For this first article, I wanted to go deeper in one of the premises on which The Network’s concept came about. It is also meant to be one of the main content type that Homies will be able to “interact with” on the Network: online multiplayer geo-spatial games. Especially when matched with mobile or augmented reality, it creates a whole new framework for both creation and gaming as it becomes a little bit more real and connected with the user.

I wanted to make sure to share some learning bits also, so that you can see where we’re coming from. I’ll keep the detailed and/or technical versions of my research within Homies’ private ecosystem and Reddit for feedback, and as such, I shouldn’t bore you too much with complex technical jargon as I want a maximum of readers to understand what I’m breaking down

You’ll have the chance to know more about the humans behind Homies as we progress on our Journey, but in the meantime feel free to message us if you want to share reactions *especially” if you happen to disagree with what I’m saying, I’m always happy to get new perspectives on things!

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As the header hinted, I wanted to talk about Geo-Location Gaming - especially to showcase why they’re growing in popularity, and what’s to expect in the next few months.

All in all, those games are a type of LBG (Location-Based Games) that are defined as a type of games that integrate the player’s physical* world location with the gameplay and sets of gamified incitatives based on where, on a mapped area, the player is located. In a lot of cases, such games capitalize on experiences blending virtual and physical assets or some kind of lore that can be supplemented by the palyer’s surroundings. In the coming lines I’ll just make sure to give you an overview on the industry, it’s trends, provide more details about “who” are the actual gamers and how is the industry doing in 2024.

Until recently, it was a niche market -  but it is growing rapidly:

Of course, if you compare them to Console/PC games, they are a drop in the ocean (yea… like less that 1%) : Geo-location-based gaming remains a small segment but is experiencing fast growth due to a few factors such as the enhanced access to connected devices, the overall boost in technical abilities from most cellphones and the increased connectivity with various Map types. I’m sure at this point most of you will be familiar with Pokémon Go? Well their success has inspired similar games, like Pikmin Bloom and NBA All World as the industry was able to use Niantic’s success with the Pocket Monsters as a proof of the potential for real-world exploration integrated with gaming, and its technical feasibility.

It’s being used more and more as a “fun” engagement method:

Innovation brings innovation, as such, there’s a lot of engagement benefits from using mapped games and experiences since you’re almost sure that an active user… will be physically or actively engaged with your LBG experience. Especially when it comes to gameplay and game dynamics, you can capitalize on natural movement, logical patterns and even - to grab an example from Pokemon Go- incentivizing the user’s surroundings and behaviors; such as adding a location of interest near a Pokecenter or a rare pokemon you’ve been looking for. This may not mean much in terms of factual benefits… but it works! Humans are curious creatures and by contrast, having the abitlity to interact with your suroundings with Augmented Reality might just do the trick.

Of course, the growth of location-based gaming is tied to the ability to craft games and fun, seamless gaming experiences around existing user behaviors (ex: the way they typically interact with their device). Successful games in this niche do not demand new habits from players but augment the habits the users finds comfortable.

Ok, and “who” are the players?

Atlas Empires, a geo-location game, has reached a player base of 1.5 million within its first weeks, and many other IPs have recieved Niantic’s “Go” treatment (Pikmin, The Witcher, etc.) - even if most of them are far off the massive 82 milllion active users on Pokemon Go launched 8 years ago, some have been retracted due to a poor reception (virtually looking at you Wizard Unite, inspired from the Harry Potter Universe) and had to be shut down due to the lack of traction. Users have noted challenges in overall gameplay and weird storytelling. As of 2024, it’s still a niche game group that targets fans from a specific franchise or genre. To be fair, the overall gaming market is so big ($196 Billion in 2022) that even a single percentage represent a respectable industry. In North America, more than 75% of Millennials play video games on a weekly basis, and more than 80% of Gen Z do as well.

For both age groups, 78% of players are categorizing Gaming a social activity akin to a casual hangout among friends. Even if the majority of gamers are categorized as males (55%), a 45% female audience is the largest change of statistic in the past 10 years when it comes to demography. Despite a significant audience for well-designed games (what we call “AAA”, those games are built around a strong storyline and deep characters), 66% of gamers spend their time on Casual Games such as Fortnite and Candy Crush. So much so, that some of these games are really transitionning to full-blown entertainment platforms - I’ll use the Fortnite events and festivals as a testament of that. Simulators (my personal favorites) are surprisingly high on the list with 37% have dramatically increased in popularity in the past 2 years. Finally, this increase in popularity and interest has also led to growth in other segments such as e-sports and additionnal premium content.

So it’s a good thing?

The gaming industry has seen a major rise in revenue, particularly in the last seven years but mostly in the pandemic era (2020-2022) because of… well, obvious reasons. This growth is likely driven by advancements in technology and increasing interest in gaming across various demographics, but also because of the variety available to consumers now. Access to games and gaming platform is now easier than ever, and has established itself as a form of entertainment (I’m still a few years shy from my 30s… but I’m old enough to remember when playing video game was a “weird” passtime…) Accessibility does not mean quality however, despite some franchise being able to roll-out catchy, fun and well-thought games, there’s also a strong trend of low-quality, mostly time grabber games that are heavily reliant on quick user monetization…

It's uncertain whether the future will bring a wide variety of location-based games. Those will integrate the player's physical location as a key aspect of gameplay, which may be challenging for those who don't travel much.  I think a distinction between location-based and location-aware games will become more apparent - especially since I wouldn’t want to prevent access to a player that has a lesser access to mobility and/or just wants to play from home. On the other hand, location-aware games are influenced by the player's location but don't rely on it as the main element. We can expect the prevalence of location-aware games to increase, where the gameplay is influenced but not dominated by the player's physical location - I similarly want to explore further concepts such as time availability, seasonality, moon phases, etc.

If I’m honest, I geniuenly believe that LBG will remain a niche subset of the larger gaming industry - at least for as long as spatial games become mainstream or in par with the level of AAA games out there… but hey, the pie is still big enough to all get a small slice! I also believe that some features of LBG may have strong appeal, especially in areas where hanging out outside is easy and convenient. If quality, multiplayer LBG games can capture engagement and entertainment like some of the past success have showcased, I think we’re just seeing the begining of that wave.

*I use “physical world” as a proxy for commonly refered-too “real world” as the virtual world is pretty much real. This concept is usually harder to grasp for older generations, but the virtual world, despite not having material and physical attributes, may create noticable engagement between a biological entity and/or a physical asset. Not conviced? When was the last time you spent 24hr hours without an internet connection?

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