Given Pokémon Go is basically the only successful AR game and it definitely owes its success to Pokémon’s IP (IMO the gameplay actually sucks), and I haven’t se

Given Pokémon Go is basically the only successful AR game and it definitely owes its success to Pokémon’s IP (IMO the gameplay actually sucks), and I haven’t seen any other AR games with compelling gameplay, I agree. But I think someone could make an AR game that can stand on its own - AR is just a medium, and there are plenty of regular games and mobile games that made tons of money with new IP. Reskinning existing IP for an entirely new game like in Pokémon Go can be thought of similarly to a marketing expense. For the amount it costs to license the IP, you could allocate more money to original IP or other marketing.