Niantic’s virtual pet game Peridot has made the jump from mobile to headset with a mixed reality version now available on the Meta Quest 3. It arrives not as a standalone app, but as part of Meta’s new Spatial suite — a platform meant to experiment with shared, lightweight MR experiences.
This update doesn’t change what Peridot is at its core — a casual AR experience about raising and bonding with fantastical creatures — but it does open up a new kind of interaction for players using full-color passthrough and hand tracking.
How Peridot works on Quest 3
In the Quest 3 version, Peridots now roam your real-world space using passthrough, appearing to walk on your floor and react to objects in the room. It’s a shift from looking through a phone screen to seeing the creatures in your actual environment without holding anything.
The app uses hand tracking instead of controllers, so players can pet, feed, or interact with their Dot using simple gestures. Movement is tracked in 3D space, allowing the creature to follow you around as you walk.
Functionally, it’s still a light experience. There’s no full progression system built into the headset version yet. It feels more like a visual extension of the mobile app than a replacement for it.
Limited to Meta’s Spatial framework
Rather than launching as a dedicated game on the Meta Quest Store, Peridot is available through the Spatial app, which serves as a hub for bite-sized mixed reality experiments.
That comes with limitations. There’s no persistent save data, no direct link to your mobile account, and no deeper game mechanics tied to the headset version yet. It’s more of a companion piece than a full port.
Still, it’s one of the more polished Spatial releases so far, and one of the few that tries to build a consistent sense of presence with a digital creature. The scale, animations, and responsiveness feel tuned to the platform.
What this says about Niantic’s MR direction
Niantic’s pivot toward mixed reality is part of a broader attempt to stay relevant beyond Pokémon GO. Peridot may not have had the same cultural impact, but it’s become a testing ground for new AR and MR interactions.
The Quest 3 version signals that Niantic is exploring how their AR concepts can evolve when moved off mobile screens and into immersive passthrough environments. It also shows they’re watching Meta’s ecosystem, even if they aren’t going all-in yet.
For now, this version of Peridot is more of a proof of concept than a fully featured game. But it hints at how casual AR titles might start blending into mixed reality spaces as the hardware becomes more mainstream.
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Always the first to plug in. VRSCOUT dives head-first into the most immersive VR worlds, analyzing mechanics, comfort, innovation, and that elusive “presence” factor. If he says it’s worth it, it probably is.
