If you’re wondering whether or not to buy into Google’s Daydream head-mounted display (HMD) – which is only $79 (USD) – then one thing that might budge you into consideration is the sheer amount of partners and content that will be ready for it by the end of the year.
After going through the numerous applications and videogames that Google Daydream will be having in its store, including J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them experience, what the New York Times is bringing with its journalistic VR experiences from Within, CCP Games’ Gunjack, and Netflix, HBO and Hulu joining in, Adrienne McCallister, leader of partnerships for Daydream, said: “Over 50 partners are bringing apps and games to Daydream before the end of the year, and there are hundreds more on the way.”
On Twitter, Schell Games announced that it would be bringing its app FrostBound to Daydream after retweeting the announcement of the 50 partners and counting. As well as this, Star Chart, the educational virtual planetarium, will be coming to the HMD.
McCallister went on to boast about Google’s own contributions, too: “To compliment our partners, we are also bringing the best of Google to Daydream. First, there’s Google Play Movies with a library of shows and films which you can watch on your own big screen. Then, there’s Google Photos where you can relive your own personal memories in a completely immersive way. And then there’s Street View and YouTube.”
When looking at what Street View has to offer for VR, it has a completely different way of letting you interact while walking around using the controller, and there are over 150 tours of the world’s top tourist spots. As well as this, there’s a way to check out hills from the view of a sheep.
The way that McCallister summed up YouTube was quite simple: “YouTube on Daydream is amazing”. You can watch all YouTube videos and watch them on a cinema-sized screen, and of course with 360 and VR videos it is now fully immersive. “We’re working with YouTube’ original content creators to bring even more VR content in months to come.”
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