Graffity CEO Toshiaki Morimoto spoke about the company's mission, discussed its partnership with Qualcomm and Nreal, and detailed the peculiarities of creating and monetizing AR games.
Graffity
Graffity Inc. is a Tokyo-based augmented reality entertainment company founded in 2017 with the mission of "Play AR Play Real", which means to change communication through AR entertainment. The company is tenured in AR development, having launched four AR communication apps in two years, including the world's first AR battle, Pechabato, which achieved 230K downloads organically, and the world's second AR battle, Leap Trigger, which was released globally.
We entered the gaming market because we believed that gaming would be an early use case for the AR market as well. We also believed that the unique experience of AR is a face-to-face multiplayer experience, and games were a good fit. Pechabato is the world's first AR multiplayer shooter, and we think the fact that it gained over 230,000 downloads organically proves it.
Partnerships with Qualcomm and Nreal
We have been working with Nreal as an official evangelist since the timing of Nreal's entry into Japan. Specifically, we support the planning and development of AR content utilizing the AR glasses provided by Nreal.
We are working with Qualcomm through the Pathfinder program to develop AR games utilizing AR glasses provided by Lenovo and Snapdragon Spaces.
In order to popularize AR glasses, we need to create use cases, and since we entered the AR market early, we have the knowledge and technology. We decided to collaborate with a company that provides AR glasses in order to develop use cases and contribute to the spread of AR glasses.
In partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and AR glasses startup Nreal, we launched two games, GrooveWave and SushiCraft. You can learn more about these games here. The two games were developed in Unity, with GrooveWave utilizing the Nreal SDK and SushiCraft utilizing Snapdragon Spaces.
Creating AR Games
The important thing about AR games is the physical experience – otherwise, smartphone games work fine.
In the AR games we offer, we focused on the experience of moving your body and we believe that it helped drive significant engagement with our target audiences.
We believe that the current challenges for AR glasses are viewing angle, battery life, and price, and we are hopeful that by updating the chips these issues will improve.
The Snapdragon Spaces Pathfinder Program
We believe that Snapdragon Spaces will be indispensable when developing AR in the future. By accumulating knowledge of Snapdragon Spaces development at an early stage, we hope to support content development in collaboration with various companies.
Also, by joining the Pathfinder Program, we will be able to receive devices, support, and funding for development to set us up for success in this space. The Pathfinder team is very courteous and interested companies should apply to this program.
Monetizing AR Games
It is still difficult to monetize games using AR glasses but as AR glasses will become more popular in the future, monetization can be expected. The initial business model will be to sell applications for a fee, but as they become more popular, the business model will be to offer them for free with in-app purchases.
Graffity's Roadmap
Our focus in 2023 is working closely with various partners on developing great AR using AR glasses and contributing to the growth of AR glasses. We enable IP owners to be on the cutting edge of AR entertainment with our patented multiplayer AR technology that creates truly unique AR experiences.
Further this year, we’ll continue focusing especially on Snapdragon Spaces to develop content. We also want to boost the Snapdragon Spaces community in Japan.