Today HTC announced a partnership with IGT, a global leader in gaming, to leverage the HTC Vive virtual reality (VR) content to their “Virtual Zone” platform on casino floors.
IGT’s Virtual Zone is a competition arena designed for use in casino environments to enable visitors a chance to compete against each other for cash prizes within VR tournaments through physical installations on the casino floor. With this new partnership it will mark HTC Vive Studios’ first step into the casino entertainment industry and the completion of IGT’s first market-ready VR solution.
Joel Breton, HTC Vive VP Global Content commented on the partnership saying: “Arcade-like installations and experiences are skyrocketing across the globe as VR has proven to be a consistent traffic generator in entertainment venues, by combining IGT’s gaming expertise and the world’s best VR in HTC Vive, we are launching a combined platform that can deploy the best complete experiences for VR tournaments or stand-alone VR arcades. This is also a huge opportunity for more consumers to be exposed to amazing VR content.”
In order to help support the tournament platform, IGT have published their own Software Development Kit (SDK) which allows content creators a way to develop VR experience for the Virtual Zone and easily implement the tournament features. Vive Studios are the first developer to leverage this SDK, adapting the Arcade Saga title into a product that is designed to be tournament-ready for the casino floors.
Enrico Drago, IGT SVP Global Product Marketing Interactive, Betting & Licensing talked about the announcement adding: “IGT is committed to developing and delivering the most compelling content for our customers across multiple channels and platforms. Arcade Saga is a testament to the usability and relevance of IGT’s SDK. HTC successfully adapted one of its most popular VR titles into a solution that IGT customers can leverage to entertain their players in a new way. We look forward to the further expansion of IGT’s VR content library through this program,”
Currently IGT’s Virtual Zone is live at Boyd Gaming’s The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The experience uses HTC Vive hardware and solutions for a multiplayer competition that is played in real time. Alongside the many other products available to visitors on casino floors the new Virtual Zone is sure to bring a new level of excitement to visitors and allow developers to deliver new, creative competitive VR products.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on this as it develops so stay tuned for more.