News just out states that augmented reality will become huge in football with the Japanese proudly offering an immersive AR audience experience in their bid for the 2022 World Cup.
It’s interesting how different countries signify their commitment to this most significant of tournaments and how the USP of each country varies. Whilst South Africa is a great choice for political and social reasons, Japan has clearly identified itself as a technology leader.
AR is gradually becoming a part of everyday life. iPhone and handset users with Google Android are already using what are often erroneously called Augmented Reality apps and overlaying the view through the phone’s camera with information from the web. What we’d call ‘true’ Augmented Reality applications will be a step on from what these handsets are currently doing, and that’s going to make their view of the game even more interesting. It’s likely that within a very short time, spectators will be able to overlay their view of the game with information on player performance, goals, passes, and all manner of useful information currently only available on TV and the web.
Although these concepts will start with phones, it’s likely that this will transition into video goggles which can be used either at home, or more likely at the match itself. AR will make the spectator the editor, with the ability to watch the match in slow motion or replay key moments of the game. There will be intergame communication between players enabling commentary, mass tweeting and karaoke style chanting. There is the possibility to integrate nanotechnology alongside AR to give managers, entertainment companies and spectators absolute data on the game, player by player. The technology will be a boon to entertainers and marketers alike – and a potential security issue as well.
We might think that there are already endless forms of entertainment linked to football. It will not be long before this data transitions into Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) giving a new sense of community to the football world.
All of this gives us the team at Crossplatform plenty to consider over the coming months. Crossplatform’s CTO, Andrew Elia believes that it’s about having the right team to embrace technology as it evolves. “We’re working with marketing departments right now on some very exciting new concepts. It’s our role to help companies reach consumers in new way and provide the very best in technical delivery. It’s about having the vision – and then making sure that the technology matches the dream in our heads.”
