September 4th, 2023

Welcome to this weeks’ edition of The Future of VR newsletter. Thanks for subscribing to our list! If you’re new to the list - welcome! Before diving into updates, do you mind doing us a quick favor? We just launched the Future of VR Twitter page. Could you shoot us a quick follow?

We’re planning to stick to one email newsletter per week, however, if you’re interested in getting daily updates, our Twitter account will be a better place for it. With that out of the way, let’s dive into the biggest updates this week in VR:

Virtual Reality K-12 Schools?

Over the weekend, we connected with the founders of American High School. They are a fully accredited, private online school for grades K-12. Currently serving students in over 40 countries and have graduated 58,000 students. They’ve gained some major traction over the last few years as lockdowns forced students online.

This is specifically for parents looking to homeschool their kids. Their goal is to bring education to life in an immersive VR platform. They also charge 1/10 of the cost of most private high schools.

For parents who are skeptical about the current public education, American High School allows parents to thoroughly monitor the curriculum and communications between parents and students.

Meta Partners with LG to Create Apple Vision Pro Competitor?

Meta is taking aim at Apple by partnering with LG to compete with the Vision Pro. Reports say that two new Meta headsets will be coming out:

1) A low cost Quest model in 2024 (less than $200)

2) A high cost model in 2025 (around $2,000) that is meant to be a direct competitor to the Vision Pro

This will most likely be a repeat of when Meta partnered with Lenovo on the Oculus Rift S or when they partnered with Xiaomi on the Oculus Go.

Meta Could Turn All Flat Surfaces Into Virtual Keyboards?

Zuck recently posted a video on his IG showing off Meta’s new VR keyboard tech, which they built in their reality Labs division.

Inside this video, it shows a man sitting on his VR headset while looking at a computer. Inside the headset he sees himself typing on a computer and the words coming up on the screen.

However in reality, he’s simply typing on an empty desk.

Much of the VR space has been heavily focused around gaming these last few years, but in order for VR to gain mass adoption, ultimately it will need to infiltrate the workplace.

In the same way that Zuck used Facebook’s ad platform to make businesses reliant on Facebook to bring in new customers, he will need to find a way to make businesses reliant on VR in order to operate.

This definitely seems like a step in the right direction.

Gaming

• Arashi Final Cut is coming to PSVR2, Quest 2, Quest 3, and PC VR this fall

• Sinn Studio’s Swordsman is coming to Quest

• Meta just launched the Horizon Worlds for Smartphones beta

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!