Who plays collecting games on PC and console? Nobody! But Pokémon Go proved that even the weakest genre from PC (collecting stuff) can be a blockbuster outdoors. Putting video games outside magnifies player retention. Walking around lifts your body chemistry. It literally makes you happy to walk around. So how much bigger could outdoor games be if you started with the most popular PC genres, like action and roleplaying?

Pokémon Go never got there. Its map points technology doesn’t support the most popular and profitable game genres. How can you put a racing car game on a pinpoint, or explore a fantasy world on a pinpoint? These huge PC genres require a continuous area, a game zone that you can warlk around.

That means that, although outdoor collecting games have already earned $10 billion, most of the potential of outdoor games is still untapped — all those other game genres!

That’s our opportunity at Monsarrat. Our technology, based on 7 patents, supports contiguous game zones outdoors. We can take action, roleplaying, strategy, and other giant game types from PC and console, and take them outside. It’s more than a new type of game. Video game platforms include PC, console, mobile, VR, and more, and now we’re adding a new platform — outdoor play — that could support dozens of different game types.

It’s not our first time pioneering video games. Our founder, Johnny Monsarrat, previously co-invented MMO gaming as Founder, CEO, and CTO of Turbine, one of the “big three” first MMO game companies. Turbine made “Game of the Year” Asheron’s Call and “Game of the Year” Lord of the Rings Online, and is now a division of Warner Bros.

See the Baird Augustine industry report, Monsarrat at a Turning Point for Outdoor Video Games.

Our demo game, Landing Party, is a new category of video game, never seen before! It is:

• Social. MMO-style gameplay brings players together in quest parties and teams, building friendships and community.
• Creative. We go beyond the “collecting stuff” gameplay found in Pokémon Go to deep storytelling and roleplaying adventures. Immersive AR interactivity is central to our game. Future players will create their own adventures.
• Convenient. We have no fixed locations. You play anywhere you want to, in a local park, your own backyard, or any open space, even if it’s small or indoors.

While we’re working on a future full game, try Landing Party, our demo game with 12 missions!

Landing Party is available now on Apple App Store and Google Play. Or see our videos!

See our videos with press and player reactions with some calling it the “best innovation of the show” at GDC!

Press and endorsements include:

• “I haven’t seen anything like this since Pokemon Go.” — Charlie Fink, Forbes
• “Johnny’s team is building what Niantic couldn’t. With foundational patents and proprietary technology, they’re bringing outdoor gaming into major genres – action, role-playing, racing, strategy – that have long thrived on PC and console but never successfully translated outdoors. Their vision is bold, and their execution is grounded in both technical depth and player insight. It’s with confidence that I can say Johnny and his team are leading the next evolution of outdoor gaming.” — Jenna Seiden, former VP Business Development at Niantic
• “I just saw the future of mobile gaming.“ — Alex Wawro, Tom’s Guide
  
• 1,800-word feature article by Dean Takahashi in VentureBeat

Games like Pokémon Go use map points, which don’t support the most popular game genres. How can you shoot enemies through a military base (action) or explore a fantasy world (roleplaying) on a pinpoint?

Playing sports is a great way to make new friends. But many people feel shut out of sports. They find sports boring and exhausting.

Our outdoor roleplaying games give them a more creative, less athletic outdoor alternative. Like sports it gets you moving and helps you make friends. And it also draws sporty people who like video games but don’t want to sit at a desk.

Most video games are a break from life, a stress break. Immersive games “feel real”, but your body knows the truth: you’re sitting statically in your mom’s basement, with all the lights off. VR is “fully immersive” but even worse: you put your head in a prison where you can’t even see your mom when she comes down with cookies.

Our games don’t separate you from life. They connect you to life.

You explore your neighborhood, engaging with trees, grass, squirrels, and feeling part of your community, seeing passersby and an AR game landscape on your phone. That’s a kind of “immersion” you could never get with other games. It doesn’t just “feel real”. It is real.

You could pet a passing dog, buy your mom a gift, take photos of the sunset, or make a friend who could change your life. Your real life.

In the global crisis of loneliness, it’s hard for people to get off the couch. Up to 80% of young people say they feel lonely.

Other games are a stress break, but you pause your life. You aren’t living your life.

We can help. Our game gets you outside and walking! That’s great for physical and mental health. Walking changes your body chemistry; it literally makes you happy to walk around.

Our games can even introduce people in a public park and be an ice breaker that bonds them together. Make a new friend, not online but in the real world!

For more on our vision, see our press kit or our videos.

Want to help? Apply to join the team.