USA Today has released a pair of augmented reality experiences in its flagship app to coincide with the start of the France 2019 Women’s World Cup this week.
“Meet the Team” creates an immersive experience to learn more about the Team USA soccer players while “Make the Save” provides a competitive challenge. U.S. goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher was scanned and turned into a 3D hologram who shares insights into her methods to defend against penalty kicks. Users then take the place of Naeher and try to block PKs that travel as fast as 80 miles per hour.
To play the game, users need to find a flat surface and free space. The USA Today app then superimposes a green strip of grass and a digital goal onto that space, viewable through a phone’s screen. Holographic shooters fire shots towards the goal, which users can try saving by moving the phones in the way.
“We wanted to provide an immersive way to learn more about the US Women’s team throughout the lifecycle of this year’s World Cup,” said Ray Soto, USA Today’s director of emerging technology, in a news release. “We have seen how much AR informs and entertains users so it’s a natural fit for brands to want to be a part of these engaging experiences as well. And, keeping consumers engaged throughout the World Cup experience really builds excitement.”
Soto gave a preview of the AR experiences at the Augmented World Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., last week, where Variety reported that the original plan was to offer a more game-like simulation. But most users wouldn’t be able to stop 80-mph shots, so the resulting Make the Save game includes a training phase and an intermediate phase with kick velocities capped around 40 mph.
SportTechie Takeaway
The app replicates the experience of defending against PKs just well enough to provide an appreciation of how difficult the task is, especially when remembering that Naeher will be facing shots twice as fast from international stars in noisy stadiums with tens of thousands of fans watching. For USA Today and the media industry, such experiences can attract users into the app and, once they are there, entice them to stay around to consume other content. This is a similar principle to the one driving interactive games made by Arkadium. Notably, USA Today’s parent company, Gannett, is an Arkadium client.