Tag Archives: Virtual

How 5G Is Unlocking the Hidden Potential of Mobile Gaming

Android Development, Gaming & Monetization Strategies, iOS Development, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

5G is the fastest growing mobile generation of all time. There are 236 active 5G subscriptions with 3 billion 5G subscriptions anticipated by 2025. The vastly improved speed will have a transformative impact on a number of technologies—especially mobile gaming.

The game industry generates over $175 billion in revenue. Mobile gamers constitute over 2.6 billion mobile gamers worldwide. Mobile gaming is big business and 5G stands to unlock even more hidden potential in a variety of ways.

SAY GOODBYE TO LATENCY

Imagine thousands of players simultaneously playing Call of Duty on mobile devices with no lag and professional-level speed. Mobile operators like Ericsson are pushing the 5G revolution everyday to make these scenarios a reality.

In competitive gaming, latency can make or break a game. Online gamers can easily become frustrated and churn if latency ruins their experience. With speeds up to 10Gbps, 5G delivers 10 times the speed of 4G LTE. Response times as low as 5 milliseconds will virtually eliminate lag between input and response. As 5G becomes more reliable, it will hold true even for massive online games with a large number of competitors.

In a recent survey conducted by OpenSignal on the best networks for gaming experiences, mmWave 5G led the way—ahead of private wi-fi networks.

OFFLOADING PROCESSING

For IoT developers, 5G’s ability to bolster cloud computing poses major opportunities. 5G enables simple devices and sensors to complete complex tasks by offloading major processing duties to the cloud.

Mobile gaming can similarly benefit from the raw speed of 5G. Higher bandwidth and lower response times open up the possibility of offloading key processes. Games will be able to handle more arduous rendering duties remotely, producing a higher quality stream. With the cloud carrying the workload, the quality and age of the user’s device would matter significantly less provided the user has a 5G data plan. Gamers will still be able to expect the same high-quality experiences regardless of whether they have the latest smartphone.

AR AND VR BOON

Massive increases in streaming speed and cloud processing power will enable AR and VR developers to take their projects to the next level. Expect to see bigger, more detailed and immersive virtual worlds. For AR and VR apps to realize their potential, data needs to be rendered at the moment of decision-making. Lag and latency take users out of what’s intended to be the pinnacle of immersive gaming. The speeds of 5G will trigger a momentous evolution for AR and VR gaming.

CAN MOBILE GAMING OVERTAKE CONSOLES?

Smartphones provide game developers with the broadest platform and userbase. The bolstered processing power provided by smartphones with 5G will enable mobile devices to provide graphics on par with consoles. However, before mobile gaming can dethrone console gaming in terms of popularity, there are a few roadblocks.

While some major console games are available on mobile devices, the vast majority are not. Gamers are not at the point where they expect the same games on their mobile devices. Until game developers can effectively transfer major franchises to mobile devices, console gaming will remain king.

One of the major obstacles facing mobile gaming is the controller. iOS and Android touch screens simply cannot match the precision of playing on an Xbox Series X or PS5. Gamepads like the Backbone One latch onto smart devices to enable more fluid controls, but they also take away the mobile aspect of games since they are arduous to carry. Furthermore, they require every game to map inputs to each controller’s layout. The controller poses a simple but major problem and until it’s addressed, console gaming will provide more reliable experiences.

How Business Owners Can Leverage the Metaverse to Turn a Profit

Augmented Reality, Digital Marketing, Gaming & Monetization Strategies, Metaverse, , , , , , , , , ,

As many have heard, Facebook’s highly publicized rebranding as Meta in 2021 signaled their long-term expansion from social media into VR, the metaverse, and more. In the process, they launched the metaverse into a household name technology. The $500 million virtual real estate boom which proceeded only further hammered the point home—as far as Meta is concerned, the metaverse is the future. With VR and AR technologies developing at an astounding rate, businesses are entering the metaverse intent on generating revenue while the technology remains in its nascent stage.

The metaverse is here to stay—the question for business owners is: how can one take advantage of it? There is a long list of apps that use AR features to enhance the shopping experience. Sephora’s Virtual Artist app enables users to view how makeup will look before trying it on. The Ikea Place application enables users to view how furniture will look in their house before they place them.

The big question is: should you as a business owner delve into the metaverse? And if so, how can you leverage a metaverse presence to generate commerce? In this week’s blog, we present a few ideas to consider when making your decision.

REAL ESTATE

The first step to a metaverse presence is the acquisition of a virtual space for the business. Luckily, metaverse real estate has proven to be an extraordinarily profitable investment in and of itself. Armando Aguilar told Coindesk recently that the price of his three-bedroom, two-bathroom home outside New York City has appreciated two and a half times, while his metaverse property surged by 1,400% during that same time.

When purchasing real estate within the metaverse, consider which platform you’d like to see your company grow in. There’s a long list of options, from Sandbox to Decentraland, each with their own pros and cons.

When choosing a platform, consider which platform will provide the most short-term gains for your customers. Where do you anticipate long-term value? Investing wisely will lead to revenue as the price of virtual property rises.

For a list of the top metaverse platforms, check out XR Today’s list of the top metaverse platforms to watch in 2022.

EXPAND YOUR PHYSICAL PRESENCE

The metaverse presents an opportunity for companies to translate their brand into a virtual experience. Similar to the early aughts of the internet, companies which fail to capitalize on the new channel may lose money to companies that adopted the metaverse faster.

The metaverse differs from the internet in that it enables businesses to replicate three dimensional, physical spaces. This is a huge leap as we are physical beings and crave physical experiences.

While nothing can replace the physical retail experience, a great deal of commerce is generated by monetizing convenience. Delivery services like Amazon and Seamless generate billions of dollars in revenue by offering a variety of products to their customers through their digital presence, cutting out the need to stray from the home.

The metaverse capitalizes on our desire for physical experiences while enabling us to access them from the comfort of our couch. Rather than recreate their websites, businesses need to think about how they can create a physical experience for their customers.

Five years down the line, businesses will likely require a team of consultants and developers to build the metaverse experience. Check out the video below showing how Walmart created a physical shopping experience in the metaverse.

NFTs AND THE METAVERSE

Commerce in the metaverse will incorporate cryptocurrency and NFTs. NFTs, or nonfungible tokens, are unique digital files which function as certificates of ownership verified by the blockchain. They can be associated with any number of things—from sneakers, to songs and works of art. Although the market shows volatility similar to cryptocurrency, NFT value can appreciate by quite a bit.

NFTs represent a new buying channel that’s crucial to the metaverse. Creating exclusive experiences in the metaverse will draw your customers in.

https://twitter.com/adidasoriginals/status/1466443459951271939?s=20&t=toF7uzgidxO5yDtR3M9u5Q

Offering exclusive NFTs is a way to both create value and boost engagement with your customers. Adidas recently took advantage of this, generating over $23 million in ethereum in their first NFT drop.

Consider incorporating NFT’s alongside physical product drops. For example, offer an NFT to customers who enter the metaverse to make early pre-orders of future releases.

The metaverse is an opportunity to drive engagement and create value by offering personalized, exclusive experiences to your customers. NFTs are the perfect method to achieve this.

CONCLUSION

The metaverse poses a business opportunity for enterprises unafraid of innovation. What kind of experience can you deliver to your customers in the metaverse that you cannot in any other realm? Businesses which manage to answer that question will be rewarded with long-term profit.

How to Leverage AR to Boost Sales and Enhance the Retail Experience

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The global market for VR and AR in retail will reach $1.6 billion by 2025 according to research conducted by Goldman Sachs. Even after years of growing popularity, effectively employed Augmented Reality experiences feel to the end-user about as explicitly futuristic as any experience created by popular technology.

We have covered the many applications for AR as an indoor positioning mechanism on the Mystic MediaTM blog, but when it comes to retail, applications for AR are providing real revenue boosts and increased conversion rates.

Augmented Reality (AR) History

Ivan Sutherland 1

While working as an associate professor at Harvard University, computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, aka the “Father of Computer Graphics”, created an AR head-mounted display system which constituted the first AR technology in 1968. In the proceeding decades, AR visual displays gained traction in universities, companies, and national agencies as a way to superimpose vital information on physical environments, showing great promise for applications for aviation, military, and industrial purposes.

Fast forward to 2016, the sensational launch of Pokemon GO changed the game for AR. Within one month, Pokemon GO reached 45 million users, showing there is mainstream demand for original and compelling AR experiences.

Cross-Promotions

Several big brands took advantage of Pokemon GO’s success through cross-promotions. McDonald’s paid for Niantic to turn 3,000 Japan locations into gyms and PokeStops, a partnership that has recently ended. Starbucks took advantage of Pokemon GO’s success as well by enabling certain locations to function as PokeStops and gyms, and offering a special Pokemon GO Frappucino.

One of the ways retailers can enter into the AR game without investing heavily in technology is to cross-promote with an existing application.

In 2018, Walmart launched a partnership with Jurassic World’s AR game: Jurassic World Alive. The game is similar to Pokemon GO, using a newly accessible Google Maps API to let players search for virtual dinosaurs and items on a map, as well as battle other players. Players can enter select Walmart locations to access exclusive items.

Digital-Physical Hybrid Experiences

The visual augmentation produced by AR transforms physical spaces by leveraging the power of computer-generated graphics, an aesthetic punch-up proven to increase foot traffic. While some retailers are capitalizing on these hybrid experiences through cross-promotions, others are creating their own hybrid experiential marketing events.

Foot Locker developed an AR app that used geolocation to create a scavenger hunt in Los Angeles, leading customers to the location where they could purchase a pair of LeBron 16 King Court Purple shoes. Within two hours of launching the app, the shoes sold out.

AR also has proven potential to help stores create hybrid experiences through indoor navigation. Users can access an augmented view of the store through their phones, which makes in-store navigation easy. Users scan visual markers, recognized by Apple’s ARKit, Google’s ARCore, and other AR SDKs, to establish their position, and AR indoor navigation applications can offer specific directions to their desired product.

Help Consumers Make Informed Choices

Ikea Place Screenshots

AR is commonly employed to enrich consumers’ understanding of potential purchases and prompt them to buy. For example, the “IKEA Place” app allows shoppers to see IKEA products in a superimposed graphics environment. IKEA boasts the app gives shoppers 98% accuracy in buying decisions.

Converse employs a similar application, the “Converse Sampler App”, which enables users to view what a shoe will look like on their feet through their device’s camera. The application increases customer confidence, helping them make the decision to purchase.

Treasury Wines Estates enhances the consumer experience with “Living Wine Labels”: AR labels that bring the history of the vineyard to life and provide users with supplementary information, including the history of the vineyard the wine came from and tasting notes.

Conclusion

AR enables striking visuals that captivate customers. As a burgeoning tool, AR enables companies to get creative and build innovative experiences that capture their customers’ imagination. Retailers who leverage AR will seize an advantage both in the short term and in the long term as the technology continues to grow and evolve.