TL;DR 5 Sentence Summary - A Year After ‘Pokémon Go,’ Where Are the Augmented-Reality Hits?
Analysts say, the monster-hunting hit game drove only a brief spike in games using the nascent technology, which blends digital images with a person's view of the real world.
"Pokémon Go" reached $1 billion in revenue globally just seven months after its release last July-faster than any other mobile game, including Activision Blizzard Inc.'s "Candy Crush Saga," according to App Annie Inc. There are thousands of augmented-reality games among the millions of apps in the Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. stores.
A recent update to the game doubled down on community building by letting players meet at specific locations to jointly defeat powerful monsters in "Raids." "We have worked for many years to build a new kind of game based on real world exploration, physical movement and social gameplay," Niantic Inc., the game's creator, said in an email.
"Our definition of 'Augmented Reality' is the entire concept of building a game that takes place in and augments the real world." Others believe the popularity of "Pokémon Go" had to do with, well, Pokémon, whose characters are known to millions of gamers old and young.
Investors have poured $4.5 billion into 707 virtual- and augmented-reality startups since 2010, according to industry tracker PitchBook Data Inc. Most of the money has gone toward the development of augmented-reality glasses and other areas outside of games, it said Augmented-reality backers argue more hit games will emerge as app makers experiment.
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