Maybe we’re giving Niantic too much credit because it was Warner Bros. Discovery who decided to pull the plug on this one. WB licensed Lightship from Niantic to build this dragon-themed virtual Tamagotchi game. You got a dragon egg, you hatched it, you spoke Valyrian to it, you cried when the app stopped working because you got attached to your dragon friend, etc.

Released at San Diego Comic-Con as a promotional tie-in for HBO’s House of the Dragon series. Attendees got early access to the game. Early reviews were largely positive but pointed out that there wasn’t much to do with the dragons aside from raising them, feeding them, and learning a little High Valyrian along the way.

Also, they are the ones who capitalized the AR in DracARys. That wasn’t our joke. They think that’s clever.

The app survived far longer than anyone expected for a promotional tie-in, receiving updates as late as April 2023. However, as the licensing agreements for the Targaryen dragons finally turned to ash, DracARys was quietly removed from the Google Play store in January 2026, over three years after its Comic-Con debut.

In the end, all promotional apps must be removed within the fiscal quarter. Some just take a few extra quarters to get the message.