There we have it, ladies and gentlemen - the end of an amazing year in XR. From Arizona Sunshine selling like hotcakes on PC and the very first XR Connects event in London in January through ARKit’s consumer launch in September and Microsoft joining the fray with its Windows Mixed Reality headsets in October to December’s news that PS VR has sold 2M units and our first look at the Magic Leap, there’s been a lot of VR, AR and MR for us to report on in 2017.
Has all that - and more - really happened in the space of a year? Now we know why Executive Producer of Experiences at Oculus, Yelena Rachitsky, joked at November’s Oculus Unwrapped event in London, “I like to think in terms of dog years, because one year in VR feels like seven years in real life - everything moves so fast!”
Without further ado, let’s take a look at how the year unfolded month by month as we wrap up this year’s biggest stories, headlines and industry trends in VR, AR and MR. Check back daily for a new update every day from now until the end of the year...
But that wasn’t the only event in January, with the first ever VR Connects London at the Brewery. The event returns in 2018 - now rebranded as XR Connects London to reflect the progress of AR and MR alongside VR.
And it wasn’t a great start to the year for Oculus, with the start of the trial defending against Zenimax’s accusations of IP theft at a time when Rift trailed Vive significantly in market share. Some pundits had Facebook’s acquisition on the ropes at the opening of the year, but Oculus came out swinging and consistently gained momentum in every quarter.
From the perils of experiencing VR in public to developing tech that can offer both immersion and integration, Ed Daly explores the future of consensual Virtual Reality.
Oculus’ troubled start to the year continued as the court ordered it to pay $500 million in the Zenimax case, despite finding the company not guilty of technology theft.
The first images were released of the third party Windows Mixed Reality headsets from the likes of Lenovo, HP and Dell that would be released in October. Microsoft was not one of the founding partners in the new OpenXR initiative that was announced this month.
Much of the XR industry voiced its concern over Donald Trump’s election win to become President of the United States of America in November 2016. Unity Technologies took direct action just three months into his term when Trump announced his intentions of an immigration ban by offering to sponsor 50 affected developers to attend Unite Amsterdam.
Game design veteran and academic, Aki Järvinen of Game Futures, looks at the importance of presence in VR and argues it could be the most important factor in realising the medium’s potential.
Boston-based start-up Neurable nets $2 million in a seed funding round to accelerate developments in brain-controlled AR/VR software.
March
Oculus continued to build a compelling case of Rift on multiple fronts in March, with social VR in Rooms and Events, free Robo Recall game for Touch users, and perhaps most importantly, a $200 price cut. Now, we're not saying the two are connected, but Oculus co-founder, Palmer Luckey, departs the company the month after it's ordered to pay Zenimax $500 million at the outcome of its court case...
Outside of the Facebook Farrago, Microsoft brought its recently announced WMR headset to GDC, while Alex Kipman, Technical Fellow at Microsoft, got our hopes up for a console rival to PS VR by blogging, “Our plan is to bring mixed reality content to the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio, in 2018.” The company has since stepped back its ambitions in this area to focus on its core PC hardware.
Criterion’s lead designer spoke exclusively to us about developing a Star Wars game and the unique challenges and opportunities about developing for VR - including how they solved motion sickness.
Graham Breen, Program Manager EMEA Virtual Reality at HTC Vive, talks to us about trackers, audio straps, Viveport, performance to date and what’s next for Vive VR.
Breaking Fourth’s Alyssia Frankland explores the different ways of delivering narratives in VR and its implications for the future of storytelling across film, theatre and more.
The Making Of PS VR’s Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission
Is the teleport mechanic VR’s silver bullet to the problem of motion sickness, or do developers have a duty to offer a more in-depth locomotion system?
Our industry panel of VR experts offer their thoughts on our observation that more women work in VR than conventional software development, particularly games.
There were a couple of interesting personnel changes, as Apple furthered its AR ambitions with a NASA hire, while Microsoft gained Oculus’ Marketing VP.
Speaking of Oculus, more than 4,000 delegates attended Facebook’s 10th annual developer conference, F8 in San Jose. And following speculation over Palmer Luckey’s surprise departure the month before, the co-founder changed his Facebook profile picture to Obi Wan Kenobi with the words, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
We’ve compiled all the big stories and announcements from Facebook’s 10th annual developer conference into one executive summary, from Camera Effects and social Spaces to computer learning and AI.
Downward Spiral: Prologue begins an ambitious anthology series of games. But can 3rd Eye Studios overcome the motion sickness problems of zero-G action?
Interview: Bringing Episodic Sci-Fi Storytelling To VR
From the implications of social VR and how Hollywood actors feel about VR, to profitability strategies for indie devs and ways to minimise motion sickness, find out why VR is the most exciting new medium in years.
A new report shows that the majority of investors feel the value of private VR companies is inflated; challenges include scarce content and high hardware prices.
Series of high-end VR experiences to start with Justice League and Aquaman for IMAX VR Centres; other VR platforms to follow.
May
As we started to see AR steal the spotlight from VR and standalone headsets hailed as an essential tool to make it in the mainstream, May brought the Aim controller to PS VR and with it, what may well be your humble Editor’s game of the year - Farpoint. And it seems the general public agreed, with the game flying into the UK charts at number two - the highest entry for any VR game so far.
Google shares details about WorldSense; a Daydream update; Chrome VR; Chromium AR; Instant Preview and achieving desktop-level graphics with a mobile GPU.
Tim Merel, founder and MD at international tech advisors, Digi-Capital, explains how mobile AR software could have four times the users of mobile AR hardware and what mobile AR growth to over a billion users looks like.
Tim Merel, founder and MD at international tech advisors, Digi-Capital, explores how Apple, Facebook and Tencent could dominate mobile AR, with Google, Samsung, Huawei, Snap, Alibaba and Baidu as challengers.
One thing was notable by its absence at E3 this year; XBox VR. Head of XBox, Phil Spencer didn’t even mention it in the presentation and it was only afterwards we learned that Microsoft intends to focus on PC for WMR. Sony’s media showcase only showed a handful of new PS VR titles, including our first look at Moss. At least we learned that Bethesda was bringing a trio of its biggest IPs to VR with Skyrim, Fallout and Doom.
While XR didn’t have a big presence at the main event, VR was an emphasis at the E3 PC Gaming pre-show where we learned about Echo Arena and the $1m VR Challenger League from Intel, Oculus and ESL.
Another June event, the XR Connects roadshow pulled into San Francisco, where VINDICTA by Game Cooks won first place in the VR Indie Pitch. The next event in the series is XR Connects London, 22-23 January 2018.
The 2017 PlayStation conference at E3 gave our first look at a selection of third-party PS VR titles, including platformers, shooters, horror, a mouse brandishing a sword and... fishing.
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz explains spatial computing, the company’s mysterious hardware, its place in a wider ecosystem and the ethical implications of creating the next computing platform.
Award-winning comic book creator and interactive storyteller, Daniel Burwen, explores how VR will change storytelling and looks at some of the successes in the medium so far.
Dominic Mallinson reveals the work involved in bringing the PS VR to market, as well as future innovations such as display focus, gaze tracking, talking to games and brainwave interfaces.
Enterspace to open a series of public VR facilities utilising StarVR hardware.
July
Summer started here with Oculus dropping the price for Rift and Touch to $399. Whether that was a response to a problematic first half of the year, or to close Vive’s market lead, it was great news for the consumer.
Robert Bogucki recounts the journey of creating an award-nominated data-rich VR artefact borne out of a passion for graphics and data, and reflects on what it means to do VR technology justice.
From The Matrix and Fast and the Furious to Nike, Neymar Jr and the NBA, Aruna Inversin explains his love of VFX, how VR technology is catching up with creatives and why AR is really taking off.
From Hydrographer To Total Art: One Developer’s Journey From Surveying To Synesthesia
The expected summer lull hit in August, proving that XR people like to take summer vacations as much as any other industry.
HTC used this time to cut Vive prices to £599, a move the company denied was in response to the Oculus sale price announced the month before. The Taiwanese firm was also in the news after Bloomberg suggested it was about to sell its Vive division. Like we said at the time, it wasn’t...
Apple had already announced its AR ambitions for iPhone, but a newly published patent showed that Cupertino is looking ahead to wearable tech and smartglasses.
It didn’t look like being such a great summer for Altspace VR, with the prospect of a permanent vacation just days away as the social VR company announced it was to close.
Michael Thompson, Vice President at Neurable, explores the human fascination with fantasy and predicts a productivity revolution through intent-driven interactions that could help drive mass adoption of VR, AR and MR.
The general public won’t have long to wait to see what AR developers have been cooking up in ARKit; here are some of our favourite experimental project videos so far.
Apple’s Special Event was a disappointment for AR, with only brief looks at Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade from Pixel Toys; an example of how users could access real-time stats for MLB games; and the Sky Guide star map. Atli Mar, CEO and Co-Founder at Directive Games showed their game on stage, called The Machines.
It was all business at Microsoft Ignite, as the Redmond firm put forward use cases for its HoloLens headset, with a focus on how Ford is using the technology (see what we did there?)
It’s been a great first day at XR Connects Helsinki, with some fascinating talks on VR, AR and MR. Here are a dozen of our highlights from the conference.
With VR – and even more so AR and MR – still in its infancy, the list of studios who have broken the million-dollar barrier is short, but distinguished. Let’s look at the members of this most exclusive club...
Who won the final VRIP of the year? What kind of games did the 10 teams enter? What did our judges make of them? Here, you’ll find all the answers to these questions and more…
Million Dollar Babies: The XR Studios That Are Smashing It! [UPDATE 6th Sept]
Leading social VR service plans to use funding to power the future of the metaverse.
October
October had barely begun before conference silly season was with us, kicked off by Microsoft’s WMR special event, where we learnt that the company sees Mixed Reality as a continuum of everything between AR and VR. So that’s clear then.
Oculus Connect 4 was up next and the reveal of the standalone Oculus Go to be released next year. It’s intended to sit in a range of hardware, somewhere between the smartphone powered Gear VR and PC’s Rift. Zuckerberg managed to completely blank his own apology just hours before, for the ill-considered Spaces appearance in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
Facebook CEO’s virtual appearance in disaster-stuck Puerto Rico drew public criticism, raises questions about empathy and experiences across mixed media.
David Gattig, CEO & Co-Founder at Avrlon VR Studio, shares strategies to help indie developers reduce risk and increase the chances of creating a commercial success.
Finnish tech firm to grow, and market the first human eye-resolution VR/AR/XR bionic display.
November
There’s a strong consensus that standalone headsets will be crucial in bringing VR to the mass market and November’s Beijing Developer Conference gave us our first look at the long anticipated Vive Focus from HTC that would be launched the following month.
We were disappointed by the news that one of the first big studios to adopt VR would pull out of the sector as CCP cut 100 jobs worldwide. But VR as a whole made significant progress as Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Carne y Arena became the first immersive experience to win an Oscar. Virtual Reality headset shipments also exceeded 1 million units per quarter for the first time in Q3.
We were told to expect some VR reveals to come out of PlayStation’s media showcase at Paris Games week and that’s exactly what we got; including the spiritual successor to hugely popular London Heist demo, Blood And Truth.
Fresh from the PlayStation showcase at Paris Games Week, the Swedish developers talk to Alex Calvin about multiple platforms, motion sickness and helping the VR market explode.
Where AAAs Fear To Tread: How Indies Are Winning In VR
Oculus’ Exec producer, Warner’s EVP, a film critic, and Raindance founder talk about Virtual Reality, filmmaking and the future of narrative. And ask uncomfortable questions along the way…
With massive discounts on VR and AR hardware and software being announced, if you need to pick up kit, now’s the time to do it. Here’s how. [Now with added Steam Store goodness!]
XR on the up as hardware manufacturers ship a million units globally in third quarter; the first time the industry has broken the barrier. PS VR leads market share by a large margin.
XR Connects returns to London with added AR, more MR and a veritable feast of VR once more as part of the biggest b2b games conference in the UK.
December
Florida’s Magic Leap finally showed the world the AR hardware that has convinced investors to put nearly $2bn behind the firm. Rolling Stone’s Glixel was given an exclusive demo of and reveal of Magic Leap One that social media on fire.
HTC’s standalone Vive Focus was off to a good start with a $150M order on day one for the China-only hardware, while Apple Released its VR Capable iMac Pro - for £5,000!
Contrary to claims that interest in VR has waned and naysayers proclaiming it to be a fad similar to 3D TV, investment in the sector continued to grow apace throughout the year. XR investment in the last quarter of 2017 topped the $1 Billion mark, dominated by increased interest in AR and led by Magic Leap and Niantic. That record-breaking Q4 brought the total investments in VR, AR and MR for the year to $2.5 billion.
After years of secrecy, we’ve finally seen the shape of AR to come. Here’s everything we know about the $2bn start-up’s first Augmented Reality product.
The Female Planet’s series director on what motivated her to make the 360-video series, why women are better represented in XR than conventional development and what can be done to ensure more gender parity in the future.
Runaway Play’s heads of VR and Quality Assurance talk about their learnings in accessibility for XR and how early user testing can broaden a game’s potential audience by making sure it’s truly inclusive.
Christophe Mallet, co-founder at London immersive tech agency, Somewhere Else, takes a look at XR’s growing pains and growth spurts since the format’s rebirth in 2013.
With Star Wars: The Last Jedi, releasing in cinemas this week, we look at the franchise’s appearances in VR and AR and ask whether these are the apps you’re looking for to bring XR to mainstream audiences.
XR breaks investment records in 2017, with new emphasis on mobile Augmented Reality, CV and ML according to new research canvassing 30 prominent VCs in Sand Hill Road and China.
Steve is an award-winning editor and copywriter with nearly 25 years’ experience specialising in consumer technology and video games. He was part of a BAFTA nominated developer studio. In addition to editing TheVirtualReport.biz, Steve contributes to BeyondGames.biz, PocketGamer.biz, PCGamesInsider.biz and BlockchainGamer.biz, as well as creating marketing content for a range of SMEs and agencies.
