TECH

With 'Pokémon Go,' augmented reality is having its moment

Brett Molina

USA TODAY

While fans of virtual reality wait for the platform's breakthrough experience, its cousin augmented reality is having its moment — a cute, brightly colored one that leaves its users with sore feet.

Pokemon Go is displayed on a cell phone in Los Angeles on Friday, July 8, 2016.

Pokémon Go, a mobile game where players catch Pokémon cartoon creatures in the real world, has put augmented reality into the spotlight in a way that the more immersive, high-profile virtual reality has yet to achieve.

"It's going to bring (AR) into the consumer domain," says Gartner analyst Brian Blau.

5 things we learned from 'Pokémon Go'

Pokémon Go features a GPS-enabled map of the player's real-world surrounding. After tapping on one of the creatures, the app opens up the smartphone's camera, showing the Pokémon seemingly moving in the real world.

The free-to-play game has achieved viral status after a late-week launch sent thousands of people into streets, parks and shopping malls this weekend. Players shared their images of Pokémon appearing in random places, from bathrooms, to bars to sporting events, plus complaints over sore legs (from all the wandering around) and battery drainage.

According to one estimate from research firm SensorTower, the game notched more than 7.5 million downloads on Apple's App Store and Google Play. It's remained atop both app stores since launching last Thursday.

Whether they could define "augmented reality" or not, by the end of the weekend, many had experienced it — or watched others stumble around using it. "It really lets users get familiar with what AR can do," said Dr. Yue Fei, chief technology officer and co-founder of AR firm uSens.

While you track Pokémon, Pokémon Go tracks you

That's the kind of "killer app" or game experience that can bring a technology or device from obscurity to widespread use. In gaming, Nintendo's Wii console took off when consumers flocked to play golf and tennis with motions that mimicked real-life. Meanwhile, mobile gaming didn't soar to its current heights without help from the launch of games like Angry Birds in 2010.

So far, such a game hasn't transformed virtual reality from a technology sought by avid gamers and technologists, despite billions of investments and high ambitions from Facebook, Samsung and others.

While those who've tried out early VR content have generally like it — even been wowed by it — none of the VR experiences have been so engaging that it's broken out of the circles of core users. Some analysts, such as Deutsche Bank's Ross Sandler, have suggested a "Gap of Disappointment" may be the theme of next year's consumer tech conferences, as industry watchers ask, "Why are all these VR systems collecting dust?"

With the launch of Pokémon Go, that question may skirt the AR industry — a segment of the AR/VR market that's forecast to become the dominant force in the alternate reality landscape. According to Digi-Capital, the VR/AR market will reach $120 billion by 2020, with $90 billion of that generated by augmented reality.

VR/AR nets $1.1B in VC funding since Jan. 1

Much of the focus from AR developers have been on business uses. It's the technology behind Google Glass, the smart eyewear shelved by the tech giant and also the tech behind Microsoft's HoloLens. Start-ups have developed AR software to help oil rig workers, aircraft mechanics, furniture shoppers and in the case of Osterhout Design Group, Mini Cooper drivers.

At a recent conference in San Francisco, Lenovo showed off an AR-enabled smartphone that made it easier to consumers to fulfill the useful, but hardly riveting, task of home remodeling.

Gaming is often at the forefront of sea changes in technology, and here augmented reality has also been quietly making its mark, albeit with none of the fanfare that accompanied the rock concert-like unveilings at industry conference E3 last month.

Pokémon Go makers Niantic Labs have attracted a following with Ingress, which features players joining missions to control virtual portals based on real-world locations across the globe.

Game publishers including Nintendo and Sony have also experimented with AR through their 3DS and PlayStation Vita handheld platforms.

The success of Pokémon Go will likely spawn "lots of ripoffs," says Gartner's Blau. But he doubts AR's future will rely on concepts such as Pokémon Go.

Instead, Blau projects in several years, AR will follow VR and take the form of headsets, including Microsoft's HoloLens platform. "Video games have mainly been played on a flat screen," says Blau. "That's changed today."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.