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Google releases new AR game Space Invaders

Space Invaders: World Defense, Google and Taito’s new augmented reality game that lets you swing your phone to destroy aliens, is out on Android and iOS. The companies announced the game at the May Google I/O conference.

The release of the game came at a time when many other AR games failed to succeed. While Niantic’s Pokémon Go game is still hugely popular, the studio has shut down other games from major brands like Harry Potter, Transformers and the NBA and laid off employees. And it’s not just Niantic that’s struggling: Microsoft shut down AR game Minecraft in 2021, and CD Projekt Red just shut down AR game The Witcher.

It’s unlikely that World Defense will be a Pokémon Go-scale hit, but the basic concept of destroying virtual aliens by pointing your phone at the world around you seems to be interesting. The game looks like it could be a good showcase for Google’s ARCore technology that the game is based on. And in the game, you can take a stupid AR selfie in a Space Invaders-themed costume.