First brought into the spotlight thanks to last year’s global hit Pokémon GO, in only a year augmented reality games have gone from hero to zero. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) – First brought into the spotlight thanks to last year’s global hit Pokémon GO, in only a year augmented reality games have gone from hero to zero.
Mainstream interest has quickly cooled, as AR games released since have failed to captivate the public’s attention.
According to gaming industry sources, a report on mobile gaming trends from digital marketing firm DMC Media revealed that only 6.4 percent of the report’s 202 poll participants had AR games on their smartphones.
In the same study conducted last year, 50.2 percent of those surveyed reported carrying devices with AR games installed, nearly eight times higher.
While the proportion of AR games installed cratered year-on-year, puzzles/board and RPG/arcade game installations rose by 9.6 percentage points and 11.9 percentage points, respectively.
Fewer AR games coincides with Pokémon GO’s fall from its former position as one of the top grossing mobile games early last year. Currently, it does not rank within the top 50.
Released domestically last January, Pokémon GO’s singular popularity led to other AR games hitting the market, but these were not as successful. (Image: Yonhap)
Citing the difficulty of producing AR games, one individual close to the gaming industry said, “For the time being, it looks like developers will continue to put out experimental products while searching for new opportunities.”
Developer Niantic began laying the groundwork for Pokémon GO in 2013 with its AR mobile game Ingress. Combining the technology used to produce Ingress with the Japanese anime content of Pokémon resulted in the first breakthrough in mainstream AR gaming, a success that is yet to be replicated.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
