Sounds like dumb gimmicky crap (that I'm sure in the moment will be fun) that will look sad and dated in just a few years.
The examples in this article to me are cringe-worthy.
I wonder if the Purple Wall™ and other painted wall
"experiences" or "activations" or whatever they want to call what was added in its wake will work with this.
The thing about Snapchat is, by default, it doesn't even save messages. The whole thing is intended to be more in-the-moment than something to treasure for a lifetime which is why it's okay that those AR effects are tacky and not superbly render and the effects have always been a (fun) gimmick.
It makes me think of
this clip from Silicon Valley.
This also reminds me of all the little camera apps that came out in the early days of the iPhone. I just recently upgraded and was doing a fresh install of my apps and scrolled through a bunch of my past purchases including Hipstimatic and a lot of other similar apps where what it did was essentially apply "creative" destruction to images - everyone was doing it.
Today, I look at pictures I took that way and I regret it because If I wanted to screw them up like that today in Photoshop, I could with a backup copy but the actual real moment will never exist again and the original image without the then-trendy effects is lost forever.
As a fun throwaway, whatever. Feels like they're five years too late but that's Disney with everything trendy, right? I think people will look back and regret having stuff like this instead of the real images one day although I suppose nothing is stopping them from taking and saving both.
All that said, that they've actually got the audacity to put this behind an up-charge is just crazy, though. Like the Alexa thing, management seems to think their IP is untouchably golden and that nothing else matters, anymore.
