Are ARGs Dead? A Closer Look at a Common Refrain






Creatively speaking, I can’t say that ARGs are any better or worse than they were five years ago, for the simple reason that like most people, I don’t play ARGs any more. I find them extremely opaque before joining in; I have no idea long a given ARG might run for, how difficult it will be, whether it’ll be any good, or what’s involved in playing it. While this was refreshingly original back in 2001 with The Beast, now that I’m no longer a student and don’t have massive amounts of free time, it’s a deal-breaker.

So perhaps that’s what “ARGs are dead” means: unlike other genres such as social gaming, mobile gaming, or MMOs, they haven’t successfully evolved over the past decade to attract millions of loyal players. They never had millions of loyals players in the first place. What’s more, there doesn’t seem to be much hope of change on the horizon.

The company I run, Six to Start, is not currently in the business of making ARGs, and neither is Fourth Wall Studios. Most companies in the business now disavow the term ‘ARG’, preferring the trendier but frequently reviled and frustratingly vague term ‘transmedia’. In that context, it’s not surprising that people are happy to say “ARGs are dead” because it helps distinguish themselves from the old-and-busted crowd.

But I don’t hold any special enmity towards ARGs. I still remember the thrill of excitement I had every Tuesday when The Beast‘s websites updated, and I’m thoroughly proud of the work we did at Mind Candy in producing Perplex City. I would like nothing better than for ARGs to succeed – commercially, creatively, and popularly.

So, what would that take? Here are a few suggestions, taken from what I’ve learned from making ARG-like projects for eight years, and also having recently bootstrapped a smartphone fitness game that’s sold well over 200,000 copies and grossed close to $2 million:





5) Ignore the pundits. I am constantly amazed by the lack of critical analysis surrounding ARGs and transmedia. Just because an ARG is for a major movie doesn’t mean that it’s good; just because someone says an ARG had a million players doesn’t mean it did; and even if it did, perhaps a better-designed game would have attracted double the number. You could literally put a photo of a piece of crap on an Avengers website and it would get a million views. Even worse are award-winning ARGs, which lull developers into the sense that they’re making something that’s genuinely good or popular. Whenever I want a reality check, I’ll ask someone on the street if they’ve heard of, let alone played, an award-winning game we’ve made.

Not every ARG needs to be a commercial and critical smash hit, with hundreds of thousands of engaged and paying players. But it sure would be nice if people tried to get there.


  1. Great piece, Adrian! I couldn’t agree more.

  2. I see what you mean, but maybe you will have advice for me then. I am a youth activist and I am a brainstormer for new ideas on how to get youth back into being interested in heavier subjects. I had suggested a few years back that we make a part of the learning experiance a game of sorts, weither it be an ARG or an app that several schools collaberate on. Now that they take youth activists more seriously now, someone asked me how would I put this into the curriculum and how would I keep the audience’s attention and participation. I have been looking up how a person would start making an ARG to see how it would be tweaked for use in a school.

    Hearing that ARG is a dead isn’t surprising but it does make me wonder how to go at this without making a useless app that students probably won’t even sample if it was for free.

    Thank you for hearing me out.

  3. Michael Andersen

    November 26, 2012 at 7:57 am

    B. Bigard: I can’t speak for Adrian, but I’d suggest taking a closer look at existing methods of youth outreach in the area you’re focusing on, and identifying what their strengths and limitations are, and the actual challenge you’re facing. Will incorporating a game (or game-like activities) address that challenge? ARGs and apps are by no means the solution to every problem.

    Keep in mind: designing serious games is quite challenging. If you’re interested in seeing what ARGs can do well in the serious games space, check out recent or ongoing projects that touched on social issues like World Without Oil, Urgent Evoke, Conspiracy for Good, Vanished, and Ed Zed Omega.

  4. @B.Bigard: you should also look into groups like the Harry Potter Alliance, which has a growing social activism mission tied into a fan base. There are other ways to go with this. 🙂

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