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Examples of using AR in the toy industry

Computer and mobile games are often considered an alternative to classic toys and board games. The article below provides an overview of several examples where AR in one form or another, on the contrary, came in handy for the industry of traditional toys, books, or children's designers.

AR content for real books


In 2012, Wonderbook: Book of Spells was released for the Sony Play Station 3 platform. The game contained a real book in the package and for a full-fledged gaming experience it required a PlayStation Eye camera and a PlayStation Move game controller.

During the game, on the screen, one could observe various magic metamorphoses occurring with the book on the TV, wield the controller like a magic wand. The Metascore on the Metacritic website is 72, which is pretty good.


Disney approached the revitalization of books in a slightly different way. In 2015, at the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, she showed her version of working with animated drawings of children's books. A special application defined the contours of a drawing in a book as a marker, drawing on top of its three-dimensional model based on the drawing. Gradually, when the child painted over the drawing, its three-dimensional version acquired the same color, which was also animated.


Visualization of the contents of the game box


Let's move from books to board games. More precisely, to the designers. One of the most advanced gaming companies in terms of AR is Lego. They came up with an interesting option for using augmented reality in stores where they sell their toys. The store has a kiosk with a camera and a screen. When the buyer comes to such a kiosk with a box, on the camera he sees what the finished assembled model of his chosen toy will look like. This allows you to immediately assess how cool the final model looks, and at the same time helps to estimate its size in comparison with the box. Below in the video is a small example of such an approach, shot in one of the shopping centers in the USA back in 2009.


A similar approach was taken by Bauer. In 2016, the Bauer: Constructor application was released, which allows you to scan a barcode to show a three-dimensional visualization of how the toy will look, but also get step-by-step instructions for assembling the model. The application is available for both iOS and Android . It is periodically updated, the Android version was updated in November 2019. However, judging by user reviews, often the desired model is not in the database.



Designer in Augmented Reality


In 2017, Lego took the next step towards the active use of Augmented Reality by launching the Lego AR Studio mobile app. The application worked only on the iOS platform, using Apple's ARKit technology to place one of Lego virtual sets in any place where the user was interested in playing with him. The designers were not static, but showed whole animated scenarios: a fire engine extinguishes a house, a large robot attacks a police station. Unfortunately, an interactive component was not enough, but it turned out a very lively and colorful advertisement for a number of Lego series.


However, Lego did not stop there, and their next approach to the topic was the Lego Hidden Side line of toys, announced in February 2019 and released in the fall of that year. The first line of the game plot was related to the theme of the search for ghosts - they appeared on the background of these models, the player can catch small ghosts and fight with large ghost bosses.


On the network you can find examples of other companies that tried to make such decisions. For example, something similar back in 2013 was announced by Disney. However, it was not possible to find information about the successful released release of such an application in the preparation of this review.



Interactive environment in a toy store


Toys R Us in 2017 released the Play Chaser app, which allows you to add interactivity to your stores. The application can be activated by scanning a special rack at the entrance to the store, this will allow you to chat with the company mascot Geoffrey giraffe, which will tell the visitor what is interesting in the store. Also, several mini-games are built into it, the ability to throw a basketball in a virtual ring in the interior of the store.


Conclusion


It is expected that the penetration of AR into the toy industry will continue. The Lego Hidden Side example seems the most promising, but so far it is too fresh to speak of unconditional success. However, while it seems quite promising, and for sure more gaming companies will want to repeat the success of Lego, if it happens. We will wait for the development of AR technologies.

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