Brief:
- Ludare Games Group now offers players of "Men in Black: Global Invasion," the company's location-based augmented reality (AR) game, a chance to win real-world prizes, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
- The game, which is inspired by the Sony Pictures film franchise about secret agents who hunt outlaw extraterrestrials, lets players win gift cards, trips and experiences. The prizes are awarded based on players' geographic location.
- Ludare partnered with Versus Systems, which developed the Winfinite in-game prizing and promotions engine, to offer the rewards. "Men in Black: Global Invasion" launched on Google Play and in the App Store in August.
Insight:
By adding a rewards feature to "Men in Black: Global Invasion," Ludare aims to give mobile users another incentive to keep playing the game. It faces competition for audience attention from other location-based AR games like "Pokémon Go," "Ghostbusters World," "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" and "The Walking Dead: Our World."
In addition to in-game rewards, real-world prizes help to build loyalty among gamers who have a wide variety of entertainment options.
Ludare is among the developers of location-based AR games that have sought to reach more mobile users this year.
Niantic in July challenged players of "Pokémon Go" to help defeat a fictional group of villainous hackers who had invaded key locations throughout New York City. The campaign included thousands of out-of-home (OOH) and digital OOH placements to promote the new game content, which helped drive about $110 million in player spend in August, per an estimate from researcher Sensor Tower. The firm also said players have spent more than $3 billion on "Pokémon Go" since it was released in 2016.
More than 2.5 billion people worldwide play video games, and mobile gaming generates $68.5 billion in revenue, making it the biggest segment of the $152.1 billion gaming market, per researcher Newzoo.
