Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film studio

Re:Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film s... by theNJR on Thursday March 14, 2019 @10:47AM (#19389670)

I bootstrapped a VR company (1) after leaving a high paying CMO job. I put in around $100k, we released three games, one got some funding from HTC, we were shown at GDC, SIGGRAPH, VRLA, etc. We hit around 2,700 MAU before my co-founder tapped out after no salary for two years.

I took six months off from VR to go back to a normal job that paid well. That got acquired (in a very non-meaningful way, at least for me) in December and I’ve been drawn back to VR. Immersive computing is the inevitable next platform. Recent data(2) shows the kind of growth you’d expect and hope for at this stage.

As others have said, the Quest will be a game changer. I think an NDA says I can’t confirm or deny that I have one, but I certainly agree it is a game changer. During my six month break from VR, I didn’t have any of my half dozen headsets setup. We had turned my living room into our office prior to dismantling, so it was nice to just have my living room back to normal. Setting up my Vive again after six months reminded me of what a pain in the ass that process is. The Quest fixes all of it.

VR is not 3D TV. Anyone who has experienced both knows that to be true. AR will have a much higher install base, but VR will have an addressable market of tens/hundreds of millions.

I’ve been working on a postmortem about my VR company for a while, but can’t seem to finish it. Partially because I’m not sure if that company is over yet.

I’ve got plenty to say about VR, VR startups and VR venture, so any questions, ask away.

(1) http://www.RLTYCHK.co

(2) https://www.roadtovr.com/monthly-connected-vr-headsets-on-st...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film s... by pfranz on Thursday March 14, 2019 @02:50PM (#19392242)

Is home entertainment the breakout (sustainable) market for VR? That is where most of the public-facing hype is, but it's a very particular market (people are very price sensitive, "training" is self motivated and people eschew instructions, space is a concern, quality expectations are rather high). I also feel like it can be fickle and difficult to build something sustaining.

I've done some VR development and room VR is amazingly good at conveying scale and space. I was mostly dabbling with architecture and vehicles. When people are finished and take off the VR headset there's often a double-take because they forgot how small of a room they were in. It works for assessing scale and space in ways a video, picture, or diagram can't. It's the kind of difference that makes people order doll furniture off Amazon--something that would never happen if you bought it in store.

Other comments on here talked about how game changing Google Earth VR is. Not just for entertainment, but for surveying and planning outings.

The business market has its own problems and demands, though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film s... by insertcredit on Thursday March 14, 2019 @11:57AM (#19390417)

Like you I think the Quest will change everything. I feel that it has to, at this point, for VR momentum to break through. Do you think Oculus will dominate the space in the coming decade? I can't help but be reminded of Sense/Net from Neuromancer as a potential VR-only business with massive upside and potential (userbase in the hundreds of millions if not billions) that can be done _today_ if VR headset proliferation went beyond gamers. I am thinking if Carmack and Abrash can't get it done, chances that anyone else will are slim, at least in this generation.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film s... by theNJR on Thursday March 14, 2019 @01:32PM (#19391446)

I have conflicting thoughts about Oculus' domination. Last night was an interesting example, Facebook went down and took Oculus with it. But beyond that, if this is going to be the platform of the future, we're going to need more than one company behind it. History tells me that there is a better solution being built in a garage right now. If Lucky Palmer could do it in the 2010's, someone else can be doing it again now. I'd certainly vote for that company to be stand alone.

Have you read The History of the Future (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062455966) yet?

[ Parent | on HN ]