<s>
Catan	B-Application
:	I-Application
World	I-Application
Explorers	I-Application
was	O
an	O
augmented	B-General_Concept
reality	I-General_Concept
(	O
AR	O
)	O
mobile	B-Application
game	I-Application
developed	O
by	O
Niantic	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
board	O
game	O
Settlers	B-Application
of	I-Application
Catan	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
late	O
October	O
2019	O
,	O
the	O
publisher	O
of	O
Catan	B-Application
revealed	O
during	O
SPIEL	O
2019	O
in	O
Essen	O
that	O
the	O
company	O
was	O
developing	O
a	O
"	O
massively	O
multiplayer	O
location	O
based	O
game	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
1	O
September	O
2020	O
,	O
Switzerland	B-Protocol
got	O
early	O
access	O
to	O
the	O
game	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
September	O
2021	O
,	O
the	O
development	O
crew	O
announced	O
the	O
game	O
would	O
be	O
shutting	O
down	O
,	O
citing	O
difficulty	O
in	O
translating	O
Catan	B-Application
into	O
an	O
MMO	O
game	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Like	O
in	O
prior	O
Niantic	O
AR	O
games	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
Ingress	B-Application
and	O
Pokémon	B-Application
Go	I-Application
)	O
,	O
the	O
game	O
was	O
set	O
to	O
be	O
centered	O
around	O
real-world	O
landmarks	O
,	O
where	O
players	O
could	O
collect	O
resources	O
in-game	O
.	O
</s>
