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Comment by BitwiseFool | Hacker News Reader

The success of smartphone AR games seems almost entirely dependent on the IP they are designed around. Pokemon seems perfectly suited towards the model and I struggle to think of any other franchise that has enough going for it to be an engaging AR game. Although plenty of other IP's have tried to make their own Pokemon Go.

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Given Pokémon Go is basically the only successful AR game and it definitely owes its success to Pokémon’s IP (IMO the gameplay actually sucks), and I haven’t seen any other AR games with compelling gameplay, I agree. But I think someone could make an AR game that can stand on its own - AR is just a medium, and there are plenty of regular games and mobile games that made tons of money with new IP.

Reskinning existing IP for an entirely new game like in Pokémon Go can be thought of similarly to a marketing expense. For the amount it costs to license the IP, you could allocate more money to original IP or other marketing.

“Legend of Zelda: Hetsu Korok Hunters” would be an instant hit if Nintendo & Niantic made it. Korok puzzles are perfect for an on-the-go AR game.

I no next to nothing about mobile games so I'm now curious. Is there a counter example you can provide where top tier IP was unsuccessful because the app/game/experience was so bad? I see a lot of this on reddit usually around "regular" video games where everyone says the won't prebuy or purchase a game because of past studio bugs or generally bad user/community experience but ultimately these games and studios still crush it. So I would definitely agree with your appraisal just kind of curious if there is a floor you can hit that is so bad that a game still fails still being an amazing IP.

If anything, history shows the opposite. There are some IPs that are so valuable that you could release absolute trash and still make a killing from the dedicated fans.

I’d argue Fantastic Beasts is almost the perfect property to try and clone Pokémon with.

I enjoyed the Harry Potter games I've played and have played pretty much every "monster" game that exists (Pokemon, Digimon, DQ: Monsters, Monster Rancher, etc). As a fan, I'm sorry to say I don't see myself being interested in a Fantastic Beasts game. I would love to be proven wrong... maybe it's because I didn't enjoy the movies but I don't hear anyone mention fantastic beasts for any reason, good or otherwise.

The idea of a Steve Irwin running around London catching magical animals should be enough. No need to tie it into the movies or plots.

Niantic already released and sunset a Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.

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