Concepts of connected reality games emerged as a result of the merging of tech and entertainment, taking up where innovations in augmented and virtual reality technology left off.

Online casinos started it all in the early 2000s with live dealer games, where actual human dealers were streamed via video onto the screens of players, merging the physical and virtual worlds. It allowed gamers worldwide to experience the atmosphere of a casino from the comfort of their own homes. That legacy persists today through operators like the Horseshoe Casino, which offers the Horseshoe Casino Promo Code, providing a unique welcome bonus that can be used in all kinds of games, including live dealer ones.

By the 2010s, advances in low-latency video streaming and robotics led developers to push this concept further by producing games where users were allowed to manipulate physical objects in real time. OneShot Golf, released by 54eDev Studios in 2021, was a fine example, allowing users to utilize smartphones to drive real-world golfing robots around a mini-golf course, with movements such as swinging a club occurring in real time via ultra-low-latency video.

This represented a shift from pure virtual simulation to a hybrid experience, so-called “connected reality,” where real-world mechanics are merged with digital control.

Connected reality games rely on an equal mix of hardware and software. 

At OneShot Golf, a player views a live stream of a camera placed on a robot on an actual mini-golf course via a mobile application. The app’s interface provides accurate control over the robot’s movements, such as putting using the putter and adjusting swing force, with no delay.

It does so through ultra-low-latency video streaming, so that when you touch your phone, it gets translated into physical world action instantaneously within milliseconds. Sophisticated robotics, high-speed internet, and real-time video processing are needed to preserve the sense of direct manipulation. Unlike traditional video games that simulate physics, connected reality games use the real world as their physics engine, delivering authentic outcomes that can’t be replicated by digital simulations. For instance, a wayward shot in OneShot Golf will behave as it would on a real course, with real gravity and friction.

Despite their potential, connected reality games remain rare. 

The main challenge is the development cost and complexity. Creation of a game such as OneShot Golf does not only require software expertise but also physical infrastructure in terms of warehouses for hosting courses and robots, and maintenance personnel to keep it running.

Ultra-low-latency video also constrains scalability, as it demands high-quality internet infrastructure that is not widely available. In addition, the niche interest of manipulating real-world objects using a phone continues to be as well-liked as completely virtual games such as Golf+ or conventional AR applications.

Development is also hindered by regulatory issues, for example, ensuring fair play for competitions that offer prizes. Few studios have ventured into this space, including 54eDev, with few other games, distant-control robot soccer or drone racing, for instance, coming close to the same level of polish or awareness among the general public.

By bridging the gap between virtual interfaces and real-world action, they provide a distinct sense of presence that cannot be achieved through VR and AR alone.

OneShot Golf is the only game that provides real-time tournament competition, winning physical prizes, and even interacting with human hosts that appear on the course, providing a social aspect not available in most digital games. This tech can be applied to other sports, like remote-control bowling or archery, where users play with actual equipment remotely.

Outside gaming, connected reality can be utilized in education, training, and manufacturing examples, like students controlling lab equipment remotely or engineers manipulating equipment in dangerous environments.

In the meantime, AR games that superimpose virtual information on the real world are already enhancing casino games, such as displaying virtual poker tables on top of real tables or offering real-time game statistics. The combination of AR’s connectedness and haptic nature of connected reality can potentially transform interactive entertainment for good, with greater inclusivity and immersion.

The path of connected reality and AR gaming signifies that the future will behold even further blurring of physical and virtual boundaries.

As 5G networks spread out and robotics grow more affordable, the obstacles to developing connected reality games will fall, and we might experience a rush of titles in every genre.

AR, already successful in mobile experiences such as Golf AR Anywhere, would be combined with connected reality to produce hybrid experiences, for example, a virtual game of golf on an actual course supplemented with digital overlays. Social features of such games, such as in live dealer casino games and OneShot Golf’s human interaction, point toward the increasing popularity of shared real-time experience.