What titles by Ubisoft would make for good AR games? “Watch Dogs” and “The Division” are the first that come to mind for many people, but there are lots of other possibilities as well. It would be interesting to see an “Assassin’s Creed” take on the idea, perhaps expanding on the game’s story set in modern times.
On the other hand, other studios can do quite a lot with this idea too. For example, some players have suggested a “Hitman” game that sends players out on “contracts” to take out targets in the real world with their smartphones.
We’re sure that major studios are already considering the implications of this idea for their own franchises, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the first new releases in this genre happened by the end of this year. After all, it’s important to get in as early as possible in order to compete well.
Especially on the cutthroat market that is the mobile scene – since this is such a new trend for many players, it’s important to establish some associations with certain popular franchises early on. Niantic still have a major advantage over everyone else though – all the data they’ve collected from “Ingress” is theirs only. Other companies could probably outsource the acquisition of such information, or purchase it from Niantic if it comes to that, but it still puts the ball in the studio’s hands, and gives them a lot of leverage over the market.