Last month saw startup Spatial Games launch a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign for its augmented reality (AR) table-top gaming device. Looking to achieve £25,000 USD over the course of a month, the campaign smashed through its target in a couple of days and now the team are looking towards their first stretch goal, shopping for licensed videogames.
As VRFocus initially reported, Spatial Games has already created several titles to work alongside the Spatial AR gaming platform. What the team want to do is add more well known licenses to the system, like Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering or Dungeons and Dragons for example.
The plan is, once the campaign has breached the $50,000 USD mark (it’s currently at $48,042) then 30 percent of all sales will be put towards buying licenses, helping support and grow the platform. Which licenses Spatial buys isn’t solely going to be down to them, as the team wants all their backers to vote on their favourites. There’s no guaranteeing any will come top unless the stretch goal is achieved but its not too far off.
The success of such a niche AR product shows how popular the technology is becoming, where a 3rd-party device can still gain an interest on a crowd funding site like Kickstarter. The Spatial Holographic AR Tabletop Gaming system stills requires a tablet of some kind to operate – obviously sold separately – whilst being used in conjunction with table top pieces and and gamepad.
Spatial’s success could also be due to its affordability. Proper hands-free hi-tech AR tends to be very expensive and difficult to get hold of (HoloLens, Magic Leap One), yet it’s thanks to software like ARKit and ARCore for mobile devices that have truly thrust the technology into consumers hands and the spotlight. With the funding tiers starting from $60 for a single Spatial MRX unit (or $110 for two), this brings it nicely in range of most peoples pockets without too much risk.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Spatial Games and its AR platform, reporting back with any further updates.
