Augmented reality taking the mobile game industry to the next level, moving ahead of VR technology by making use of the real-world space. It projects an interactive, spatial, and sophisticated digital implementation of the idea. Augmented reality projects the 3D models onto an imaginary world where we feel the object is really present in front of us. 

Though people are after the VR games, the massive hit of Niantic Inc Pokemon Go predicts that Augmented reality is the future of the mobile gaming world. VR technology is capable of strapping a screen to a player’s face, however, the game controls remain the same. AR technology is innovative and original in its approach towards the player’s interaction with the things around them. For an enthusiastic player, this technology brings a fun experience along with multiple benefits.

Augmented Reality Gaming Trends

AR technology is not something new to the gaming industry and we know that from the past famous games. However, the evolution of technology is still continuous, which gives an indication that the gaming industry is yet to notice much more changes in AR games. We are aware that Apple and Google are investing a lot in AR technology, thereby bringing a pathway for potential innovations and marketers in terms of monetization. 

The major advantage of AR technology in mobile gaming is its interactive and immersive nature, and already AR mobile games have become the popular category in mobile gaming. 

The evidence for augmented reality mobile gaming to continue to trend in 2020 can be seen by the popularity of older AR mobile games. And there are some newer additions to this genre. Another thing is the market demographics. Players playing the game is increasing over time and it is not surprising that it will grow in the future. Therefore, while advancements are made in augmented reality demographics have to be taken into consideration.

Trending AR Mobile Games

Some of the new additions to this genre are:

• Army of Robots
• Ghostbusters World
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
• Ingress
• Jurassic World Alive 
• Minecraft Earth 
• Pokemon Go
• Temple Treasure Hunt
• Zombie GO

AR technology’s Growth According to Mobile Gaming Data

Apple’s ARKit is known to be the largest augmented reality platform in the world. According to the reports by Mozenix, the value of the AR market is going to exceed $170 billion by 2022. Apple is not alone in the AR arena, Google in 2018 launched the ARCore platform exclusively for the mobile gaming sector to build apps on Android. This ARCore platform uses the player’s phone camera to take the virtual objects and mount them on the real-world irrespective of the surroundings and space. 

When you look at the big-time release in 2019 was the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite which gained $300,000 within 24 hours. And in 2020 new releases by Netflix- Stranger Things are showing promising growth in the coming years. According to research, global consumers spend on AR apps, and contents will reach $6.5billion in 2020 and increase up to $8 billion in 2021. And with the introduction of the 5G adoption within the following years, AR gaming market growth is going to become massive. 

Mobile Gaming Market

The mobile gaming market has become increasingly complex and the cost of creating games costs millions of dollars. The gaming industry is a vast sector that gets more attention than the music or movie industry. Reports state that more than 26% of the world’s population comprises game enthusiasts. And this interests the companies to venture into the gaming industry.

The tech giants like Google, Apple, and other technology companies have made plans for the mobile gaming industry. The analysts have predicted that the mobile gaming industry will generate $196 billion in revenue by 2022.

Game Streaming By the Techies

Non-traditional gaming companies trying their luck in the gaming industry. Yes, companies like Apple, Google, etc are trying new measures to introduce game streaming similar to the movie and music streaming way. 

All the companies are launching their cloud services to stream games, while some companies are developing gaming platforms to help developers build games. As the key goal of all these companies is to offer the players to stream games without the need for a PC or console. And with the popularity of mobile devices, the need of using discs and cartridges will also disappear. 

This might also lead to subscription streaming services in the future that will diminish the cost of shipping and storing. Subscription services also lead to revenue generation throughout the year, unlike traditional games which are popular only during popular occasions and holiday seasons.

This new trend in the gaming industry will enhance augmented reality technology and these tech giants will experiment in these sectors as well. So the chances of new advancement in augmented reality are possible in the near future as gaming and AR go hand in hand.

New possibilities from 5G

The mobile network will further boost the potential of augmented reality and strengthens its potential in mobile gaming and other industries in 2020. The basic data transfer speeds up to 3GB by comparison the average broadband delivers good quality only within 100Mbps. 

Therefore 5G should be faster to stream AR data from the cloud. With this, the viewing devices can easily upload tracking data to the data center where heavy processing activity is done. This is better than using heavy load PCs. With the help of 5G, the rendered images can easily be delivered to the users. 

Conclusion 

The “wow” factor can only be given by Augmented reality technology. The mobile gaming industry has already adapted to this situation and is working towards it. In the coming days, TV sets will also become an app that can be viewed through AR technology, that’s how the world is moving. 

This giant leap in technology adds more creativity and innovation to the gaming industry. Upcoming games will show an impressive user experience using augmented reality. Let’s wait for the action.