There’s not been too many times that virtual reality (VR) content has won awards outside of the videogame industry itself, but today Oculus VR has now revealed its latest prize.
The company has revealed on its Twitter account that Henry the short film featuring a lovable hedgehog, created by subsidiary Oculus Story Studio has won an Emmy award. The tweet said: “We’re honored that Henry has won an Emmy® for Outstanding Original Interactive Program! http://ocul.us/HenryEmmy.”
In a blog posting on the announcement Ramiro Lopez Dau, director of Henry has commented: “When we set out to make Henry, it was a step into the unknown world of making an emotional VR movie. While we didn’t know what the outcome was going to be, we were excited about the possibilities. We never anticipated that one of our first projects would be given such a distinction and this recognition is not only a testament to our team’s creative and technical achievements, but also a validation for the VR storytelling community as a whole. While Henry is just one step in the long journey ahead, we hope this moment inspires storytellers to bring their ideas to this new medium and help shape the future of VR storytelling.”
This is a major award for the team to win and showcases how far VR has come. The studio is currently working on its next project Dear Angelica with more details due to be released later this year.
But Henry isn’t the first immersive VR project to win an Emmy. Last year The Sleepy Hollow Virtual Reality Experience, developed by Secret Location and produced by Fox, won in the “Interactive Media, User Experience and Visual Design” category, and earlier this year Felix & Paul Studios won a Daytime Emmy for Inside the Box of Kurios Outstanding Interactive Media – Original Daytime Program or Series category.
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