Highlights

 

Rakuten Viber and Snap both have packages of AR lenses and interactive experiences to celebrate the FIFA World Cup. Since the two apps joined forces on AR tech last summer, activations like this often go forward for both companies at the same time, ensuring that users of both platforms have access to the quality AR content.

But remember, the AR content on both platforms is never exactly the same. Here, we’ll look at how both companies and their communities are celebrating the world’s most-watched sports event.

Rakuten Viber Experiences

Rakuten Viber is a secure calling and messaging app that last year added support for AR effects and other graphics through a partnership with Snap. However, the company takes that technology in its own direction when it comes to the experiences that it provides users.

“We are excited to offer many different rewards and interactive content to our users,” Rakuten Viber Senior Director of Growth Top Markets, Atanas Raykov, said in a release shared with ARPost. “Sharing your predictions, finding out the score of the latest game, or checking the global leaderboard will be as easy as opening the Viber app.”

The World Cup on Viber

Users of Rakuten Viber have access to themed frames for festive photographs, as well as for keeping track of the game score and other features. Users can also augment photographs with a World Cup sticker pack in English as well as eighteen other languages.

Rakuten Viber has also created a series of gamified lenses, allowing users to score goals with a virtual ball, cheer on their favorite team, or make short videos of themselves with soccer balls flying around their heads.

And, those are just the AR experiences. Rakuten also has channels dedicated to the game, and a football-fan AI chatbot that users can interact with, in and around the big game.

Snap Experiences

Snap is excited to celebrate the big game too. And, Like Rakuten Viber, they have both AR experiences as well as flat and 3D activations throughout other arms of their app services.

“We’re thrilled to cover the biggest global sporting event of the year across all of Snapchat – with dedicated custom AR experiences and comprehensive content coverage that will include localized highlights from every game in over 30 countries,” Snap Inc. Head of Sports Partnerships, Anmol Malhotra, said in a release shared with ARPost.

AR Experiences

Snap’s AR offerings include both official and “organic” Lenses and filters representing 13 national teams from around the world. There are also new World Cup-themed Cameos that help to put you in the action as well.

“Live Garment Transfer” Lenses also allow AR try-ons of the official team kit for five teams – USMNT, France, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, and Qatar. This activation also marks the tool’s availability for Lens creators after having spent the last few months in internal development.

Other Experiences Across the Snap Universe

Not all of Snap’s World Cup adventures are in AR either. There are also official and organic stickers, themed content on Spotlight and Discover, and special Bitmoji outfits.

For a truly global celebration, open your Snap Map. Posters everywhere that select to share their celebrations publicly can have their content appear at their real-world location so you can see what celebrations look like around the world.

I want a Good, Clean Game

No matter which platform you use or how you use it, it’s fun to see these social platforms showing their colors for the world’s biggest game. See you at the World Cup!

 

When people turned to the virtual world to connect with each other at the height of the pandemic, MMOs and other multiplayer games got a boost in popularity. Multiplayer XR games also began growing as a new genre of immersive cooperative play. While these games have the same basic goal of allowing multiple players to share experiences in the same virtual environment, they continue to evolve and develop into games that go beyond entertainment.

Enhancing Shared Experiences in the Physical World

Most multiplayer AR/VR games today bring different players from different geographical locations into a shared virtual environment where they engage in cooperative play. The players use wearables and controllers to make the experience immersive. This type of game enabled people to have some form of social interaction during pandemic lockdowns.

As restrictions eased, other types of multiplayer AR/VR games that could be enjoyed together in the same physical space also became increasingly popular. One example is Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, a co-op party game where one player gets trapped, virtually of course, in a room with a ticking bomb. Other players in the same physical room give verbal cues to help diffuse the bomb. There’s also Reiko’s Fragments where one player has to escape a haunted house and other players in the room play as spirits who control the haunted house. Players engage in these games together in the same room.

When amusement parks and entertainment centers opened again, they also began to offer more multiplayer AR/VR games. Just this summer, several VR arcade games were launched including Sega’s VR Agent, Far Cry VR at Zero Latency, and Transformers: Decepticon Invasion at Dave and Buster’s.

Taking Multiplayer XR Games Beyond the Boundaries of Physical Space

ValoArena takes multiplayer XR games further to another level. This mixed reality playground that can accommodate up to six players requires no wearables and no controllers. Players are not tethered by wires and can interact freely with each other in the same physical space that gets transformed into a hyper-realistic virtual environment.

In ValoArena, players can choose from a variety of games that encourage physical activity and social interaction. Players jump, run, dodge, and help each other through challenging obstacles in the arena-like stage. Since there are no wearables and wires, players can hold hands, carry each other, give high fives, and laugh together. Spectators can watch live and cheer for them too.

“For me, the best thing about ValoArena is to observe groups and how they have fun together,” said Steffen Brunckhorst, CEO of the German family entertainment center Abenteuerland, in a press release shared with ARPost. “They compete with each other or cooperate, and they are laughing. People are completely immersed in the game, and they are visibly having fun playing.”

Aside from providing players with a more socially interactive way to play XR games, ValoArena also offers operators ease of operation. The system has high throughput, requires no employee supervision, and is easy to play. With the rising popularity of ValoArena, some operators are reporting utilization rates as high as 86%, according to Valo Motion

Valo Motion Brings ValoArena to the US

After its successful launch in Europe, ValoArena is now ready to make waves in the United States. Its Finland-based maker, Valo Motion, has announced the first two installations of the immersive arena at the RPM Raceway in New York and at Air Madness in South Dakota. According to Dr. Raine Kajastila, CEO of Valo Motion, the US launch of ValoArena brings a fresh alternative to passive play in out-of-home amusement locations.

“ValoArena is much more than just a revolutionary concept; it’s an evolutionary step forward,” Kajastila said.  “We have taken the best from our ValoClimb and ValoJump attractions and built a truly social group gaming experience where active fun and laughs can be shared by groups and families.”

Additional units of ValoArena will be available for installation soon and will be an exciting addition to over one thousand Valo Motion products (ValoClimb and ValoJump) currently located in family entertainment centers in over 30 American states.

Multiplayer XR Games in Shared Environments

As immersive technologies mature, shared experiences in shared environments—both physical and virtual—will become richer and more exciting. Multiplayer XR games will become increasingly accessible on various platforms and on multiple devices. They will transform family game nights, weekend gatherings, arcade trips, and other events by offering highly engaging experiences that encourage social interaction.