A London immersive technology agency that uses augmented reality to create experiences for brands, museums and cultural organisations.
Arcade XR is a London company that builds augmented reality (AR) experiences, in which digital objects appear on your phone screen as if they were in the real world. A Digital Catapult list of the UK's eight immersive studios to watch describes it as an immersive experience agency working with brands and with arts and culture institutions. Its clients are named there as the National Gallery, Sky, Disney and UK Parliament. Its work includes Bazaar, a 2023 AR game with real-world rewards on UK high streets, and an AR crowd-sourced experience inspired by Edvard Munch, made with the MUNCH museum in Oslo.
Its chief executive and co-founder is Jon Meggitt. In an interview with the AR company Zappar, he said that he and his co-founders had set up the agency in 2016 after selling their earlier digital agency, and that he and one co-founder met at architecture school. We did not find a formal mission statement. The closest is his view that AR needs a real purpose beyond spectacle: he said you cannot do something just for the wow factor alone, and that the aim is meaningful connections between people, brands and products.
The company is based in London. Royal Holloway, University of London reported that children helped to design an AR family trail for the National Gallery in London, which shows work in a central London cultural setting. Arcade has also built an experience for the National Gallery on Roblox, a platform popular with young people, according to the same university's news pages. We have not confirmed an office address.
On culture, Mr Meggitt said the agency follows the approach of its earlier business: hire young people, develop them, let them grow with the company and then mentor the next hires. He said the team was young, mostly in their mid-twenties, and that some of the most talented staff joined straight from university or with a year or two of experience. This is his own description from an older interview, so the company may look different now.
The roles in an AR agency can include 3D artists and modellers, developers who work in tools such as Unity or Unreal Engine, designers who plan how people move through an experience, producers who manage client projects, and writers and strategists. People come from design, architecture, computer science, games and fine art degrees. If you like museums or brands as much as technology, this is an area worth watching. Check the company website for what is open now.
Website: www.arcade.xr
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