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Why China's VR scene is going global with cultural storytelling
The Immersive Wire - 7 April 2025
Tom Ffiske
April 07, 2025
Executive summary
Welcome to your weekly briefing on the metaverse and spatial computing. Here are your snippets to sound smarter in meetings this week:
Top Story: Sylvan Shen provided a deep dive into China in her quarterly update (analysis below).
UK funding: The DCMS Create Growth Programme Competition 4 is now open, offering two funding opportunities for creative businesses across 12 UK regions, with applications closing on 28 May. This is for both small projects and large projects.
Event submissions: ART*VR has opened submissions for its 2025 edition, inviting immersive projects for the Prague-based festival’s third year.
London event: The Immersive Wire and City, University of London is hosting another event on 21 May, this time on education and XR. Come along! And if your company can speak in-person on the topic, let me know.
Other stories: AWE USA 2025 is happening 10 June onwards, and readers have a 10% discount code: 25IMMERSIVEWIRE10D (more stories below).
Personal: I also like to write for fun; here are my top books of all time.
In my spare time, I am supporting a woman’s football team with its recruitment and funding efforts. The team is the Royal Regents, and they’re doing really well. If you want to support an up-and-coming women’s team based in London, please drop me a line.
Top story
Sylvan Shen provided a deep dive into China in her quarterly update. Three big takeaways:
China is leading the charge in large-scale VR: With over 100 new projects launched in 2024, China’s VR market is rapidly growing, driven by AI, cultural IP, and demand for premium experiences.
New models are reshaping how VR is delivered: Revenue-sharing tourism partnerships and usage-based content licensing are the two dominant business models fuelling market expansion.
Cultural storytelling is going global: Jeremy’s New Peach Blossom Spring blends folklore and immersive tech, with plans to enter the UK market and showcase the future of large-scale VR beyond gaming.
Other stories
AWE USA 2025 is happening 10 June onwards.
Readers have a 10% discount code: 25IMMERSIVEWIRE10D
The Barbican will host Feel the Sound, a multi-sensory immersive exhibition exploring how sound shapes perception, running from 22 May to 31 August before touring internationally.
Existent and MAHIKI Rum will host a physically interactive VR experience at Shelter Hall’s Skylark Cocktail Bar in Brighton from 28 April to 1 May, combining spatial computing with real-world cocktails.
Infinite Reality has launched its immersive software and services on Google Cloud Marketplace, expanding access to its spatial computing and AI-powered enterprise solutions.
Lightcraft Technology has released a major update to its iPhone-based virtual production app Jetset, adding features like live cinematic compositing and Gaussian Splats support to make virtual production accessible across all stages of filmmaking.
PikPok will release Rival Stars Horse Racing: VR Edition on Meta Quest Store and Steam VR on 17 April 2025, marking the franchise's debut in virtual reality.
Time Traveller will launch Bearly Escape, a VR puzzle-platformer about rescuing kidnapped animals, in Early Access on Meta Quest 3|3S via the Meta Store on 1 May 2025.
Note: The Immersive Wire is run by Tom Ffiske, who also works at Accenture. The contents of the newsletter should not be regarded as Accenture’s views.