Can Ghostbusters copy Pokémon Go’s success with its own AR mobile game?

You’ll soon be able to trap Ghostbusters ghosts in augmented reality à la Pokémon Go.

A short demo of the game Ghostbusters World was showcased at Google’s MWC booth, highlighting functionality made possible by the public release of Google’s ARCoreaugmented reality platform. Details are pretty slim for a wide release date other than it’s “coming 2018”.

The title will call on ghosts from the franchise’s “films, TV shows, comic books, theme parks, and video games” according to a press release. Ghostbusters is obviously no Pokémon when it comes to the cult following behind it, but the game does seem like it could have some pretty similar gameplay to Pokeémon Go when it launches.

The studio behind the title, South Korea-based publisher FourThirtyThree Inc. has launched a number of popular games including Blade for Kakao, Monster Super League and Seven Guardians. The studio primarily seems to dabble in RPG style video games, and early footage makes it seem as though this mechanic will be present in Ghostbusters World. The title was also developed in conjunction with Sony Pictures Entertainment Consumer Products and Ghost Corps.

For what it’s worth from the short video they’ve shown it does really showcase what AR can add to the game, and how much more integrated with the environment the game is than past AR titles. Whether the title will embrace the location-based community style which made Pokémon Go a bit of a cultural phenomenon is unclear.

Though the announcement was made in conjunction with Google, the game will also be coming to iOS. The developers will be making more announcements about the game at next month’s Game Developers Conference.

source:TechCrunch