AR Game Marketing Research & Strategies: How to Promote AR Games?

The augmented reality games market is expected to be $4.5 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $31.7 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 21.98% from 2021 to 2028.

The increasing affordability of augmented reality games coupled with increased usability will continue to drive the growth of the global augmented reality games market. Leading organizations have been investing in incorporating augmented reality gaming technology into mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to provide an improved and enhanced gaming experience.

In augmented reality gaming, the gaming experience is divided into four aspects, namely social, emotional, mental, and physical. The trend of using augmented reality in the entertainment industry is on the rise. AR in the entertainment industry offers more interactive gameplay than traditional gameplay.

In this article, ASOWorld will cover the types of AR games you can develop and marketing strategies.

Types of augmented reality games

In traditional computer games, there is you, with hints for you to complete a task or mission. Similarly, in AR games, you need to provide visual and/or audio cues for users to connect to feature points.

Select (Location + Position) to display your cue, for example, to show the user the focus of the description. Now the user needs to perform an action within a few feet of their current location. 

The surroundings should be well lit (balancing light and shadows to capture edges) so that the camera can take clear images and other information. It is important to remember that the camera should easily recognize the edges of the surface to activate the AR experience.

When you start developing augmented reality games, you should choose between two frameworks or categories: market-based or location-based games, and there are two more augmented reality types you can apply.

Marker-based AR

Tag-based AR games run on image recognition. They use markers as triggers to display/activate AR content. To view the AR content, the user simply points the camera at the (location + position) of the marker. Once the device recognizes the marker, our application will display the digital content on the screen and overlay the enhanced object.

When building marker-based games, you must provide a description or breadcrumbs to simplify the process of finding the marker. As your users use the phone's camera to look around for markers, the data for the objects (designed by you) is hard-coded in our app so that they are quickly detected once they are in range. 

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Location-based AR

Location-based AR games can run without any markers. They use the user's location and position with the mobile device's accelerometer GPS to superimpose an augmented reality experience on top of real physical objects through your smartphone app screen. The best example of a location-based mobile AR game is Pokemon GO.

You can send notifications to users based on their location. You can create AR assets for different locations and positions and provide them with suggestions such as tips and steps to complete specific tasks.

Superimposition-based AR

This refers to the use of object recognition to replace or change the appearance of a real image. Object recognition is essential for this type of augmented reality to work successfully. Using IKEA Place to place a virtual sofa in your living room is an example of overlay augmented reality.

Projection-based augmented reality

This type of AR projects artificial light onto the real environment. This is more commonly used for large scale events and is therefore less relevant for mobile focused marketers.

Types of games perfectly matching AR technology

Tabletop games

With this type of augmented reality game, players can immediately get an immersive experience at the coffee table. The original idea behind this type of app was that users could show AR and start playing games by pointing their smartphone camera at any flat surface.

Scavenger hunt

Playing this location-based augmented reality game requires users to dive deeper into the experience by collecting different items from the physical world and around the globe. Imagine you can locate your customers visiting your offline stores to get some digital rewards or coupon codes.

Classic games

Here we are talking about classic games like darts, beer pong and badminton. Leveraging AR capabilities in classic games can fundamentally change the user and gaming experience.

Games for kids

This is a perfect choice for those who are looking for some entertainment. Such games create animated 3D experiences for kids to play, collect different items and earn bonuses and rewards. Augmented reality games for kids can open up a whole virtual world full of stories.

Puzzle games

Augmented reality takes puzzle games to a whole new level. The ability to interact with puzzles in the physical world changes the perspective of how puzzles are solved. In addition to classic puzzles, escape rooms can be completely virtualized thanks to AR.

Tips for your AR game marketing strategy

Research and understand your options before launching a campaign

Let's look at it this way. Most of us want a snazzy convertible, when our actual need is for a standard family van. Here, augmented reality dives right into the advertising conversation; users can come to your door and ask you to develop the "next Pokémon GO" and add a lot of fancy features to it, hoping it will make the game "viral" overnight.

The key is to never use technologies like AR just to be on trend. Instead, you should look at and consider all alternatives before submitting or choosing a particular solution. You can easily find many options in the marketplace. For example, you can use image recognition to design promotions in which your consumers can scan product packaging and visit a website to view your products, reviews or videos. Or, you can create compelling ads and publish them in magazines that lead to targeted web pages.

The question now is how is it different from AR? When a consumer scans a picture through their smartphone, augmented reality overlays digital content such as 3D models, buttons, etc. based on camera images of the actual object.

Thus, augmented reality adds to the user experience when needed and allows the user to see the content as a normal part of the environment.

There are multiple examples of this AR usage. Think of IKEA's popular catalog app, which allows users to try out how a sofa would look in their living room. Similarly, remember the huge outdoor marketing campaign by the NHS in the UK. Users can simply point their smartphone at their skin to see the impact of donating blood.

Of course, the same effect is only possible if you combine this experience with other features and functions such as geolocation, character recognition to identify text, barcode scanning, etc. Therefore, we recommend that you focus on the overall customer experience and what it offers to your users before adding features to your AR game.

Try using simple and straightforward concepts

A smart strategy to promote your AR game through natural traffic is to make the user experience more memorable without forcing it on them. This is crucial for any AR game marketing campaign.

You will witness the same thing in WWF's Mandiri campaign. The whole campaign was simple, using augmented reality to provide a memorable experience for customers.

The marketing campaign is clear and doesn't complicate things or keep people guessing. It is designed to provide a simple and fun way to ask global questions and creatively answer users' questions without being too pushy.

Augmented reality and social media

Pokémon Go players have been busy documenting their adventures on social media, including screenshots of countless Pokémon appearing on or around them on Instagram. Adorable characters and large parties in unexpected places can provide fun, shareable content.

AR also allows you to take the selfie game to the next level. snapchat has a variety of cute filters that can do anything from add a flower crown to your head to make you look like a cartoon dog, providing the perfect opportunity for marketers. For example, a cosmetics company or fashion brand could allow users to "try on" a new look or trend and then post a photo of themselves on social media.

Creating such immersive content will inevitably prompt their friends and followers to make and share their own images.