Reality Check By Mathew OlsonMay 26, 2021You are receiving Reality Check as a limited-time free preview. To ensure your continued access, subscribe to The Information here for a special $200 off your first year (normally $399).Welcome back!If you’d like to know more about upcoming VR games for the Oculus Quest, maybe just ask Mark Zuckerberg.Yesterday, the Facebook CEO let a detail slip about an unannounced Oculus Studios title. In response to a question, from The Washington Post’s Gene Park, Zuckerberg mentioned that he’s playing a lot of military VR shooter Onward and that he’s “pretty excited for Onward 2.” Facebook acquired Onward’s developer, Downpour Interactive, just last month—but no sequel was announced at the time.A Facebook representative declined to comment on Zuckerberg’s reference to the sequel and added that the company has nothing to share on future projects from Downpour at this time. Calculated error or no, there’s one very obvious reason why Facebook might be interested in having Downpour develop a follow-up. While Facebook has said the original Onward will continue to be supported on PC VR via Steam, a sequel could present an opportunity to both refresh the game’s design and secure another exclusive VR game for Oculus to add to the few dozen exclusives it already has. Can VR Treadmills Gain Traction?An early VR startup that was once passed over in an episode of “Shark Tank” is riding a new wave of consumer and investor optimism. Virtuix, a maker of low-friction omnidirectional treadmills for VR, said it has raised $19 million in a Series-A2 round. Virtuix plans to use the proceeds to launch the Omni One, its first all-in-one VR and treadmill system for home use.Founder and CEO Jan Goetgeluk introduced an Omni for the home in 2013, long before most consumers could try VR for themselves. That model attracted interest from VR early adopters on Kickstarter, but the company later pivoted to focusing on selling its devices to entertainment centers, picking up investor Mark Cuban—who earlier declined Goetgeluk’s pitch—along the way. Virtuix has sold close to 4,000 of its Pro treadmills to VR arcades and entertainment centers, Goetgeluk told The Information in an interview. Crowdfunding is again helping Virtuix in 2021; the majority of this latest round was raised via SeedInvest. The rise of standalone VR headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 prompted Goetgeluk to try once more to break into the consumer market, he said. Virtuix aims to launch the Omni One at $1,995 with its own app store and an online subscription. (Virtuix has yet to announce which VR headset maker it plans to partner with for the Omni One).“It’s a high-end VR system,” said Goetgeluk when asked about the Omni One’s price. “It’s probably not for everybody.”Instead, Goetgeluk sees the Omni One as akin to “a Peloton for gamers.” What remains to be seen is whether Virtuix will find a sweet spot between consumer VR and at-home fitness. For some, a VR treadmill might be worth the price and space, while for others it might look like a compromise between the best of the two worlds.Don’t Forget About AmazonAmazon early last year quietly got a patent regarding “co-watching” in AR and VR. It specifies methods for presenting live sports to multiple viewers (similar to Prime Video’s “Watch Party” feature) with interactive elements in AR and VR, all while ensuring the content is streamed efficiently to viewers. It’s an intriguing patent and on Tuesday Amazon was granted a “continuation” to tweak details of the patent.Yes, Amazon is not as bullish on AR/VR as Facebook and Apple. At the same time, its cloud dominance with AWS and its entertainment business (hello, MGM) warrant keeping up with AR and VR. With Amazon contracted to air NFL on Thursdays for the next decade and AWS already powering broadcast features like advanced on-screen stats, Amazon has good reason to invest in engaging tech for sports broadcasting. Amazon isn’t alone in this either—Microsoft just committed to Azure-powered LaLiga broadcasts with AR and VR touches. —Mark Di Stefano contributed to this item.Other news:Epic released an “early access” version of Unreal Engine 5. It’s intended for prototyping and I expect we’ll see some impressive VR demos shortly.Yesterday marked the first WebXR developers summit. The digital event was live streamed and archived, providing a lengthy look at recent and in-progress browser-based AR and VR projects as well as future WebXR features.Ars Technica reports that Valve is working on a handheld gaming PC. It may be a shift away from VR devices or an expansion of Valve’s hardware efforts.At Wired, Rita Omokha challenges the notion of VR for teaching racial empathy. “No immersive VR experience can translate to a less-white corporate America.”Thanks for reading Reality Check. I’d love to hear your thoughts any time at mathew@theinformation.com. And if you know someone who might like this newsletter, just forward it along and point them to www.theinformation.com/reality-check so they can sign up for it.See you tomorrow,Mathew |
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