We have witnessed many changes to the mobile casino world over the past few years and we are in the process of another big change thanks to augmented reality. AR could be the next big thing in mobile casino gaming. We are going to assess the role of AR in mobile casinos today and look ahead to the future.
What is AR?
Before we look more closely at the role of AR in mobile casino gaming, we must understand the technology. AR is an enhanced version of the real world using digital elements. The most common digital element is visual and that could mean the addition of items in a room that are not usually present in the physical world. However, AR can also include sound and other sensory experiences that can drastically change the look of the real world. The virtual elements of an AR world are overlayed onto the real world and a good example is the Pokémon GO mobile game, where digital characters can be found hiding in the real physical world.
Immersive Interaction
In terms of playing mobile casinos games, AR is going to lead to greater immersive interaction when playing games. When playing standard mobile casino games, you have mainly an observatory role. Yes, you can tap the screen to place a bet or play a card but you are still looking at the screen to follow the action, you are not immersed in the game yourself. For example, when you play a game of poker using a mobile app, you would usually tap the screen to place a wager. However, when playing in AR, you could stand in-front of the table and place the chips down yourself into the virtual world as if it was a real casino.
An AR headset may be required for this to become a reality and connecting a pair of AR glasses to a mobile device could lead to a spectacular AR mobile casino gaming experience. Not only could you place your chips yourself using your hand but you could also look around the room, see other people, and hear the atmosphere of the casino.
Engagement
We must also look at the impact of AR in mobile casinos from the perspective of the mobile casinos themselves. Yes, it is going to take a significant investment from the mobile casinos and casino game developers to bring AR casino gaming to life. However, the investment could prove to be worthwhile as the mobile casino companies will generate greater engagement.
The same could be true for both regular online mobile casinos and sweepstakes casinos, such as WOW Vegas. You can read a comprehensive WOW Vegas review, which is home to a large number of games and they are sure to be researching how they can offer the best AR experience to players. By offering you a more immersive and interactive world, it will give you an experience that was previously incomprehensible and that alone is enough to keep your attention. Imagine you could walk though the door of a different looking casino each time you played, with new people and various games.
As things stand, a mobile device could be used in the same way as the Pokémon GO game to add casino features to your room at home. That is a good start but a fully immersive experience would keep you playing for longer and that is exactly what mobile casinos desire.
Money and Time
As highlighted above, we cannot ignore the amount of time and money it is going to take to develop a truly memorable AR mobile casino world. It could be possible to step through the doors of some of the world’s most popular land based casinos but first, the casinos must be captured using cameras and the images transferred to graphics. The graphics must be realistic otherwise you are likely to lose interest when gaming. All this costs money and the mobile casino and game developers will have to be confident it is going to be worth their while to spend the money developing mobile AR casinos.
There is no doubt AR has enormous potential to transform the mobile casino industry. It may take some time for the potential to be fully maximised but when it does, the outcome is going to be magnificent.