 (see it here at Amazon), and its release date lands on April 28.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Resident Evil Requiem has now sold six million copies, making it the fastest-selling instalment of the horror game since it all kicked off in Raccoon City thirty years ago.

We already knew that the latest mainline Resident Evil game had sold five copies within five days (causing some stock issues for physical copies), and now — just a few days after that announcement — publisher Capcom has added another million to the tally.

The publisher said that going forward, it plans to "implement several measures," including "ongoing support and additional game content so players can continue to enjoy the title longer." We also learned last week that we're getting a major story expansion for the game, the addition of a "mini game" in May, and the upcoming arrival of a photo mode.

On top of that, we'll also get to see what Capcom has up its sleeve to celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary on March 22, 2026, including a collaboration between Universal Studios Japan and Resident Evil Requiem, plus "orchestral concerts" across Japan, the U.S., and Europe.

Hideki Kamiya, the legendary director behind fan-favorite games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta, is calling for a "non-scary mode" for Resident Evil Requiem. The director (who also directed the original Resident Evil 2, by the way) has been filmed talking to his team as they watch a colleague spend a little quality time with Leon S. Kennedy in the latest Resident Evil game saying: "I've been saying for forever, they should make a 'non-scary' mode. Look, I just want to enjoy the puzzles! The puzzles and the combat. I don't need the scary stuff…"

If you're still negotating Requiem's scarier moments, IGN's Resident Evil: Requiem guide will help you every step of the way through RE9. Take note of these key tips and tricks before you get started, and focus on finding these important items early. Plus, our comprehensive walkthrough will make sure you don't miss a single Bobblehead or file as you try to survive from the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center all the way to Raccoon City.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.