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Ubisoft and Sugar Creative are developing Assassin’s Creed location-based XR experiences for New York and Boston, using Niantic’s Visual Positioning System (VPS) to accurately link historical events to specific real-world locations. This partnership combines a world-famous gaming franchise with state-of-the-art immersive technology, offering a unique way to experience history.
The project enables users to discover key moments from the American Revolution right in the places where they occurred. By integrating intricate game assets from Assassin’s Creed III and Rogue with Niantic’s precise spatial capabilities, these XR experiences provide immersive storytelling that seamlessly blends digital content with physical sites.
This groundbreaking method is transforming how history is told by utilizing popular gaming stories as tools for education and engagement. It shifts from passive viewing to active discovery, allowing individuals to forge meaningful connections with their cultural heritage through mixed-reality experiences.
Extended reality (XR) is changing the way we experience entertainment and learning. Location-based XR takes it a step further by using specific locations to combine digital content with real-world environments. This creates a one-of-a-kind platform for mixed-reality storytelling, where the game or educational experience happens in a physical place rather than just on a screen.
With location-based XR, the story or lesson is tied to a specific geographic area. Instead of playing a game or studying history through books or videos, you go to the actual location where the events took place. Here, digital elements are superimposed onto your surroundings, allowing you to interact with both the physical and virtual worlds simultaneously.
This innovative approach offers several advantages over traditional methods:
When narratives are anchored to precise locations, like revolutionary-era streets in New York or Boston, the line between past and present blurs. The Assassin’s Creed Echoes of Revolution project uses this principle to transport you back in time through interactive storytelling powered by high accuracy spatial positioning. This approach redefines how history can be taught and experienced, making it accessible outside traditional classrooms or museums.
By integrating immersive gameplay with real-world geography, location-based XR offers a powerful tool for education that is as engaging as it is informative. It has the potential to revolutionize how we teach subjects like history, geography, and cultural studies by bringing them to life in ways that were previously unimaginable.
As technology continues to evolve and become more accessible, we can expect to see even greater advancements in location-based XR experiences. These developments will likely open up new opportunities for both entertainment and education industries, creating exciting possibilities for learners of all ages.
The collaboration between Ubisoft, Sugar Creative, and Niantic Spatial brings together diverse expertise to craft immersive location-based XR experiences rooted in historical authenticity.
Ubisoft drives the creative vision, leveraging its vast experience with the Assassin’s Creed franchise. The studio provides the rich narrative assets from Assassin’s Creed III and Rogue, ensuring that the storytelling remains true to the revolutionary-era context. Ubisoft’s role centers on integrating these storylines seamlessly into real-world environments.
Sugar Creative, a UK-based technology studio, leads the technical development and design of the XR experiences. Their specialization in mixed-reality storytelling and spatial computing allows them to build engaging gameplay mechanics that respond dynamically to users’ movements through New York and Boston. Sugar Creative bridges Ubisoft’s narrative content with cutting-edge AR technology.
Niantic Spatial contributes its proprietary Visual Positioning System (VPS) technology, which is critical for anchoring digital elements precisely in physical space. VPS delivers centimeter-level accuracy by using advanced computer vision algorithms to recognize urban landmarks and surroundings. This precision maps virtual scenes exactly onto historical sites, allowing players to see digital reenactments unfold exactly where events happened centuries ago.
Niantic’s VPS operates by scanning the environment with a smartphone camera, matching features against a detailed 3D map of the city. This process supports:
The synergy between Ubisoft’s rich intellectual property, Sugar Creative’s design expertise, and Niantic’s spatial technology forms a robust foundation for these groundbreaking XR experiences that transform public spaces into interactive history lessons.
The evolution of AR hardware is transforming how users engage with location-based XR experiences. The Echoes of Revolution project stands poised to leverage these advancements, particularly through integration with the latest AR wearables from XREAL, Snap, and Android XR devices.
Snap recently announced support for Niantic’s Spatial VPS on their newest generation of Spectacles, opening the door for hands-free, immersive historical exploration directly through smart glasses. This integration means users can experience precise digital overlays without relying solely on handheld smartphones, making interactions more natural and contextually aware as they move through historical sites.
Similarly, AR headsets from XREAL and any Android XR device equipped with Snapdragon chipsets are positioned to deliver seamless compatibility. These devices run on robust hardware capable of supporting real-time environmental scanning and spatial anchoring required by Niantic’s VPS.
As a result, users can expect centimeter-level accuracy in digital placement whether they’re using a phone or wearing next-gen smart glasses.
By supporting a wide array of AR platforms—including Snap Spectacles, XREAL glasses, and Android XR headsets—the project ensures that immersive storytelling and educational content are accessible to a broader audience. This cross-device compatibility not only enhances user experience but also future-proofs the platform as wearable technology continues to evolve.
The Echoes of Revolution project is a bold tribute to America’s 250th Anniversary celebrations, designed to immerse players in the pivotal moments of the American Revolution. Ubisoft and Sugar Creative are developing these Assassin’s Creed location-based XR experiences for New York and Boston, using Niantic’s VPS technology to anchor historic moments precisely at the real-world sites where they originally unfolded.
By blending cutting-edge XR technology with meticulously crafted game environments, Echoes of Revolution offers a new way to experience history—not just by reading or watching, but by stepping into it.
Authenticity anchors the Echoes of Revolution XR experiences in genuine historical context. Ubisoft and Sugar Creative partnered with the Gotham Center for New York City History at the City University of New York (CUNY) to rigorously validate the narrative and visual elements used in the New York City experience. This collaboration ensures that every detail—from revolutionary-era architecture to cultural nuances—reflects accurate historical research and scholarship.
Peter-Christian Aigner, Director of the Gotham Center, highlights the importance of blending creative storytelling with factual history, emphasizing how this union enriches user engagement by grounding fantastical XR content in real-world authenticity.
On the technical side, seamless user interaction in these dense urban environments depends heavily on robust connectivity. The T-Mobile T-Innovate team plays a critical role by integrating advanced 5G capabilities into the Boston experience. Their expertise enables high-speed, low-latency mobile data transmission, which is essential for fluid augmented reality gameplay.
Key contributions include:
This combination of scholarly collaboration and next-generation mobile technology provides a solid foundation for immersive experiences that respect both history and modern user expectations.
Assassin’s Creed location-based XR experiences push the boundaries of immersive storytelling using gaming franchises for history education. These projects combine entertainment with learning in a way that transforms passive consumption into active exploration. You don’t just read about history—you step into it, walking the same streets where pivotal events unfolded.
Using world-renowned games like Assassin’s Creed as a vehicle demonstrates how mainstream media can support education without sacrificing enjoyment. The immersive qualities of XR technology allow complex historical themes to become accessible and memorable. This approach redefines how cultural heritage can be experienced—actively, personally, and with technological precision rooted in real-world geography.
Such projects exemplify the potential for gaming franchises to lead in making history not only accessible but compelling and authentic through extended reality formats.
The development of Assassin’s Creed location-based XR experiences for New York and Boston is supported by key funding sources, including Creative Wales, Media Cymru, and the UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund (SIPF). These investments enable Ubisoft and Sugar Creative to leverage Niantic’s VPS technology to anchor historic moments precisely at real-world sites.
