The Immersive Wire - 2 June 2021 (News edition)

The Immersive Wire - 2 June 2021 (News edition)

June 02, 2021

NEWS DIGEST EDITIONCurated VR/AR analysis every Wednesday and Sunday

// 2 June 2021

 

Watch the launch date announcement teaser trailer by ANABURN.

To help all of you get the most out of the section, job postings for the month of June are now 40% off (now at £20/€23/$28). These, as with all listings moving forwards, will stay on the board until it's filled. Added to that, to make sure you're vacancy is filled by members of this talented community, vacancies will appear in both the Wednesday and Sunday editions of the newsletter.If you want to take a look at the opportunity, click

.

Looks like location-based VR is back. Zero Latency VR and Ubisoft are launching

, a free-roaming VR experience.

  • Like most on-location sectors, LBVR took a back seat as companies couldn't risk infections spreading in cramped and warm rooms. But investors have generally been excited for the area, and consistently funneled finances into it to either safeguard their future, or to open new locations when the world returns to normal. In the UK, organisations like Atmos VR saw a surge of investment in late 2020. Bold, considering the country dipped back into lockdown shortly afterward.

  • Now the world is opening up again, long-term investments are about to pay off. Zero Latency VR is one example, doubling down on their already-extensive relationship with Ubisoft who are delivering a new experience with their established IP. Games take years of consistent development, and the project would have been in the works throughout the pandemic, likely hoping for a bounce-back more powerful than Liam Neeson's acting career.

  • For Ubisoft, it continues the trend of adopting new IPs for other verticals. In the gaming sector, free-to-play games continue to be a main revenue driver for the established players. But beyond that, the IPs have a powerful sway in whichever new areas they choose to adopt; for example, Konami adopted the Metal Gear IP for their pachinko machines. While die-hard fans screech, the money says otherwise. For a run-and-gun franchise like Far Cry, LBVR is a great fit for the franchise.

  • Ultimately, will it be a success? Undoubtedly yes. Even myself, a social hermit, wants to go out and try new things after months and months of watching my plants slowly die. But beyond the next few months of socialising, the business model has the strong foundations and business plan to draw new people into their areas. The key is to have consistent content after launch day that can last years, not just launch weekends.

What do you think of location-based VR attractions?

Contribute to the discussion

I appreciate that the person buried in front of Vaas looks a bit miffed. Photo credit: Zero Latency VR / Ubisoft.

Smash Drums is an arcade VR drumming game that will shake your house on 17 June! Get ready to ROCK and DRUM HARD in this VR rhythm game for the Oculus Quest! Embark on an epic drumming journey that will have you destroying handcrafted environments through chaos and flames! Be prepared to smash drums to 21 awesome indie rock songs at launch! DEMO: Check out the free demo now on

.TRAILER: Watch the launch date announcement

.

Other stories

Want to contribute a new story? Send an email to tom (at) virtualperceptions (dot) com.

  • Epic Games released Unreal Engine 5 in Early Access - what does it mean for VR/AR devs?.

    • For VR people, they can use templates based on the Open XR standard, but they can't use cool services like Nanite.

  • Facebook is offering grants for neural interface design.

  • King Crow Studios announced it had won a contract from the United States Air Force (USAF) to develop immersive training rigs.

  • Liquid Avatar Technologies, ImagineAR, and Oasis Digital Studios announced a partnership with Jeezy to to publish an AR NFT of their famous logo.

  • Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing will be coming to PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and SteamVR on 15 July.

  • Nvidia unveiled the $1,199 RTX 3080 Ti And $599 3070 Ti.

    • (But good luck trying to get them)

  • Star Wars Squadron will be free for all PlayStation Plus members this June.

  • Theia Interactive announced that they brought their Claria tracking tool to HP Reverb G2 Omnicept Edition.

  • UEFA Champions League showed an MR concert, which included a stadium filling with water.

  • Vodafone (Spain) customers can now buy Nreal glasses.

  • VR/AR Global Summit, a virtual event on VR/AR, starts today.VRTO, another virtual event on VR/AR, also starts today.

    • I also speak at the event - join my session titled 'State of the XR world (2021 edition),' on June 3.

  • Zappar launched AR Pioneers, an event on 22 - 23 June where people can learn about AR from the best in the industry.

    • Disclaimer: I work at Zappar as a freelance PR and Communications Manager.

Jobs board

Display your vacancy in front of thousands of talented VR/AR professionals in just a few clicks. Click here for more info.

MID-SENIOR FRONT END DEVELOPER (JavaScript, WebGL), UK. Continue the development of Fixie's first-of-a-kind architectural 3D printing platform by integrating extended reality presentation authoring tools.

JUNIOR-MIDWEIGHT WEB DEVELOPER (C#, .NET Core), UK. Looking for a web developer looking to work in immersive-related technologies.

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That's all for this week! Want to have a chat, let me know about a news story, or talk business? Either reply to this email, or contact tom (at) virtualperceptions (dot) com. Have an excellent day!