Somnium Space – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 18, 2024

Somnium VR1 PC VR Headset Slated to Go on Sale June 20th with Broader Launch in July

Somnium Space, the Czechia-based company behind the upcoming Somnium VR1 headset, announced that orders for its long-awaited PC VR headset will be opening on June 20th, coming first to reservation holders.

It’s been a long time coming for Somnium VR1, which we last saw at CES 2023 when the company showed off a dev kit version of the headset. If you’re memory is fuzzy, at the time Somnium, which also runs its own social VR platform Somnium Space, was also hoping to release a standalone version of the headset at some point. Due to supply chain constraints though, the company decided to sideline the standalone version to focus on the soon-to-release Lighthouse-tracked PC VR headset.

We’re getting very close to that now; in addition to the order date announcement, the company detailed its full line-up, which includes eight variants available for order starting on June 20th:

Classic Edition
Visionary Edition (Eye-tracking)
Striker Edition (Hand-tracking)
Titan Edition (Eye/Hand-tracking)
Specter Edition (Mixed Reality + Hand-tracking)
Ultimate Edition (Mixed Reality + Eye/Hand-tracking)
Translucent Limited Edition (Mixed Reality + Eye/Hand-tracking)
Military Edition – TAA Compliant (Mixed Reality + Eye/Hand-tracking)

That’s a pretty hefty launch lineup, however VR1 is built with modularity in mind, allowing users to choose what factory-installed modules they want, with the Classic Edition starting at €1,900 (~$2,060 USD).

Somnium VR1 | Image courtesy Somnium Space

Check out the specs below, noting that optional add-ons to the base version are highlighted in red:

Display
Type	QLED Mini-LED Fast LCD
Resolution	2 x 2800 x 2880 pixels
Brightness	210 nit
Local Dimming	20000:1 (HDR)
Color Gamut	100% NTSC
Refresh Rate	72 Hz / 90 Hz / 120 Hz / 144 Hz (Experimental)
Optics
Lens Type	Dual-lens aspheric modules (two lenses per eye-box)
Peak Fidelity	35 PPD
Coating	Anti-reflection & Anti-scratch coating
Field of View (FOV)	Horizontal: 130°, Vertical: 105°
Diopter Lenses (Optional)	Magnetically attachable by VR Optician
Pass-through Cameras (Optional)	2 X 12 Mpx 4,056 x 3,040 (foveated transport), FOV 125° x 100°
Eye Tracking (Optional)	120Hz single-point calibration, VR & XR foveated rendering, Gaze analysis, heat-map visualization
Hand Tracking (Optional)	Ultraleap 170° x 170° FOV, 120Hz refrsh rate
Interpupillary Distance (IPD) Adjustment	Manual 58 mm – 76 mm
Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions (excl. headstrap)	191 mm x 124 mm x 94 mm (W x L x H)
Weight (incl. headstrap)	700g – 850g (depending on variant)
Material	IR-transmissive matte polymer with anti-fingerprint surface texture
Connectivity
Cable	Single all-in-one USB Type-C, 6 meter (20 ft) hybrid ADC cable, DisplayPort (32 Gbps), USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), Power functionality
Modes	Native wired PC Mode (Lossless), Native SteamVR & OpenXR support
Audio	3.5 mm Headphone jack, High-quality stereo
Ports	3 x USB-C (3.2 Gen 2) 10 Gbps for external accessories, 3.5 mm Headphone jack
Anchor Points	4 modular customizable and 30 printable anchor points, M2.5 imbus flat head screws
LEDs	2 x Programmable RGB status LEDs
Headstrap	Double-knob memory foam adjustable headstrap
Positional Tracking	Lighthouse Based tracking

The company says it will begin sending out a limited number of emails each day to reservation holders, following the chronological order based on their reservation date.

Notably, each reservation holder is eligible for one purchase, which can include multiple VR1 units, essentially allowing the user’s unique ordering code to be used once to limit queue jumpers.

There isn’t a time limitation when you must make your purchase, the company says, which was designed to give customers time to complete purchases later, however units are on a first-come, first-serve basis.

If you haven’t reserved already, new reservations are being accepted up until July 10th. The company will be opening orders to everyone on July 12th alongside its full-day Somnium Connect event in Prague, Czechia. There, the company will be holding presentations, demos of Somnium VR1, and a keynote speech by Artur Sychov, Founder & CEO of Somnium Space.

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June 3, 2024

Nearing Launch, Somnium Headset Partners With Maker of Unique Finger-sensing VR Controllers

Translucent limited edition of Somnium VR1 and etee controllers | Image courtesy Somnium Space

Somnium Space, makers of the upcoming Somnium VR1 PC VR headset, announced it’s partnering with TG0, the team behind the unique finger-tracking motion ‘etee controller’ that launched out of Kickstarter in 2020.

The companies announced they’re are releasing a hardware bundle deal featuring both the Somnium VR1 headset and the etee controllers from TG0.

Customers who reserve a Somnium VR1 headset, starting at €1,900 (~$2,060 USD), will receive a 20% discount code for a pair of SteamVR-tracked etee controllers, which are typically priced at $492.

The controllers feature full finger-tracking and an open-hand design that allows you to pinch, point, and swipe while doing stuff in 6DOF, which is thanks to the modular SteamVR-compatible tracking arm that snaps onto the controller body. Take a look at the unboxing below to see it in action:

As you’d imagine, etee controllers aren’t really targeting hardcore gamers who need reliable binary button input, like you might find on Meta Touch or PSVR 2 Sense controller, but rather things like training, art, therapy, social XR, and more. Check out our Q&A with the company’s interface product design specialist Mick Lin to learn more.

While it’s still not certain exactly when Somnium VR1 is set to ship, it seems we’re getting fairly close, as the company announced its first slate of headsets have left the factory floor and will be used as R&D devices as the company dials in assembly and manufacturing tolerances.

Featuring a 2,880 × 2,880 QD-LCD with Mini LED panels, a wide 130-degree horizontal field of view, and SteamVR tracking, Somnium VR1 is primarily targeting high-end gaming and professional applications.

Thanks to its modular design, users can customize their headset with a number of components, which includes high-resolution passthrough cameras, eye-tracking unit, and hand-tracking add-ons.

You can check out more specs and reserve a base VR1 headset, or ones kitted with the components mentioned above exclusively through Somnium’s website, while you’ll find all versions of the etee controllers over on TG0’s etee contoller website.

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June 2, 2022

Top 7 Most Popular Ethereum Metaverses

A swathe of platforms have sprung up in recent times to offer users the opportunity to play, interact and even own spaces within virtual worlds known as metaverses. With new metaverses appearing all the time, it’s useful to know which are garnering the most attention, which is why we’ve compiled a list of the biggest metaverses running on the Ethereum blockchain. We’ve ranked our choices based on all-time volume, using data from OpenSea’s virtual worlds category taken on 24 May 2022. With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look!

7. Arcade (17,931.15ETH)

We begin with a 2D metaverse, Arcade. Its stated purpose is to provide unique homes in the metaverse for existing NFT collections. The experience supports land ownership as well as using third-party NFTs as in-game avatars. The project is a spin-off from the developers of the Apes vs Mutants game, which let owners of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club collections compete against each other using their avatars.

6. Worldwide Webb (24,338.63ETH)

Like Arcade Land before it, Worldwide Webb is a 2D experience. The platform describes itself as an interoperable MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) metaverse, claiming to have 80,000 users. The Worldwide Webb platform allows users to buy land as well as build and customise apartments upon that land. Unlike some other metaverses on this list, however, it also includes features of a play-to-earn game, with users earning NFT items and coins by playing minigames.

Thanks to its 2D nature, the experience also supports players using their NFTs as avatars via partnerships with a host of NFT collections – the most recent being The Doge Pound.

5. Voxels (24,954.87ETH)

Voxels (formerly known as CryptoVoxels) is a metaverse accessible by browser that offers users the chance to explore a dense, interconnected city. New land parcels are sold on the platform’s primary market each week, with secondary sales on OpenSea. Unlike most other entries on this list, instead of just selling basic plots, Voxel parcels include buildings and are sold with street addresses like “Apartment at 3 Wright Street”.

4. Somnium Space (26,400.59ETH)

Despite the metaverse often being conceptualised as a virtual reality experience in the public imagination (just look at the likes of Ready Player One, for example), Somnium Space is the only VR metaverse on this list. That dearth of VR experiences might be because of the conflict that stems from proprietary ecosystems such as Meta’s offering rubbing up against the desire for decentralization that lies at the heart of metaverse platforms.

Nevertheless, Somnium Space achieves fourth position by enabling users to experience a virtual world much more tangibly than other entries on this list. Players are able to buy virtual land and populate it with objects they build or buy in the form of tokenised in-game items, or equally just explore land owned by others.

3. NFT Worlds (48,302.73ETH)

NFT Worlds is one of the hardest-to-grasp metaverse offerings. Describing itself as a multi-metaverse, the project actually consists of 10,000 virtual worlds, each of which is realised using Microsoft’s smash hit open-world building and survival game Minecraft. NFT Worlds is at pains to state that: “NFT Worlds is in no way associated with, endorsed by, or a partner of Minecraft, Mojang, Microsoft or any related parties”, however.

Each world can have different rules and objectives decided by the owner, from focusing on building worlds to play-to-earn games in a range of different genres. Popular worlds include the Meets Metaverse, which is focused on social networking, and first-person shooter battle arena The Mothership.

2. The Sandbox (151,630.28ETH)

Coming in second place (far ahead of the previous entries on this list in terms of sales volume) is The Sandbox. Known for its distinct voxel style, the Sandbox is potentially the most well known of the current range of metaverses, thanks to partnerships with celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, who has created an experience on The Sandbox known as the Snoopverse. The platform offers its own software for creating, rigging and animating voxel-based NFTs to be used in-world and sold on the Sandbox’s marketplace, which uses the platform’s native SAND token.

1. Decentraland (162,628.98ETH)

While The Sandbox is hot on its heels, Decentraland currently stands as the most popular metaverse by volume. Users of the platform are able to purchase plots of land on the open market, within which any kind of experience can be built. The versatility of the platform has resulted in many different approaches – from PwC buying a plot of land to act as a hub for its Web3 advisory offering to Millennium Hotels and Resorts launching a virtual hotel.

The native currency of the platform is MANA, with which you can also buy and sell land assets. The platform supports wearable NFTs which are dropped in limited-edition collections and are fully tradable by the community. And unlike some other examples, Decentraland lives up to its name by being fully decentralized and operated via a DAO – with members voting on the shape the metaverse will take going forwards.

May 25, 2022

Lynx Secures $4M in Series A Funding, Aims to Become “European Champion of Mixed Reality”

Lynx, the French XR hardware startup known for crowdfunding the Lynx R-1 mixed reality headset, today announced it’s secured $4 million in its Series A round, led by social VR platform Somnium Space.

Alongside Somnium Space, participants in the latest funding round also include what Lynx calls early supporters of the company and “other investors involved in the AR/VR field such as ex-Meta and Google engineers.”

This brings the company’s total outside funding to $6.8 million, according to Crunchbase data, following the R-1 headset’s $800,000 Kickstarter campaign back in late 2021 and a seed round of $2 million in early 2019. As a part of the deal Artur Sychov, founder & CEO of Somnium Space, is joining the company’s board of directors.

Built on Qualcomm’s XR2 chipset, Lynx R-1 combines high quality cameras and virtual reality displays to achieve passthrough AR in addition to standard VR (aka, mixed reality), making it an early pioneer of the category. The headset also ditches the standard Fresnel lenses for a novel optic called a “four-fold catadioptric freeform prism,” which is said to slim down the size of Lynx R-1 seemingly beyond what current Fresnels can do.

“At Somnium Space we truly believe in the future of open and decentralized Metaverse which empowers its users. This includes, not only software, but also very importantly hardware,” says Artur Sychov, Founder & CEO of Somnium Space. “The Lynx team led by Stan has created an extraordinary AR / VR device (Lynx-r) with openness in mind which will change and revolutionize the way we all think and interact with this market category. I am very happy to support this company and believe that together we will push the boundaries and potential of the VR/AR industry forward.”

Founded in 2019, Lynx has high ambitions for its R-1 headset too. Priced at $600 for its consumer version, the company is looking to lead the way into the same product category that many established players are soon to enter, including Meta with Project Cambria and Apple with its rumored headset, reportedly code named N301.

“We have this opportunity right here to create the European Champion of Mixed Reality with our work at Lynx, supported by a vibrant community of users and developers desperate to see alternatives to Big Tech companies products and their closed ecosystems.” says Stan Larroque, founder and CEO of Lynx. “What’s the point of creating a European Metaverse if the underlying platform, the door we use to access it, remains in the hands of the same big players with their damaging business models?” he adds.

Since finalizing the design of Lynx R-1, the company has also completed an office expansion in Paris, now at more 200 square meters of R&D, and established a new office in Taiwan.

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February 16, 2022

How Important is VR to the Metaverse?

At this stage, pinning a definition onto what the metaverse actually is is a mostly foolhardy endeavour. Variously the next, decentralized generation of the internet, individual virtual world platforms or an augmented version of the real world, the fact is that until the metaverse is actually built, there won’t be an agreed-upon definition. Look around at depictions of “the metaverse” in popular culture, however, and you will be flooded with one common theme: accessing the metaverse requires wearing a virtual reality (VR) headset.

The idea that the metaverse and VR are inseparable is well-founded. The earliest formulation of the term, in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, described a virtual space accessed by VR displays. That dystopian vision of the metaverse is very different to the one that is being sold today, and yet the core fact of it being accessed via VR lives on in platforms such as Somnium Space or Horizon Worlds. But is it true that VR is a prerequisite for entering the metaverse?

Just look at two of the most popular virtual worlds in the form of The Sandbox and Decentraland. Both have described themselves as “metaverses” and they offer virtual spaces which users can interact with in the form of virtual avatars. What they don’t offer is a way of embodying that avatar in virtual reality as of yet, instead favouring a more traditional, game-like experience.

The Videogame Template

There are signs that this approach will lead to the development of the metaverse, at least in the short term. As an example, when Microsoft acquired videogame publisher Activision recently, it framed the move as helping it enter the metaverse, suggesting that it sees the metaverse in much broader terms than some. It’s possible that the virtual worlds we are currently more familiar with, in the form of videogame maps, maybe the engine for making the metaverse go mainstream.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft, discussing the acquisition. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”

It’s no surprise, then, that some of the biggest metaverse stories of recent years have come from traditional games that have introduced methods of repurposing their worlds for more social pursuits. Just look at the NIKELAND space created within Roblox or the music events taking place within Fortnite.

Videogame firms as a whole are seeing the metaverse as a tantalizing opportunity, with Bandai Namco the latest to announce plans to enter the space. Outlining a plan for the next few years, the company equated its metaverse offering with other traditional forms of entertainment, saying: “One of [Bandai Namco’s] strengths is the ability to foster connections with both digital elements, such as games and the metaverse, and physical elements, such as amusement facilities.”

The Embodied Metaverse

That gaming-led conception of the metaverse serves as a counterpoint to the kind of social, embodied, virtual reality experiences others are pioneering.

Indeed, the VR-led approach to the metaverse is showing some signs of weakness. Just look at the recent travails of the company formerly known as Facebook, Meta. Despite renaming itself to show its confidence in its VR-led approach to the metaverse (with its Meta Quest 2 headset and social platforms such as Horizon Worlds) it was revealed in early February that its Reality Labs division lost over $10bn in 2021. Added to poor performance in other parts of its business, such as its daily active users falling for the first time in its history, the news sent its share price tumbling by over a quarter.

Perhaps recognizing that a change in approach might be necessary, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call with investors: “This year, we plan to launch a version of Horizon on mobile too, that will bring early metaverse experiences to more surfaces beyond VR. So while the deepest and most immersive experiences are going to be in virtual reality, you’re also going to be able to access the worlds from your Facebook or Instagram apps as well.”

None of this is to say that virtual reality doesn’t have a significant part to play. Platforms that currently don’t support VR could always add such functionality in the future. And the association of the metaverse VR will be hard to overthrow, in part because it is so ingrained In fictional depictions of metaverses. After all, immersive technology is nearly always necessary to access virtual spaces in works depicting metaverse-like experiences, from the visors and haptic gloves of Ready Player One to the cybernetic implants that connect people to the simulated reality of The Matrix.

Of course, in the much longer term, this opposition of traditional and VR experiences may become a moot point as technologies such as brain-computer interfaces come into play and we can plug into our very own matrix (just without the killer robots), rather than requiring the intermediary of VR devices.

The Future

The shape the metaverse ends up taking will be driven by market forces – with a lower barrier for entry meaning non-VR metaverse experiences have a distinct advantage. While a killer VR app might yet come along that gets your grandparents into the metaverse, in the short term it’s a safer bet that much of the heavy lifting to get the masses onto the metaverse will be done by more traditional experiences.

January 25, 2022

Should the Metaverse be Gamified?

When discussing the metaverse it’s clear big brands and tech giants have a conundrum on their hands – exactly how do they get the public to engage with something which seems so fantastical? Some of the aspects of the metaverse being discussed currently are pulled directly from sci-fi novels and movies.

How do the big corporations help the public visualise a decentralised digital space? Where ownership is everything and our physical lives merge with our online selves seamlessly? A place where we can replicate our homes in cyberspace, or live an entirely new life built around blockchain.

These ideas almost feel unbelievable in the same way that our smartphones once did when mobile phones could only log on to the internet using WAP and charged by the minute. Even the idea of paying for a coffee by tapping a watch on a card device seemed far-fetched until a few years ago.

The answer may lay within the industry which has been embracing metaverse concepts for years – videogames. Gaming already allows for virtual selves, digital currency, utilises both virtual and augmented reality, forms cooperation and instant messaging between individuals or within a large group. So, if gaming is leading the way to the metaverse, does the metaverse need to be initially gamified?

It’s clear that most instances of what we would call the metaverse are stemming from videogames. Not only do so many games feature aspects of an active metaverse, but they also steer the technologies, such as processing power and graphical interfacing. It’s no wonder that younger generations, the ones who dive headlong into games such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox, are embracing new experiences like Somnium Space, The Sandbox and Decentraland after seeing many familiarities.

Internal or External

Perhaps we need to veer away from the metaverse for a moment and look at intrinsic and extrinsic ideals. To put it simply, to act intrinsically can be reading a book for pleasure, whereas extrinsically would be reading a book in order to study for a test. It can be seen as internal and external goals or drives.

If the big tech players were to gamify the metaverse, they would be extrinsically affecting the audience, giving them a reason to be there. It’s an outside influence, similar to adding a ‘like’ system to social media. Users then seek out likes, or in this example, points, achievements or challenges overcome. Rather than interacting with the ‘product’ in a more organic way through discovery because discovery can be scary for some users.

An example of this is Roblox. Do users venture onto the Roblox platform to interact with other users within an experience, or do they come for the gaming aspects? One could argue that it works in stages; the player comes for the games, then interacts with various experiences and possibly makes friends, or discovers creativity, turning them into a user who splits their time differently.

This is a tactic used often within gaming; implementing goals to drive interaction. The launch of the Xbox 360 in 2005 introduced an Achievement system, which used points to reward players for exploring or meeting targets. This was then implemented for PlayStation 3, then on Steam for PC users. Players began chasing achievements and trophies, which urged them to explore areas or take on tougher challenges. It was partly pavlovian, realising serotonin when the message of a new trophy was displayed, but it also fed into our natural human need to explore and be rewarded.

To see how tech companies have incentivised users, let’s examine Farmville, a game that swept across Facebook for several years. A game that required little more effort than signing into the social website to grow some crops. Facebook didn’t program the game, nor did they design any aspect of it – that goes to Zynga – but they allowed its placement on their platform. They allowed it knowing that it would bring more people to their social space. There’s no way of knowing how impactful the game was on growing Facebook’s user base, but at the time seemingly everyone knew about Farmville.

Six months after release, when Farmville was hitting its stride, the game had 72.9 million active players, that was 20% of Facebook’s users at the time. These numbers only grew as the popularity of social media exploded. Between April 2009 and July 2011, Facebook’s user base grew from 200 million to 750 million, and Farmville was asking each player to message their friends and ask them to come and play.

At the time, it was an extension to social interactions – something to do with your mother or sibling while online. Mark Pincus, who was chief executive of Zynga at the time, remarked to the New York Times: “we thought of it as this new dimension in your social, not just a way to get games to people.”

The Farmville example shows how a game can guide users towards a new experience or technology. Many of the players who swarmed to Facebook back then were older demographics and while they were there after they’d harvested their crops, they could check in on the family, share a photo or do some shopping. As time passed, the games faded into the background but Facebook was still a place where users checked in every day. Now they weren’t being incentivised, they were simply engaging with a new technology – social media.

Digital connections

What could be a possible first step for consumers? Much like Farmville in our above example, users need to be given an entertaining reason to log in. In a recent interview, co-founder of The Sandbox, Sebastien Borget referred to the mega-corporations such as Google, Microsoft and Meta and their intentions for the metaverse. He said: “We don’t think those companies can build something truly fun that’s catered to the users because they’ve been so focused on their key business model and how to satisfy shareholders.”

Discovering a new technology should be fun. It’s the reason most of us downloaded a game on our first smartphone – so we could pinch, stretch, swipe, flick and really get to grips with the technology. Now those actions are used when browsing a web page or editing a photo. There needs to be a reason – something to cause excitement.

The ‘reasons’ don’t need to be games, they could be experiences like concerts, celebrity meet and greets, album listening parties or fashion shows. These events and practices are already occurring throughout metaverse aspiring videogames and as long as the activity rewards the player or features interactivity, it is likely users will attend. The question then becomes ‘how does the metaverse retain visitors?’ Through ownership.

That doesn’t necessarily mean purchasing NFTs or owning land where you build a mansion or storefront; but by guiding users through how they can own their metaverse existence and how it relates to those around them. The reason people stayed with Facebook after finishing their last game of Farmville was connection. They were connecting with family or friends, or perhaps a different game. They came for a reason and stayed because of connection. This is what the metaverse – whichever version we embrace – needs to achieve.

January 17, 2022

In the Metaverse: What is Virtual Land?

An explosion in the popularity of digital assets known as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) has led to virtual items of all shapes, sizes and formats being bought and sold – from video art pieces to trading cards and even memes. But what if you’re looking for something on a slightly grander scale?

Enter virtual land, existing in a dizzying array of digital worlds that collectively form the metaverse. Already, there is no shortage of organisations offering users the opportunity to claim a piece of the metaverse for themselves. Platforms such as Decentraland, Somnium Space or The Sandbox have all sprung up in recent times to offer users the opportunity to own spaces within their individual virtual worlds.

If the concept of virtual land is a head-scratching proposition, consider that many already pay good money for virtual locations in the form of websites – distinct locations upon which anything can be built within the limits of the form. Buying virtual land, then, can be thought of as the Web 3 [link to History of the Web article] equivalent of purchasing a domain name. But what exactly is it you’re acquiring when you purchase virtual land?

So You’re Thinking of Buying Virtual Land?

Virtual land is essentially just an NFT that confers ownership of a given digital space. For more information on NFTs as a whole and how they are built, visit our explainer, but suffice it to say that virtual land is created by platform developers who parcel off land from a large map of potential properties for users to buy using cryptocurrency. Proof of ownership is then assured by the blockchain technology on which the NFT exists, a ledger secured by the efforts of a network of computers solving complex mathematical problems in order to verify and record transactions without resorting to one central authority.

It is then acquired either directly from the seller or on a secondary NFT exchange such as OpenSea. The particulars of how virtual land is bought and sold differ slightly per platform. An average land parcel in Somnium Space sold for 6.57 ETH (the cryptocurrency also known as Ether) in June 2021 while Decentraland uses a dedicated token known as MANA to buy virtual land as well as goods and services. With the metaverse as a whole benefitting from positive trends such as the renaming of Facebook to Meta, it’s little surprise that the virtual land market has been experiencing significant growth of its own – with all-time users of virtual worlds up to nearly 50,000 as of November 2021, according to one report.

Who is Buying Virtual Land?

While both retail and institutional investors (there are even some funds focused exclusively on investing in virtual real estate) have bought into virtual land as speculators, others have found longer-term uses for virtual spaces. That includes companies such as PwC which bought a plot in Decentraland to act as a hub for its Web3 advisory offering, and celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, who has created an experience on The Sandbox known as the Snoopverse.

The price of virtual land is inherently changeable, dictated as it is by factors common to other non-fungible tokens, as well as those that drive the price of real-world land such as scarcity. Land on different platforms will differ in terms of what can be built upon it, for instance, as well as the tools that are available to produce those creations. At the same time, the popularity of the platform itself will drive prices up or down.

How Can it Be Used?

Virtual land can be used for anything that the owner wishes, be that socializing, gaming or any other experience that is supported by the digital world in which the space is situated. The landowner might wish to host a brand experience of the sort pioneered by Nike with its NIKELAND game within Roblox. Competitor Adidas has duly bought a plot of land within The Sandbox to produce its own experiences.

And Just as Web 2.0 websites utilize advertising space to capture the attention of users, similar opportunities can exist on virtual land – albeit in less intrusive and annoying forms. Consider Admix’s recent NFT billboard partnership with Somnium Space, for example.

What are the Risks?

As much as virtual land can be compared to its real-world equivalent, there are, of course, huge differences. While the value of real-world property might also plummet, at the end of the day you are still left with a tangible possession that exists in the same reality as everyone else – and thus has every chance of increasing in value again.

If a piece of digital land resides in a platform that falls out of favour or even potentially closes, however, that investment may well be dead in the water. Such volatility in the digital land market has opened up opportunities to rent virtual spaces rather than purchasing them outright, in order to mitigate the risk of being left with a useless asset. By working with landowner partners such as Admix, which holds property across a range of metaverses, brands can lease land for as long as is necessary. That might coincide with the duration of a particular marketing campaign or event, for example, allowing brands flexibility while ensuring they aren’t exposed to the risk of holding virtual land themselves.

Summary

The new frontier of virtual land in the metaverse, then, offers a new and tantalising opportunity, one that allows individuals and organisations to own virtual property anywhere imaginable. Just like real-world spaces, these new worlds of virtual real estate represent both a place for enjoyment as well as a financial opportunity for owners and brands alike – and the race to capitalize on them is well and truly underway.

To stay up to date, follow gmw3 on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.

December 21, 2021

Somnium Space Plans Modular 2800×2800 Standalone VR Headset With XTAL Maker

Somnium Space is planning to release a new standalone VR headset with the help of XTAL maker, VRgineers.

But, wait, who are Somnium Space?

You’d be forgiven for not having heard of the company before today, but Somnium has been around for a number of years working on what it claims is “the world’s only VR metaverse built on blockchain”. It operates a social VR platform of the same name, available on SteamVR, in which users can buy virtual land. In 2019 the company raised $1 million to expand its platform.

The headset itself was revealed at Somnium’s own ‘Connect’ event (no, not that Connect) in Prague earlier this week. The company says its device is powered by Qualcomm’s XR2 platform with 6DOF inside-out tracking via four cameras and sports 2,800 x 2,800 displays with a horizontal field of view greater than 115 degrees. VRgineers — known for its professional-grade XTAL headset, various models of which offer top-end specs at a high price — is also working with the company to deliver custom lenses similar to those in its own devices.

Other planned features include both wired and wireless connections to PC for SteamVR access, with native Lighthouse tracking and controllers apparently in the works. To that end, the device will be modular, with swappable elements like the front faceplate and there’s onboard buttons too. The headset has been in the planning stages since early 2021.

These are ambitious plans for sure, and it’s worth remembering the difficulties many other small to medium-sized companies have faced bringing VR hardware to market. DecaGear recently drastically revised its plans for a $450 SteamVR headset to $700, citing the realities of competing with Meta. Plus there are many vital elements of Somnium’s plans that still sound up in the air, like a reference to “researching Micro OLED displays” which would surely drastically change the shape and form of the product.

So, why does Somnium say it’s working on such a device? According to founder and CEO Artur Sychov, it’s to release a headset that customers truly “own”, with an open ecosystem that allows them to do what they want with the device. “We have seen a trend where many VR companies, big companies, were producing VR headsets that started to close their ecosystems, creating these silos of closed ecosystems and we, as the metaverse company, we cannot afford to risk that we will be dependent on some other ecosystems,” Sychov said on-stage during the event.

Somnium plans to ship its first headsets in Q4 of 2022, though it says it will not be running a pre-order campaign. “We won’t take your money until we’re ready to ship,” Sychov said. “Maybe a little bit earlier.” Exactly how much the device will cost hasn’t been revealed at this time, but this too will be key to seeing what kind of adoption and developer support Somnium can gain. If its plans do come to fruition, however, expect its own take on the metaverse to be a big focus for the headset.

What do you make of Somnium’s VR plans? Let us know in the comments below!

December 20, 2021

Standalone, Modular & Open Source Define Somnium Space’s First VR Headset

A couple of months back, Somnium Space, the social virtual reality (VR) metaverse built upon blockchain and cryptosystems made a huge raft of announcements which included the first mention of its own standalone VR headset. Today, as part of its first-ever Somnium Space Connect event, the company dropped further details including the specifications and what it’ll look like.

Being built in collaboration with VRgineers – the makers of the enterprise-grade XTAL headset – the device aims to corner a very specific section of the market, one where users aren’t held to a particular store or platform restrictions. A VR headset that’s open-source and modular, which can be programmed and tailored to your own particular needs if necessary.

“We have seen a trend where many companies, big companies, who were producing VR headsets started to close their ecosystems a kind of creating these silos of closed ecosystems, and we as the metaverse company, we cannot afford to risk that we will be dependant on some or other ecosystems,” Artur Sychov, CEO of Somnium Space explained during the event. “Some companies are doing a great job, some headsets are amazing, but we saw some signals from different various companies either towards blockchain or towards VR apps and other things that we didn’t like. It rang a huge alarm in my head.”

In development since the beginning of 2021, Sychov notes that the ‘Somnium VR Headset’ is still very much a work-in-progress yet the fundamentals do already seem in place. Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 processor – which can be found in other standalone devices like the Meta Quest 2 – it’ll have two 3.2 inch LCD panels with a 2880 x 2880 resolution, 90Hz refresh rate (possibly up to 120Hz), 115-degree field of view, custom VRgineers lenses similar to XTAL and full inside out tracking.

You’ll be able to connect it to a PC for lossless VR gaming or stream content to the device thanks to in-built WiFi 6e. There’s also the welcome addition of a MicroSD card slot for expandable storage although there was no mention of any other storage. As mentioned, what might interest a lot of VR users is the modular structure of the headset. “We really believe in modularity,” says Sychov. “We want to have a headset which will last some time with you, which you can take and do things with, which truly can be your companion and your development partner or your gaming partner.”

For example, the front panel will be removable to swap out for other panels, the side and bottom have smaller panels that can be removed to add items to like 3D printed accessories – Somnium will release all the details required to print your own compatible parts. Making for a really customisable VR headset that could very well see some unusual creations from the community.

Somnium Space hasn’t said what price it’ll be aiming for but it won’t be running any super early pre-orders or funding campaigns. Currently, the goal is to release the first batch of headsets in Q4 2022 with more details to be released in the coming months. When that occurs VRFocus will keep you updated.

November 23, 2021

Social VR World Somnium Space Collaborates with Admix on NFT Billboards

Social virtual reality (VR) platform Somnium Space has been developing its immersive world for several years now, building upon a crypto and blockchain backbone where users can buy land parcels to build whatever they want. Lately, though, Somnium Space has been ramping up its metaverse efforts announcing some pretty grand plans which include new investments, auctions and more. The most recent of these has been to introduce NFTs into its ecosystem, partnering with Admix on banner billboards that can earn users money through advertising.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have become a major part of crypto investments of late, with pieces of art selling for millions online and in auction houses. Somnium Space’s partnership with Admix combines both NFTs and In-Play advertising into one seamless package, where users can bid for Small, Medium, and Extra Large billboards that can then be added to their land parcel. In turn, users will: “get up to 90% of the revenue that the NFTs generate paid in $CUBE monthly,” says an Admix blog post, all based on the NFT they select.

The Admix platform will then dynamically insert ads into those billboards to generate revenue, with the first official advertising partner being Cloud.gg, an esports organization. “Over the next few months, as these billboards get installed, we’ll be bringing more and more brands into the metaverse and into your parcels,” Admix notes.

Those NFT billboards launched last week, with 15 to be sold in total, dropped in bundles of three. You’ll find the Admix x Somnium NFTs on OpenSea with bidding currently underway for the next small billboard. How much will one of these cost you? Well, last week’s auction prices have been revealed and you’ll need plenty of Ethereum if you want to take part. That first small billboard went for 2.8 ETH ($13,000 USD), whilst the medium one sold for 6 ETH (almost $26k). As for the XL billboard, which managed a whopping 15.75 ETH ($69,500).

It’s likely that the next few billboards sold will go even higher as availability becomes rarer. The exclusive NFT drop will run until 18th December 2021.

This isn’t the first time Somnium Space and Admix have worked together, continuing a long-term collaboration. A couple of years ago the pair partnered up for AWE EU 2019 to showcase monetization solutions for creators. This is only the start of initiatives like this as companies continue to develop their metaverse visions. Inevitably that’ll mean encouraging users to free platforms that’ll feature advertising of this nature to build revenue streams. For the latest updates on this topic, keep reading VRFocus.

Disclosure: Admix is the parent company of VRFocus. VRFocus retains its editorial independence.

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