Although Niantic is a company that is best known for making Pokémon Go., it has recently made several acquisitions on the market. The latest purchase of the software developer was Mayhem – a small SF gaming startup aiming to build a league and tournament organization to help gamers form communities around their favorite titles.

Most of the Team at Mayhem Will Be Joining Niantic

With most of the people in Mayhem joining Niantic, the CEO of the startup, Ivan Zhou, landed a position in the Social Platform Product team. Meanwhile, the rest of the team would join the Platform Engineering crew.

Mayhem was in Y Combinator in 2018 and managed to raise $5.7 million in funding. It was also backed by Accel, Afore Capital, and NextGen Venture Partners. The focus of Mayhem had shifted quite a bit since it debuted on YC and announced a service called Visor. Visor would analyze videos of E-sports gameplay to coach users on how to improve their performance. Now, the company has seemingly shifted its focus to community tools that would help gamers organize tournaments and find matches for different games on its platform.

Niantic Didn’t Disclose the Terms of the Mayhem Acquisition

Niantic made a statement to point out that the acquisition of Mayhem has reinforced its commitment to “real-world social” as the centerpiece of its mission. Other recent acquisitions that Niantic has made recently have focused on technologies that use augmented reality, which is why experts were excited to see them buy tech that focuses on community organization.

So far, Pokémon GO is the true cash cow of Niantic, though the viral success of the game could not be replicated by subsequent releases and organic growth has been difficult to come by. The recent purchase of startup building community tools has shown that the company is getting ready to bring in outside tech in an effort to push their own Augmented Reality ambitions forward.

The internet is yet again proving itself to be an amazing tool at bringing people together. Not only can you now video call with your friends, but you can also rub virtual shoulders with some of your favorite celebrities.

Introducing Your Favorite Celebrities

Cameo introduced a new Zoom call feature that will put people in touch with their favorite celebrities. The idea gives fans the opportunity to meet their heroes just like they would at a convention, only without the need for physical contact. Cameo will give users the chance to begin a 10-minute conversation with a celebrity of their choosing. This gives them the chance to create their own virtual interview to ask celebrities the questions they might have done at a convention.

Offering More

Before Cameo introduced this new service, its users could hire celebrities to create pre-recorded personalized messages. The service is taking things to the next level, but in some cases, getting a conversation with your hero won’t come cheap. Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is available for 10 minutes for the cost of $5,000, but this may be an extreme case. On the flip side, ‘Wentworth’ star Danielle Cormack will join your Zoom call for $100.

Open and Willing to Talk

There are dozens of famous people already signed up to the service willing to give some of their time to their fans. Names like Tony Hawk, Sean Astin, and Lance Bass are among the stars looking to answer your questions. You can even invite up to four friends along so you and your buddies can team up and get your money’s worth by filling the time with questions.

This Cameo feature can now put you in touch with some of the world’s most famous faces right from the comfort of your own home. There’s no need for regular friends anymore when you can video call famous ones online.