UK: Technavio has released the analysis for the global augmented reality (AR) market. The report predicts the gaming to grow at a CAGR of over 174% during the period 2016-2020. Sunil Kumar Singh, a lead research analyst at Technavio for human machine interface research, said, “The market is rising at such a drastically fast pace as the technology is relatively new and has endless potential. The unique user-experience created through AR technology is the prime factor for its adoption in the mobile gaming industry.”
The report has identified three factors that will drive the global AR market for gaming; that are, increased integration of AR into mobile devices; growing mobile gaming market; and simultaneous localization and mapping technology.
For increased integration of AR into mobile devices, the report says, manufacturers increasingly integrate AR solutions into mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and phablets to enhance their value proposition and enrich user experience. This increased integration is expected to boost the growth of the market during the forecast period, especially with the growing penetration of smartphones and tablets. With the ever-increasing processor capabilities and the introduction of 3D cameras, smartphones are considered to be the ideal platforms for AR games.
In May 2015, MYNZ, the first AR game for Apple smartwatch was launched. MYNZ is a multiplayer AR game, which is played using an iPhone or an Apple Watch. The watch can be used to check the status of the game using its ‘Glances’ feature. The launch of MYNZ indicates that developers are also focusing on developing AR games for wearable devices such as smartwatches.
According to the report, the growing mobile gaming market is expected to capture one-third of the entire global gaming industry by 2018. In line with this growth in the mobile gaming industry, more game titles will be launched in the market. This is a positive development for companies that are coming up with or developing AR gaming apps. Advancements (in both processor speed and graphic content) in mobile devices have enabled them to run most popular games.
As a result, hardcore gamers are expected to move from traditional PC-console gaming to mobile gaming during the forecast period. This is definitely a boon to the AR technology, and the AR gaming market thus has high growth potential in the short term.
The third factor is simultaneous localization and mapping technology (SLAM), which is a popular and important autonomous mapping and navigation technique in mobile robotics. Initially used as "eyes" for NASA robots, SLAM can create maps of unknown environments and position devices with extreme accuracy.
Stockholm, Sweden-based 13th Lab, released an AR game titled ‘Ball Invasion’ that uses SLAM technology. SLAM eliminates the need for any printed visual markers and enables users to accurately position their mobile device in a 3D space and overlay computer data.
Source: Technavio
