August 21st, 2023

Welcome to this weeks’ edition of The Future of VR newsletter. Thanks for subscribing to our list - we’re grateful to have you here (if you’re new to the list - thank you for joining!) Let’s dive in to some of the biggest updates we’re seeing in the world of Virtual Reality this week:

BMW Gets Into Mixed Reality

Want to test-drive the new $86,000 BMW M4 Competition Coupe? BMW has been active in the mixed reality space over the last few years and has unveiled a new immersive experience.

Users can drive the M4 around an actual racetrack while wearing a mixed reality headset. Inside this mixed reality headset, you can create racetrack locations all around the world.

Whether you’re looking to create the Monaco Grand Prix or drag race through your hometown, you have this option with this new experience. BMW has been working on this project for over 2 years and recently starting reaching out to prominent gamers and Twitch streamers to have them test drive.

SideQuest Launches $1M Creator Fund

The VR content platform which primarily works with indie games and apps just announced a partnership with mixed reality developer Creature.

Their new $1M creator fund is going to be working with independent virtual reality developers. Devs can submit pitches for their VR games and SideQuest will be funding a small handful.

Pico Shifts To Hands Tracking

Apple has thrown the VR world for a loop this year by shipping their standalone headset without controllers and focusing on eye+hands tracking.

Existing VR headset makers like Pico, Meta, and Sony haven’t traditionally focused on this technology, which could make it an uphill battle for them to compete with Apple.

At the moment, Apple is at a drastically more expensive pricepoint ($3,500 per headset) and selling to a different market. But if that changes and they’re able to launch a lower cost standalone headset, it could create a very large shift for headset makers.

Metaverse

Back in 2021, it seemed like everyone was talking about the Metaverse. People were investing in Metaverse real estate. Everyone was touting it as “the next big thing.”

2 years later, by most peoples accounts, it hasn’t really panned out. A lot of people gave the Metaverse a try and were simply disappointed.

We wouldn’t use this as an excuse to write it off though. According to a study by Meticulous Research, the Metaverse market is estimated to be worth $815.8B by 2030.

Looking back at the last few decades, these “spikes” have actually happened in many other spaces as well. In the crypto markets, BTC made a huge run in 2018 when it passed $18,000. It crashed down to $3,100 that same year. Then it hit as high as $69,000 in 2021 (with many predictions that it would pass $100,000). Instead its price plummeted.

You could argue the same thing happened almost 20 years ago with the Dotcom bubble. Tons of internet startups came in, billions of dollars moved into the space, everyone was super excited, then it all came crashing down. Yet it turned around shortly after. Email became a workplace requirement. Social media went mainstream.

Although the Metaverse seems to be laying low right now, we’re anticipating a major comeback within the next few years.

Gaming

• You can now play the 2004 classic shooter game Far Cry in VR with motion controls. Far Cry VR v0.5 lets you play the entire game with motion controllers and also has room-scale VR, allowing you to move through the virtual jungle.

• Ruinsmagus just jumped onto PSVR 2. This fantasy RPG dungeon crawler game was released on Quest 2 last year and now bundles with the main game and DLC next month.

• Resident Evil 4 VR Mode will be showcased at the Tokyo Game Show soon on September 21st.

VR Job Opportunities

Sandbox VR is hiring for a variety of roles including a Senior 3D artist and Director of Franchise Development.

Click here to see Sandbox VR openings.

Unity is looking to hire for several XR related roles including Software Engineers and Developers for XR Features and Foundations in both their San Francisco and Austin offices.

Click here to see Unity openings.

That’s a wrap for this week. Watch out for our next newsletter coming next Sunday!