A practical look at the mobile augmented reality games space in 2012. Are we too early? What makes a viable mobile AR game experience today? Lessons learned...

1. Augmented Reality Gaming: 2012
Brian Selzer
ARE2012

2. AR Gaming 2012: The Good
AR Gaming Not a Fad
The World Itself Will Become The Final
Gaming Platform
True Interaction, Deeper Engagement,
Richer Context, Contextually Aware…
People, Places & Things become part of the
gaming experience around you, relevant to
your world.
Marketing initiatives lead AR dev creativity…
some success stories… brands becoming
content channels

3. AR Gaming 2012: The Good

4. AR Gaming 2012: The Good
Industry Growth Numerous
Opportunities
Big Companies Making Investments
Free AR SDK’s available to game
developers
Many Game Studios Now Dabbling with
AR

5. AR Gaming 2012: The Good
Good Mobile AR Games: Starting to Surfacing (show promise)
Sony, Ricochet (Use of Environment) Ogmento, NBA: King Court (GPS/Sensors) Nintendo, Archery (Camera Angles)
Sony, Street Fighter (Pre-SLAM) Nintendo, Face Raiders (Texture Grab) THQ, Falcon Gunner (Gyro/Sensors)

6. AR Gaming 2012: The Bad
It’s Still Early for AR Gaming
Too Early?
No breakaway hits yet
Better Reasons to Augment are Further
Out (hardware/software) 1999-2009 2010-2014 2015-2025
Mass-Market still needs hand holding to
understand
Measure The Experience - Optimal
Environment Required?

7. AR Gaming 2012: The Bad
WE ARE
Trough of HERE
Disillusionment
Wow-Factor Over
Marker Based AR = Barrier to 5-10 years to mainstream
Entrance for Entertainment
Tech Savvy move quickly to
next big thing
Solid , seamless, pain-free
performance key.

8. AR Gaming 2012: The Bad
Current State of AR Games
Struggle to Find Market Mobile Gaming Snapshot
Reviews on iTunes (as of May 6th)
AR Games
Paparazzi (NFT): 0
AR Invaders (Gyro): 88
AR Defender (Marker): 277
AR Soccer (Edge): 418
Falcon Gunner (Gyro): 1,175
-----
Standard Games
Ski Safari: 5,690
Jetpack Joyride: 146,208
Fruit Ninja: 441,148
Temple Run: 1,114,198

9. AR Gaming 2012: The Ugly
Software Woes
Optimal Conditions Required
User-Experience Results Might Vary
Detection
Tracking (volume) Developer?
Target acquisition Speed
Target Occlusion
Reacquisition
Frame Rates
Jitter
Lighting / Reflections
Angle
Distance

10. AR Gaming 2012: The Ugly
Hardware Woes
My Arm is Getting Tired!
Smartphone is a stepping-stone
Glasses still years away
Hardware not where it needs to be
for AR gaming “mass adoption.”

11. AR Gaming 2012: The Ugly
Game Industry Woes
Pessimists, Realists, Optimists
Some Companies…. Avoiding due to
current AR experience level
Many Companies… Experimenting, but
cautiously….
Most Companies… Watching and
Waiting.

12. AR Gaming 2012+: The Awesome!
Evolutionary Leap - The jump from
virtual games to AR games is akin to
the jump from 2D to 3D…
Just Getting Started - Those in it for
the long haul will reap rewards, and be
at forefront of growing industry...
True Ubiquity - Become viable today;
design with eye for the future…
…the world is your playground

13. Thank You!
Brian Selzer
Email:brian@ogmento.com
Websites:brianselzer.com / ogmento.com
Twitter:BrianSe7en