VR Industry – Page 166 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

November 10, 2017

Oculus: EA’s Acquisition of Respawn Entertainment Will Have No Impact on Studio’s VR Title

Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment has announced plans to join EA, one of the world’s largest and most influential videogame publishers. The acquisition of Respawn, which will cost EA up to $455 million, won’t impact the studio’s recently announced VR title, says Oculus.

It was announced last month at Oculus Connect that Respawn Entertainment is developing an unnamed Rift exclusive VR title set for 2019. At the time, Oculus’ Head of Content, Jason Rubin, said that he constantly gets asked when the world’s leading developers will begin creating VR games. He remains steadfast that they will come, and asked for patience, but also said that he was ready to “made a down payment on that promise today.” That was the lead up to the reveal that Oculus Studios would be publishing a Rift exclusive title developed by Respawn. Little has been revealed about the game, including a name, however, the 2019 release date suggests a full VR title with a lengthy, AAA development period. The studio has confirmed that the forthcoming Rift title is not a Titanfall or Star Wars game.

This week EA announced that it will acquire Respawn, paying $151 million in cash, up to $164 million in stock for employees, and up to $140 million in bonuses based on the success of forthcoming titles. Respawn claims the move was to ensure the studio could achieve its long-term goals, not because it was in financial trouble.

For those looking forward to Respawn’s first major step into VR, the studio notes that there will be no layoffs or major organizational changes, and that “titles currently in development will continue uninterrupted.” Oculus concurs, telling Road to VR that the acquisition isn’t expect to have any impact on the project.

“[…] we are extremely excited to be working with not only one of the greatest devs in the industry, but also to be working with one of the greatest publishers on the planet,” Rubin said. “Good times, and good for VR.”

Depending upon the success of Respawn’s VR project, the acquisition could potentially act as a trojan horse for getting EA more involved with VR. The massive publisher hasn’t delved deeply into the young tech—there’s not VR game to date that’s reeled in enough revenue to be more than a drop in the bucket for EA’s bottom line—but they aren’t ignoring it entirely.

EA’s Star Wars Battlefront (2015) launched with a special VR mission exclusively for PlayStation VR. Though it was a single level, it was well received and, tellingly, built on the company’s own Frostbite engine—meaning the publisher has invested time into adapting their core engine for VR rendering. Unfortunately Battlefront II won’t have any VR content.

EA will likely have a major say in what the studio does next, but with the Rift-exclusive VR project already signed between Oculus and Respawn, the outcome could be a major factor in whether the publisher decides to take on more VR projects or scrap such initiatives until VR has further matured.

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November 2, 2017

Vive is Hanging onto Steam Majority Market Share By a Thread

According to the just-released October figures from Steam’s Hardware & Software Survey, the Oculus Rift has picked up an additional 0.71%, totalling 47.61% of the market share of VR headsets on Steam. With the price of the Rift dropping permanently to $400 last month, the headset has set its new record high for the fourth month in a row. The HTC Vive maintains a razor thin lead with 48.76% share of headsets in use on Steam.

Steam is the de facto content platform for the HTC Vive though it technically supports the Rift too; plenty of Rifters use both the official Oculus Home platform and Steam to play content which may not be available on the opposing platform.

Each month, Valve runs a survey among Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and software is used by the user population, and to see how things are changing over time; that includes which VR headsets are connected to users’ computers. Participation in the survey is optional.

The latest results show a small gain of 0.71% in the Rift’s share of VR headsets on Steam, bringing the device’s overall share to a new record high, reaching 47.61% of all headsets in use on the platform.

The gain was made up by a 1.44% reduction in Vive share, and, interestingly, the Rift DK2 development kit actually took some of that share and gained 0.28%. The latter, launched in 2014, still holds 3.28% total share of VR headsets in use on Steam. Combined, the consumer Rift and the Rift DK2 hold 50.89% of the Steam VR headset market share.

Though Steam is its primary content platform, the Vive only barely holds onto its lead against the Rift with 48.76% of all VR headsets on the platform, though now just 1.15% behind, the Rift could be on a trajectory for an upset.

Exactly how many Rift users use Steam among the total population of Rift users is unknown, making it largely futile to extrapolate the data in an effort to determine headset market share across all platforms. Many analyst estimates put the Vive ahead of the Rift in total sales, though in the consumer space, Oculus’ aggressive price cutting may have allowed the headset to gain significant ground. Oculus also recently introduced an ‘Oculus for Business’ package, attempting to capture some of the commercial market where Vive appears to have a strong.

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The Rift’s latest 0.71% gain comes at the start of a newly lowered MSRP of $400, which Oculus announced on October 11th.

The latest figures could mean several things beyond just more headsets in users hands: A portion of the gains may have been made up not only by new headsets entering the market, but by more Rift users becoming aware of Steam’s compatibility with the Rift; another contributor could be the expansion of HTC’s Viveport app store and the Viveport subscription service, potentially drawing some Vive users away from Steam; still yet, some of the gains could have come from existing Vive owners using their headsets less, and/or existing Rift users using their headsets more (potentially driven by anticipated game launches or lack thereof).

While the Rift enjoyed significant buzz and gains in Steam market share surrounding a lengthy Summer sale, in August HTC brought a major price cut to Vive, setting its new baseline price at $600 (previously $800), which likely helped level out Oculus’ momentum. HTC said the price cut was not a reaction to the Rift sale.

The latest figures also report a 0.06% reduction in overall VR headset use, though given that we know that Oculus and HTC are still selling headsets, the most likely explanation there is that the rate of new non-VR users joining Steam is outpacing the rate of new VR users joining the service.

While the Rift and Vive fight it out on Steam, new competitors are soon to complicate the binary battle. The Windows VR headsets launched last month starting at $400; although the headsets are now available, their SteamVR compatibility won’t launch until December, which means we won’t likely see them register on the Steam Hardware & Software Survey until after the New Year.

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October 23, 2017

Community Fallout from UploadVR’s Harassment Settlement, and Bearing Witness to Testimony

The sexual harassment lawsuit against UploadVR was reported to be settled via Tech Crunch on September 6th, and a week later the New York Times followed with more details about how Upload had been barely dented. The case was settled without any elaboration about what did or didn’t happen beyond a vague open letter from the founders of UploadVR. This issue has has splintered the VR community into different factions of people who are either actively blacklisting Upload or have written it off as an isolated incident that has resulted in changes and growth.

Executive Editor’s Note: The Voices of VR Podcast is produced independently by host and founder Kent Bye, and syndicated on Road to VR. Though Kent independently produces the podcast, and since UploadVR is a direct competitor to Road to VR, we at Road to VR felt it best to to remove ourselves from decisions involving this episode on ethical grounds. The decision to publish this piece was made by an anonymous board of members of the virtual reality community who collectively voted on the decision.

As the episode was first published directly via the Voices of VR podcast feed and on the Voices of VR website for some time before being syndicated here, we also reached out to both UploadVR and Selena Pinnell, the interviewee in this episode, to offer an opportunity to add a comment to this article. Pinell declined to offer additional comment. UploadVR founder Taylor Freeman issued the following statement:

In response to this recent Voices of VR episode, I want to express that I really respect Selena for the strength it takes to speak about her experiences and appreciate all the work Kent has done for this industry. These conversations are important. I also appreciate that the podcast makes the distinction between Upload’s past behavior and accounts of assault. Given what came out of this podcast and the conversations happening online, it’s clear the community needs more direct communication from us. I am committed to stepping up, learning from my mistakes and working with the industry to address these issues head on. Therefore, I will personally be hosting an open forum discussion at Upload LA on Wednesday, November 8th at 5pm for those interested in attending. I love this industry and community, and I hope that other young companies and founders can learn from our mistakes.

Sincerely,
Taylor Freeman – CEO, Upload

LISTEN TO THE VOICES OF VR PODCAST

Former employee Danny Bittman wrote about his brief time at Upload in a recent Medium post and there were some women who spoke out in a Buzzfeed article in July, but beyond that not many people with first or second-hand knowledge of the lawsuit allegations have made statements on the record. There hasn’t been a lot of people who have been willing to talk about this issue on the record, but this seems to be changing after the latest round of news about the settlement lawsuit that has left segments of the VR community very unsettled.

One woman from the VR community who was willing to talk to me about the community fallout from the UploadVR lawsuit was Selena Pinnell, who is the co-founder of Kaleidoscope VR festival and fund. She is also a producer and featured participant within the Testimony VR project. I previously interviewed the director of Testimony VR project about their efforts to use VR to create an immersive context for women and men to share testimony about their experiences of sexual assault so that audiences can bear witness to those direct experiences. Skip Rizzo has said that healing from PTSD involves being able to tell a meaningful narrative about your traumatic experiences while remaining emotionally present, and Testimony VR is trying to create a new form of restorative justice by capturing these stories within VR that viewers can have have an one-on-one level of intimacy while they bear witness. Pinnell talks about how powerful it was to have over 150 co-workers and friends witness her testimony about being a rape survivor within the context of a VR experience.

While VR holds potential for the future of distributing new forms of restorative justice, this issue with Upload feels like it’s a long way from achieving a state of justice and a full accounting of the truth of what happened. Members from the Women in VR communities privately do not feel like justice has currently been served, and Pinnell voices those common concerns as to why she can no longer support Upload as well as why in her assessment the leadership team of Upload never fully accounted for what exactly they did wrong and what they’ve learned.

She also says that it’s hard to trust the leadership after they originally declared that the originally allegations in the lawsuit were “entirely without merit.” Pinnell talks about how crushing it can be to have your testimony of your direct experience be so explicitly denied in this way, especially when it comes to taboo topics like sexual harassment or sexual assault. (Note that the original allegations against Upload were harassment, gender discrimination, hostile work environment, unequal pay, and retaliation, and there weren’t any allegations of sexual assault.) Pinnell emphasizes how important it is to try to listen to women when they are providing testimony about not feeling safe within a work environment, and to try not to go directly towards demanding objective proof from a frame of skeptical disbelief. Learning how to listen, empathize, and reflect the truth of a direct experience is a skillset that is needed here, and it’s something that the unique affordances of the virtual reality community can help to cultivate through projects like Testimony VR. But there’s many more unresolved issues and open questions that Pinnell and I discuss in deep dive into new models of restorative justice and the community fallout surrounding the Upload lawsuit settlement.

This is a listener-supported podcast, consider making a donation to the Voices of VR Podcast Patreon

Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

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September 3, 2017

Rift Summer Sale Drives Record Gains, Highest Steam Market Share Yet

According to the latest figures from Valve’s Hardware & Software Survey, the Oculus Rift has set a new record for its highest historical market share on Steam, almost certainly driven by a major sale which has also brought the headset its largest ever share increase from one month to the next. While the HTC Vive continues to hold the majority share, the Rift is approaching striking distance.

The latest results show a major gain of 8.1% in the Rift’s share of VR headsets on Steam, bringing the device’s overall share to its highest point ever, reaching 43.8% of all headsets in use on the platform.

The gain was made up mostly by a 7.7% reduction in Vive share and the remaining 0.4% from a reduction in the Rift DK2 development kit. The latter, launched in 2014, still holds 3.9% total share of VR headsets in use on Steam. With Steam as its primary content platform, the Vive naturally holds onto the majority share at 52.3% of all VR headsets on the platform, though at 43.8%, the Rift is approaching striking distance.

**See Also:** SteamVR Will Support Windows VR Headsets

The 8.1% gain, the largest ever for the Rift on Steam, was almost certainly driven by the ‘Summer of Rift’ sale which reduced the price of the Rift & Touch controllers from $600 to $400. When the sale ends after September 4th, the non-sale price for a new all-in-one Rift & Touch bundle will be $500. A portion of the gains may have been made up not by new headsets entering the market, but by more Rift users becoming aware of Steam’s compatibility with the Rift. Another contributor could be the expansion of HTC’s Viveport app store and the Viveport subscription service, potentially drawing some Vive users away from Steam.

While the Rift has enjoyed significant buzz surrounding its lengthy sale, HTC recently brought a major price cut to Vive, setting its new baseline price at $600 (previously $800). HTC said the price cut was not a reaction to the Rift sale.

While the Rift and Vive fight it out on Steam, new competitors are soon to complicate the binary battle. The Windows VR headsets are due to launch starting in October at $400, and Microsoft has confi rmed that they’ll be compatible with SteamVR content.

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August 5, 2017

Valve Sends ‘Knuckles’ Controller Dev Kit to Revive Developer

Valve isn’t being shy about their support for Jules “LibreVR” Blok, the developer behind Revive, a hack which allows the Vive to play games from the Oculus store. Having patched SteamVR on more than one occasion to ensure Revive’s continued compatibility, the company has now sent Blok the Knuckles controller dev kit

Valve’s new Knuckles controllers have been widely praised by the developers who have been lucky enough to get their hands on them. The company has been sending dev kits of the controllers to select developers, and there’s presently no open way to get one without knowing the right folks at Valve.

Valve has sent one of the dev kits to Blok, the independent developer of Revive, a freely available hack that allows Vive users to play games from the Oculus store. For Oculus’ part, the company’s VR store only officially supports the Rift headset, and in 2016 had something of a standoff with Revive that prompted an update to their platform’s DRM policy which broke the hack. After community outcry, Oculus eventually reversed that decision and has been tolerating the hack since. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey (who is no longer with the company) recently pledged $2,000 per month in support of Revive’s development.

Valve, who of course now distributes VR games through Steam, seems to have found an ally in Revive, as it opens a door for Vive users into Oculus’ platform, allowing them to play a number of major VR titles that aren’t available on Steam. Without Revive as an independent intermediary, it might seem one step too aggressive if Valve had to build and maintain an unofficial door into Oculus’ platform themselves. Valve itself is however responsible for supporting the Rift on Steam.

In updates to SteamVR, Valve has on multiple occasions made tweaks and changes to ensure that Revive continued to work correctly. And now having sent Blok the Knuckles controllers, it seems pretty clear that Valve is supportive of what Revive is doing.

For Blok’s part the developer says that “these controllers will be very helpful to make a more natural Oculus Touch mapping,” and thanks Valve for sending them. Indeed the Knuckles controllers are more similar to Touch than the present Vive controllers, and with his hands on Knuckles it should make it easier for Blok to integrate proper support for the controllers into Revive once they are available more broadly.

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August 3, 2017

Inception Raises $15 Million Series A Funding Led By EU Media Conglomerate RTL Group

Inception’s ambitions to become the ‘Netflix of VR’ have just received a major boost, with the Tel Aviv-based company closing a $15 million Series A funding round led by media and broadcast giant RTL Group. Launched in October 2016, the Inception app is accessible on leading mobile VR platforms, as well as the Rift and Vive, while PSVR support is ‘coming soon’.

Having collaborated with the likes of Time Out magazine and online music broadcasting platform Boiler Room to produce original VR content, and more recently making The Dalí Museum’s virtual exhibit Dreams of Dalí accessible in the app, as well as launching a VR music channel with Pitchfork, Inception has quickly gained recognition for its innovative productions.

The company prides itself on its ‘Born for VR’ content, where every feature is “conceptualized, designed and filmed with VR in mind”. Inception claim to have a “best-in-class” app, with proprietary streaming technology that uses spatial audio streaming, adaptive bitrate streaming, and optimised cube projection, along with smart analytics so creators can see how their content is performing.

The $15 million investment will help the platform expand its content catalogue, and accelerate growth, the company says. The press release, posted on the Inception website, states that the company will provide “Virtual Reality programming, creative, and distribution capabilities to RTL Group with its unique combination of a next generation content network, innovative technology in the areas of interactivity and user experience, as well as content creation expertise.”

RTL Group, Europe’s largest broadcaster with a global presence in 59 television channels and 31 radio stations, and the leading European media company for online video, will hold a minority stake of 15% in the company. Leading investors including James Packer, Gigi Levy-Weiss, and iAngels also participated in the Series A funding round.

“VR is an incredible new entertainment medium and a fantastic opportunity for brands and talents to tell their stories and engage their audience as never before”, said Benny Arbel, Inception’s CEO. “Our unique combination of great technology and content will make VR more accessible and enjoyable for audiences around the world. Together, RTL Group and Inception can play a key role in shaping that experience by combining our expertise in content creation, episodic storytelling, and immersive technology to take audiences to the next level.”

“Virtual Reality is a new medium for content and creative ideas, which are at the heart of what we do”, said Christos Schizas, Vice President Business Development and Group Synergies at RTL Group. “That’s why it is only natural to explore ways of augmenting our total video universe with this new medium. We see clear potential for synergies with our existing portfolio of content production, multi-platform networks and advertising solutions. Inception’s experience and entrepreneurial spirit will match perfectly with our tradition and capabilities.”

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July 29, 2017

Oculus Founder: “Should I try to save AltspaceVR?”

Following this week’s news that AltspaceVR, one of the first social VR platforms, is shutting down, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, who is no longer with the company, queried the community to ask if he should seek to save AtlspaceVR from closing.

AltspaceVR was one of the first (now among many) social VR platforms. The app brought people together into shared virtual spaces to talk, play, and share. The platform was host to a range of mini-games like disc golf and sketch off, branded games like Dungeons & Dragons and Boss Monster, and was built for the community to host virtual events.

This week the company announced it would be shutting down on August 3rd after it ran out of venture capital and was unable to secure the next round of funding.

Posting the same message on Facebook and Twitter, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is apparently seeking opinions on whether or not he should save AltspaceVR from shutting down. Luckey’s tweet included a Yes/No poll which at the time of writing stands at 62% Yes, and 38% No, with six days remaining.

Should I try to save @AltspaceVR? (caveat: may not be possible)

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) July 29, 2017

Luckey adds, “caveat: may not be possible,” likely implying that the logistics of saving the company might be more complicated than a simple cash infusion.

AltspaceVR co-founder “Cymatic” Bruce Wooden responded to Luckey’s tweet asking him to get in touch if he’d like to talk.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey on stage at Oculus Connect 2015 | Photo courtesy Oculus

Luckey was the founder of Oculus when the company sold to Facebook for $2 billion in cash and stock. Since the acquisition, Facebook’s stock (which made up the bulk of the value in the transaction) has more than doubled. Forbes estimates Luckey’s net worth at $730 million, though it isn’t clear if Luckey’s consideration of ‘saving’ the company would mean him bankrolling AltspaceVR himself.

Luckey’s offer is especially interesting given that his former employer, Facebook (now the owner of Oculus) is making moves in the social VR scene. The company launched Facebook Spaces earlier this year, a place for small groups of Facebook friends to hang out in VR, share pictures and videos, and communicate with friends outside of VR through Facebook Messenger video calls. Facebook Spaces, and other competition in the social VR sector, likely chilled the feet of investors who might have otherwise funded AltspaceVR’s next round of venture capital.

Luckey’s interest in saving AltspaceVR wouldn’t be the first time he’s done something seemingly against the company he founded. Last month he offered $2,000 per month in financial backing for Revive, a hack which allows Vive users to play Oculus games. In 2016 Oculus had made changes to their DRM policy which effectively blocked Revive, but reversed the decision after community outcry, and has since tolerated the hack.

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July 28, 2017

AltspaceVR, One of the First Social VR Platforms, Is Shutting Down Next Week

This evening AltspaceVR has announced it will be closing its doors for good on August 3rd. Founded in 2013, the social VR platform was one of the first to come online and connected tens of thousands of users monthly across a range of headsets.

AltspaceVR sent an announcement of the platform’s shuttering to Road to VR by email this evening.

It is with tremendously heavy hearts that we must let you all know that we are closing down AltspaceVR. The company has run into financial difficulty and we can’t afford to keep the virtual lights on anymore. This is surprising, disappointing, and frustrating for every one of us who put our hearts into AltspaceVR. We know it will probably feel similarly for you.

We know many of you have created vibrant relationships in AltspaceVR, so please use the next few days to connect with those friends and hopefully find another way to stay in touch.

Among what’s now a fairly vibrant range of social VR platforms, AltspaceVR had an early mover advantage, opening it’s doors long before the launch of the consumer versions of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The app would eventually be supported by those VR headsets and more, including a monitor-mode for those without a headset.

AltspaceVR brought people together into shared virtual spaces to talk, play, and share. A major part of the company’s early strategy involved an open SDK which would allow developers to use web technologies like JavaScript to build experiences which would extend and interact with the social platform. The platform was also host to a range of mini-games like frisbee, branded games like Dungeons & Dragons, and was built for the community to host virtual events. It also included a browser capability which let users browse the web together.

In addition to community events, the company also hosted their own marquee events, bringing the likes of Drew Carey, Reggie Watts, Janeane Garofalo, Bill Nye, and many more into the virtual world to interact and perform with a virtual audience from around the globe.

According to the company, some 35,000 people used AltspaceVR each month, with users spending on average 35 minutes per day inside the social virtual world, and large events bringing in thousands of attendees. So what happened? The company explains:

“We’re a venture-backed startup. We had a supportive group of investors that last gave us money in 2015. It looked like we had a deal for our next round of funding, and it fell through,” the announcement of the platform’s closure reads. “Some combination of this deal falling through and the general slowness of VR market growth made most of our investors reluctant to fund us further. We’ve been out fundraising but have run out of time and money.”

According to Crunchbase, AltspaceVR has raised nearly $16 million in venture funding over the course of its run, and from significant investors too, like Comcast and Tencent.

Though 35,000 users monthly isn’t anything to sneeze at, the company had yet to begin monetizing the platform, meaning it was relying on venture capital runway to continue building the service. Without being able to raise more money, there’s no way to “keep the virtual lights on,” as the company put it.

So the AltspaceVR platform itself will close its doors on August 3rd, but what about the company itself?

“We’re not really sure yet,” reads the announcement. “The amazing people that worked at this company created some awesome technology – things that we think will be foundational to the future of social VR. We’d love to see this technology, if not the company, live on in some way, and we’re working on that.”

The company plans to host a “final farewell party” on the 3rd, the culmination of which will officially bring the platform to a close; the precise timing of the party is not yet known. More details, including an FAQ, can be found in a Goodbye blog post on the company’s website.

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July 17, 2017

Rift Sale Eases Buyer’s #1 Concern, But All-in Cost Still Hinders Mainstream Traction

The six week Oculus Rift sale has made tangible waves within the VR community with its ‘best-yet’ $400 price point. And while the new price is bringing more early adopters into the fold, mainstream adoption is still hindered in large part by the need for high-end computer hardware to power the headset.

Guest Article by Colin McMahon

McMahon is an Industry Analyst at Greenlight Insights, the global leader in virtual and augmented market intelligence.

For the next six weeks, the price for an Oculus Rift bundle (Oculus Rift headset with Oculus Touch controllers) is $400. After this, the price will rise to $500, still $100 less than the cost to get the headset and controllers before the sale, and $300 less than the cost at the start of 2017. Effectively, the sale has made the system half the price of the Rift’s leading rival, the HTC Vive. According to Greenlight Insights’ May 2017 industry forecasts, over five million PC-tethered VR headsets will be shipped by the end of 2017.

The new Oculus sale price has already been celebrated as a potential industry savior. However, even with the price cut, the Rift bundle remains more expensive than a PSVR and roughly four times the cost of most premium mobile-based VR headsets. Furthermore, the total cost to the consumer begins to skyrocket when the cost of a VR Ready PC is factored in. Even on sale, the price of a Rift bundle and a VR Ready PC would still run upwards of $1,000 which is a blocker to market traction beyond early adopters. According to Greenlight Insights’ recent consumer study, this price is well outside the acceptable price range that most consumers are willing to pay for VR (only 15.1% of consumers are willing to spend above $400).

While price is the chief concern, the Rift bundle doesn’t solve one of the most important challenges that all PC VR headsets face: according to its annual survey on consumer attitudes and behavior toward virtual reality, Greenlight Insights has found the general public prioritizes ease-of-use when making a purchasing decision. In fact, since the first survey in 2015, Ease of Use has consistently been in the top three criteria selected by the survey’s respondents.

Non-tech savvy shoppers will still balk at upgrading graphics cards and setting up the boundary system needed to properly run room-scale VR experiences. Oculus’ move is not likely to win over the general public or steal market share from mobile/console VR which still leads in ease-of-use. Instead, the Rift sale will likely have greatest appeal with the PC-owning tech savvy early adopters.

As the battle for market share intensifies, Oculus hopes to increase its share of the PC VR hardware space now. But, as we look five and ten years out, the company that has a large installation base and engaged, daily users (as well as robust application developer support) will likely win, so the company will need to prioritize engagement as much as sales.

Given Oculus’ legal troubles and surprising absence in the now formidable location-based virtual reality entertainment (LBVRE) sector, the company’s new aggressive pricing strategy must be analyzed carefully and interpreted with caution. While the ‘Summer of Rift’ is here, don’t expect it to translate to mainstream traction just yet. That said, Oculus could still see an incremental increase in unit sales this year, and that is, at this point, significant.

For a full picture of how the VR industry is evolving, see the 2017 Virtual Reality Industry Report from Greenlight Insights and Road to VR.

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July 5, 2017

Diversity in VR: Lessons from the Oculus Launchpad Initiative

In March 2016, Oculus announced their Oculus Launchpad program with the idea that in order for VR to be successful, then there needs to be a diverse range of content created from diverse set of creators who are informed by different ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and gender identities. Oculus brought together over 100 diverse content creators for a one-day training, and awarded scholarships to 11 projects from the dozens of prototypes submitted at the end of the program. Oculus Launchpad participant Dale Henry wrote up a detailed critique of the Launchpad program that provided a lot of constructive criticism for improvements that he’d like to see.

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I reached out to Henry to unpack his feedback on the lessons learned from the Oculus Launchpad program, but we also talk what the larger VR community can do to support diverse initiatives such as different community-driven mentorship models. We also talk about his personal journey in using VR to help children on the autism spectrum deal with bullying, and some of his struggles as an aspiring VR developer. We also dive into some deeper systemic issues, and have some difficult conversations about how only 1% of funded start-ups have black founders, larger diversity in tech issues, some of the unconscious biases that women and people of color face in raising funds, and whether or not VCs even know how to evaluate people of color.

I reached out to Oculus for a comment on the improvements that they’re making for the second iteration of the Oculus Launchpad program, and it looks like they’ve integrated a lot of the specific critiques from Dale and expanded their mentorship program. Here’s the kickoff message from Oculus VR’s program manager for diversity and inclusion, Ebony Peay Ramirez.
launchpad-improvements

Henry would also like to see more transparency in how the money is being allocated, some of the metrics for success, a more detailed roadmap that shows how to grow and sustain these diversity initiatives, whether there are other external diversity initiatives that Oculus/Facebook is supporting, and some candid feedback of their own internal lessons learned so that other VR companies can learn from these programs.

Henry argues that everyone benefits from diversity in VR initiatives, and that he’d like to see more openness and transparency in these efforts to provide more opportunities for feedback, but also the possibility for more collaboration amongst competing VR companies to share insights and combine resources to support larger diversity efforts in the VR and tech ecosystem.

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Music: Fatality & Summer Trip

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