42 tfe February 2017

by Jennifer Lynch

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When Steve Jobs stood on stage in 2001 and in-troduced the iPod, it wasn’t exactly something consumers clamored for immediately. Was it in-novative? Yes. Did it change the music industry? Absolutely. But sometimes it simply takes a while

for things to catch fire. For the iPod, that was mid-2003. For augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), that time is now.

AR and VR are nothing new, however, like the original iPod, these technologies were at first costly, marketed toward more niche audiences, and most importantly not well understood by the general public.

The Pokémon Go effecT

Only a few years ago, AR and VR experiences required specialized and expensive equipment that was either unsought or unattainable by the average consumer. Smartphones and tablets have revolutionized all that. The major cost in incorporating the technology into products has been removed, thus allowing today’s toy makers to focus on creating products around the tech at price points that are consumer-friendly. “It’s become a huge entry point,” says Nick Beliaeff, vice-president of production at Spin Master Studios. “And it’s increased educational awareness.”

For AR, this is thanks in part to a little game called Pokémon Go. On a 10-point scale of technological difficulty, Beliaeff says Pokémon Go is a one, but it still got the word out and educated the consumer about what AR is and what makes it interesting. “That rising tide raised all ships for

everyone else,” he says. Just last winter, he was even preparing to give a pre-

sentation on the topic of AR, but when Pokémon Go dropped a week before his presentation, he scratched

his speech and started over. “The initial challenge is always, how do you explain something experiential in a succinct manner?” says Beliaeff. “This comes

with any new technology and people learn-ing about any new tech-nology. But once people

become immi-

nently familiar with it, that experiential part of it becomes much easier to deal with.”

With a large presence at CES 2017 earlier this year, this is starting to take shape for VR tech as well, as companies such as Samsung, PlaySta-tion, and Google make a stronger push to help consumers grasp its poten-tial. But VR still has more barriers to market.

The AR vs. vR DebATe

In the current conversation around AR and VR, it is common to group the two applications together, but it’s important to understand the differ-ences between them, specifically how they apply to the toy aisle.

AR acts as a filter or layer imposed on our reality. For example, in Spin Master’s Air Hogs Connect: Mission Drone, a sci-fi universe is imposed, via the lens of a child’s smart device, onto their room. But look away and it’s just a normal room. Putting on a VR headset, however, closes off the real world and drops users entirely inside a manufactured experience.

This difference has resulted in many—within the industry, at retail, and at home—questioning whether one can be applied more easily and safely to the toy aisle. As it currently stands, AR and VR products for kids are still under the electronics umbrella and often not sought out by toy buyers.

Right now, AR seems to be taking the lead. Fourth quarter 2016 gave way to multiple AR toys topping holiday toy lists, including Hasbro’s Play-Doh Touch, Hot Wheel’s AI Racing Set, and Mission Drone, among others.

“If you look at AR, the core of the interaction is you are playing with this real toy in your room in your house,” Spin Master’s Beliaeff says. “For us, when we spin up the world, there’s big tall buildings we hide stuff behind. How do you see what’s behind a building? You walk to see what’s behind it. It’s not a passive activity. You are actually playing, mov-ing around, and interacting with the world about you. With VR, it’s taking over the room. You have to sit down because you are going to fall and it’s not only because you can’t see anything but because it’s disorienting.”

This is one of the biggest issues users have with VR versus AR: the dis-orientation. If you’ve ever worn a VR headset, you’ve likely experienced it. Warning labels on many suggest limiting wear-time and taking breaks between uses.

Alex Fleetwood, founder of Sensible Object and creator of the toys-to-life game Beasts of Balance, says there might be some boundaries to con-sider with VR. “I’m really unconvinced that we want to wear a computer on our faces,” he says. Citing Pokémon Go as well as Amazon Echo as

Toys Race into a New Reality

VR Real Feel Racing

by Jennifer Lynch

February 2016 tfe 43

well-made applications for AR, Fleetwood goes on to say that “both of these things represent a kind of augmented reality that is a bit more sen-sitive to the way we actually live our lives, and the kind of experiences we want to have as fami-lies and as individuals. I think the companies that will succeed in the next 10 years are the ones who can be empathetic in how to relate these technologies into the experience of people.”

But those in the industry that are apply-ing VR to toys say that this problem has more to do with proper implementation of the tech-nology with kids in mind. One such company is VR Entertainment Ltd., which launched its VR Real Feel Racing set this winter. Ned Ward, head of sales and marketing at VR Entertain-ment, says that his prior work at Mattel coupled with the knowledge about vision he gleaned from his own mother, an orthoptist (eye muscle therapist), aided in the development of its VR headset. While the larger field of view of more expensive VR headsets can create a very immer-sive experience, for kids it results in more dizzi-ness than fun.

Unlike adults, kids have a fixed focal length so VR Entertainment recognized that there wasn’t a need for the usual adjustable focus for

a kids’ headset. “We’re not shooting for PlayStation, we’re

shooting for the Wii,” says Ward. “It’s all about the gameplay and it’s about the fun and the ex-perience. So if that means limiting the field of view so that you’re looking straight ahead in racing, but it’s more fun and you can play lon-ger, then we feel that that’s the right decision.”

VR Real Feel Racing also works to combat the issue of sensory deprivation, which is some-times touted as a side effect of VR, through the use of a kid-friendly controller as a tactile ele-ment and a rumble feature so that if users drive off course or hit a wall, they’ll feel a vibration. The company is also working with Debit Lim-ited, which will be releasing a study on recom-mended VR screen-time limits for kids.

“It’s much more intuitive,” Ward says. “Hav-ing played pretty much all the VR racing games that are out on iOS and even some on Android, it gets really tiring after a while just tilting your head left and right to steer. Whereas as soon as you put that steering wheel in kids’ hands, they know what to do. And again, it sort of brings you back to the real world of physically turning your hands and seeing results on the screen, which is also super empowering for younger kids.”

The ReAliTy of PlAy

There is however one commonality between the two techs that all parties agreed on—it needs to make sense for the product and not just be added for the sake of an AR or VR label. When we look back to the rise of app gaming a few years ago, the toy aisles saw an influx of prod-ucts that sought to incorporate apps into play. Many quickly fell by the wayside, adding little value or creating a disconnect to the play. The same will likely be said for some products that make their way into these categories.

“Success potential for any of these products absolutely hinges on the product execution, tar-get consumer demographic, trends, and adop-tion,” says Jared Wolfson, senior vice-president, marketing and media at Skyrocket Toys, which is unveiling its own VR experience at Toy Fair that incorporates top brands Batman and Juras-sic World. “There is no doubt that the younger generations have grown up with rapidly evolv-ing technology and a constant connectedness. As a designer, developer, manufacturer, distrib-utor, and marketer, we must pay attention to how people are spending their leisure time and the best way to deliver intuitive and engaging prod-uct and experiences.”

The New Wave of Toys-to-LifePreviously, toys-to-life has been thought of through the lens of high-visibility gaming platforms such as Activision’s Skylanders, LEGO Dimen-

sions, or the now-defunct Disney Infinity. But toy makers say the definition of toys-to-life is changing. “I see toys-to-life as a terminology which is right up there with a horseless carriage,” says Sensible Object’s Fleetwood. “It’s a description of

something that’s coming, but it’s putting it in the terms of the old generation of technology, where we saw these static character toys sitting on some pretty cool technology that then unlocked different elements of video games. What we’re doing and a bunch of other companies are doing now is starting to say, ‘We can look at what the physical game experience is, we can look at what the technology is, we can look at what the digital experience is, and we can be inventive and creative in ways that take us well beyond those initial toy RFID video game components.’”

New toys, such as Beasts of Balance, also appear to be designing with a keener awareness of what parents are cautious about: screen time. Some of the most interesting toys emerging in this area are focusing much more on merging physical and digital play, as opposed to an unbalanced emphasis on one over the other. Play-Doh Touch is one example, which brings kids’ Play-Doh creations to life in a place in which they are already spending more time. “That’s where the magic is of what the technology can do from an app standpoint for Play-Doh,” says Greg Lombardo, vice-president of global brand strategy and marketing for Play-Doh. “It wasn’t about forcing Play-Doh into the digital space. It was about finding a way for the digital space to enhance the magic of Play-Doh in general.”