The XR Week Peek (2021.03.29): Rec Room becomes a unicorn, Sandbox VR is back to business and more!
It’s a sunny lockdown day here in Italy, the sun is shining and the trees are blossoming. I hope that your day is sunny too and you are safe and happy. I’m sending you good vibes through this post.
Before leaving you to the news of the week, I want to tell you that the AWE Nite event I co-hosted with Cecilia Lascialfari about AR and VR in psychology has been great. Many people that have missed it have asked me if there is a way to watch a recording of it, so here you are the link through which you can enjoy it again.
Top news of the week
Rec Room is a VR unicorn
Social VR experience Rec Room has just got a $100M investment, for a new valuation of $1.25B.
It is very rare that a company gets a valuation over $1B, and so when it happens, it is defined as a “unicorn”. If we exclude the major tech companies (Facebook, Valve, etc…) and the meteor Magic Leap, this is the first VR company to reach this status, and this is another sign of the health of the virtual reality ecosystem. If a company focused on VR has got the unicorn status, this means that investors have now again faith in VR, and also that the market is growing. I expect that also other companies may reach this status in the future.
Rec Room is one of the most successful VR experiences, and it has install numbers in the order of magnitude of millions. But it has been able to get this money also because now it is available also on other platforms: on Xbox, for instance, it has also been the top #1 free game, even on top of Roblox or Fortnite. This expands its market of possible users a lot and justifies the interest of the investors.
The investment round has been led by Sequoia Capital and Index Ventures and includes Madrona Venture Group. Many of the investors were already involved in the $20M series C that the company obtained in December 2020.
Someone asked me if so much money is justified, also considering that the company already got $20M just 3 months ago. Well, I think that if a game can be on the top-downloaded lists on various platforms like Xbox and Oculus Quest, for sure it has the X-Factor to thrive and earn many millions. Its metrics are great, the game is engaging, and also is creating a healthy ecosystem of creators that can earn real money on it. So yes, a big investment is justified. What I found a bit strange is the amount of investment, that happens just after another huge investment of just 3 months ago. Probably, the hype for the direct competitor Roblox, now valued at more than $40B, has skyrocket also the perceived potential of Rec Room, and investors hope that with this insane amount of money it could run to become as huge as Roblox. Investors are very sensitive to hype and market perception, so this comes as no surprise to me. I just hope that there is a true plan to get to that goal, and that it is not only throwing money hoping that Rec Room can do a miracle.
By the way, compliments to the Rec Room team, and good luck for their future!
Other relevant news
Sandbox VR to re-open its business
One of the sectors that have been hit the hardest by COVID has been LBEVR (Location-Based Entertainment in VR). All the most famous companies (Sandbox, The Void, etc…) have seen huge losses because of the pandemic and the lockdowns, and some of them have gone forever.
One that went into big trouble was Sandbox VR: initially identified as one of the most promising VR companies, its business has been ruined by the lockdowns and the company had to fire all its staff, declare bankrupt and restructure debts. But now it has come back from the ashes, and since the vaccination campaign is doing well in the US, it is re-organizing its business.
The company claims that it will open in Summer 2021 a new center in Las Vegas, and will re-open 15 venues before the end of the year. Of course, in all these centers there will be a strong focus on hygiene, social distancing, and sanitization of the devices.
This news puts a smile on my face. Last year I have collaborated on an LBEVR project myself, and I could see the passion of people working on the field and the worry that there is regarding the future because of the pandemic. The fact that Sandbox can re-open makes us think that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel, and all these people could return to do their jobs soon. I know that it will be hard and will require a long time before LBEVR can return to pre-covid levels, but I sincerely hope that this is going to happen.
Apple XR headset may weight less than 150g
You know how I love rumors on the Apple XR headset (#sarcasm), and so with much joy, I announce to you that the super Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has another fantastic news to share with us. It seems that the passthrough AR headset developed in Cupertino will be very lightweight and it should weigh less than 150g. But we already knew it, so I don’t know why Mr.Kuo repeated the same thing and all the journalists got hyped again. Maybe we can play this game again in 2 weeks.
What I found more interesting about the new rumor is that it shares some details on the optical system of this hybrid XR headset. It should feature “hybrid Fresnel lens composed of three stacked Fresnel lenses to achieve a thin and light design with enhanced optical performance. With each headset using a total of six Fresnel lenses (one stack of three per eye), Kuo says Apple will use lightweight plastic lenses with customized materials and coatings to match the light transmission of glass.”
These lenses should come from Young Optics with Genius Electronic Optical and be pretty expensive, hence the final expected price for the device $1000–3000.
Remember that Apple is doing various experiments with AR and VR and these self-proclaimed analysts are continuously changing their predictions, so while I believe that this a device Apple is actually experimenting on, we are not sure if it will ever see the light.
Pico CEO wants the Neo 3 to sell 10x the Neo 2
Pico is a company that is growing very well in the VR ecosystem. After having got a very big investment, the Chinese company now aims at expanding its business. It has already announced that it will release soon a Pico Neo 3 device, and now the CEO, in an interview with Yivian, is setting his expectations for it.
He said that the Neo 3 aims at reducing the technical gap with the Oculus Quest 2, featuring an XR2 chipset, and improving dramatically the tracking of the controllers. Pico has selected “sports” as one of the main trends to follow with the Neo 3, and the CEO said that with the new tracking system, playing VR sport experiences will be much better than before.
In China, the Neo is sold as a consumer device, and the company is attracting always more content on its Pico Store, which now features more than 100 titles. The price will become more competitive because it is what the market is requesting: “Neo 3 must be more geared to the needs of the mass market. If you want to enter the consumer market on a large scale, you must have a sufficiently competitive price. The price will be announced at the press conference, but now I want to say, It should still be a very good and competitive price” says the CEO.
Thanks to the technological advancements and the reduction of the price, the CEO expects the sales to be 10x the ones of the Neo 2. This is a bold claim, and we’ll all be there watching with interest if this is going to happen.
Oculus Quest 2 may detect people in your play space
Some leaked images on the Oculus Quest subreddit show that Facebook is working on a feature to identify people and pets entering your play space while you are playing VR. The system could show a pop up every time someone is getting inside your VR area. This would be a very welcome feature to improve the safety of the VR players and the people around them.
It is not the first time someone works on a similar feature (e.g. Vive SRWorks has already a sample doing this), but it would be the first time a major company implements a similar feature in the runtime of a headset.
The delivery date is unknown, but considering what has happened with similar leaks in the past, I expect it to be released in a few months.
News worth a mention
Facebook F8 returns on June 2nd
After last year’s cancelation, Facebook F8 returns again in 2021. It will be held on June, 2nd as an online event dedicated to developers. It is not clear if it will feature Mark Zuckerberg or not, and I think that it will depend on if that day they will announce the smartglasses they are building with Ray-Ban or not. I think that most probably not, but who knows…
SteamVR update brings improvement to its virtual desktop
In its new beta update to the SteamVR runtime, Valve has added some interesting features to its virtual desktop. First of all, it will be possible to just mirror the window of a single application in VR, and not necessarily the whole screen. And then it will be possible to “attach” one of these virtual windows to the controllers so that to keep it visible while you perform other VR tasks. These are very interesting features that can enable some use cases, like for instance a Twitch streamer that looks at the chat on his controller while he’s playing.
Tundra Tracker’s Kickstart starts today
Today March 29th at 4 pm CDT, 11 pm CEST, Tundra Tracker will start its Kickstarter campaign for an affordable and versatile VR tracker. I think it will be an easy win, and it will be funded in the first 48 hours. What will be interesting is seeing how it will be the production, logistics, and final delivery. From this, we can see if it can be a reliable competitor for the HTC Tracker 3.0.
Mojo Vision reveals some details on its upcoming contact lenses
Mojo Vision is for sure one of the best XR startups out there: promising affordable AR contact lenses, it is already projected beyond AR glasses and smartglasses. This week on IEEE Spectrum, the company has revealed some more details on how they are built.
For instance, they said that the microprocessor and the “display” should consume a maximum of 100 microwatts each since the battery itself should be tiny and housed inside the lens. The display is expected to feature 256 x 256 monochrome pixels, with each pixel digitized to 4-, 6-, or 8-bit values.
It is not a standard display, but a system built ad-hoc that features capacitors instead of the classical analog-to-digital converter: thanks to this, it is just a tiny 1.3 mm2 chip and consumes no more than 61–95 microwatts.
These are all very interesting tech details that show how it is complicated to create a device that just sits inside a tiny lens.
WarpAR lets Photoshop the world in real-time
WarpAR is a cool AR application available on the App Store (iOS only at the moment). It lets you apply some photoshop filters… to the world around you. Using ARKit, lets you see the world through the camera of the phone, and then you can modify its shapes and colors just by moving your finger on top of it. The results are very artistic, and you should have a look at its video to realize how amazing it is.
You can estimate your heartbeat thanks to a VR headset
An interesting University research happening in Italy has found a way to estimate the respiratory rate and the heartbeat of a person wearing a VR headset just by using the sensors embedded into the device. This could be interesting for all VR applications needing this data, especially the ones about psychology.
8 takeaways from SXSW 2021
If you haven’t been able to attend the digital SXSW this year, don’t worry. The amazing Laura Mingail has written a long and detailed article with the most important trends and lessons she has identified from this year’s event. A must-read if you work in VR storytelling.
2 interesting news for XR developers
If you are a VR developer/content creator, you may find these two pieces of news pretty interesting:
- Sweden VR is organizing a contest of AR/VR applications where you can win prizes up to 10,000 euros;
- Tthe Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism has released the 3D city model of Tokyo’s 23 wards free of charge. You can even use it for commercial projects, and it may become the basis for a great VR experience set in Japan. The govt is thinking about expanding this initiative to 50 more cities in the future, so this is just the beginning!
Some news on content
- Half-Life: Alyx turns one year old, and for its birthday it is discounted 40% off;
- Road To VR and Upload VR have had a preview of StarWars Pinball VR and they both say that it can be the best pinball VR game so far;
- Hand-tracking sandbox Hand Physics Lab is going to launch on Quest on April, 1st (and no, it is not a joke);
- Someone is making a VR mod for Breath Of The Wild Zelda;
- Gang V is an upcoming battle royale VR game clearly inspired by GTA;
- Cosmodread is one of the coolest VR horror game, according to Upload VR;
- Green Hell is the VR game that all the lovers of the survivor genre were waiting for;
- Synth Riders releases the Adrenaline Music Pack, with music from the Offspring and other famous artists.
More info (Half-Life: Alyx)
More info (Star Wars Pinball VR)
More info (Hand Physics Lab)
More info (Breath Of The Wild)
More info (Gang V)
More info (Cosmodread)
More info (Green Hell VR)
More info (Synth Riders)
Some news on App Lab
You know that I like to support indies, so here you are some news on the App Lab content of this week. Plus, now on App Lab you can also find a free demo of Synth Riders!
More info (New games on App Lab)
More info (Synth Riders)
News from partners (and friends)
Michael McDonald and his startup Gold Lotus have launched on Kickstarter a VR application to learn English called “Handy English”. The experience is meant to teach you English in VR in an alternative way and with a natural interface all based on hands tracking (yes, the pun is intended). We of NTW will help him in the development if he manages to get the funding, because we like this project, so have a look at the Kickstarter page and support it!
Learn more
The promising German company Holoride has won at the 13th annual SXSW Pitch the Entertainment, Gaming & Content category along with being named Best in Show award! This is a well-deserved success for the startup that wants to bring VR entertainment to all the cars of the world, and I hope it will be just the beginning for it…
Learn more
Some XR fun
If you want to see a great collection of VR memes, this video is a good place to start from!
Funny link
Your headset is coming soon via sea, don’t worry…
Funny link
Funny link
Richie Plank Experiment is an experiment to see how many people will survive VR…
Funny link
This roundup is like The Ring
If you don’t donate to my Patreon before the 7th day after you have read it, Mark Zuckerberg will personally appear in your house to spy you and take all your personal data. You have also to give him food in the meantime… and hide all the Vive and Index devices you have at home or he will get angry.
The people that have already saved themselves from the Zuck through a donation are:
- DeoVR
- Jonn Fredericks
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Michael Bruce
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Bob Fine
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Niels Bogerd
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Jeff Dawson
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Tracey Wong
- Matthew Allen Fisher
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Alex P
- Sb
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Paul Reynolds
- Wil Stevens
- Matias Nassi
Donate and save yourselves, you fools!
(Header image by Rec Room)
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