Commentary

Extended reality takes center stage in immersive entertainment

In a changing landscape, immersive entertainment continues to encompass a mixture of technologies in pursuit of consistent user retention.

Image: Adobe Stock.

July 17, 2023 by Kevin Williams

"Extended reality," an umbrella term encapsulating virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality, is being seen as the natural progression of the immersive tech scene — being championed against that of VR. XR has the ability to offer both a complete virtual environment, and one that superimposes virtual elements over real-world imagery. This is achieved with either optical "see-through" via glasses, or video "pass-through" via cameras — and encapsulates the aspirations of both VR and AR.

While many also use the term mixed reality or "MR" to describe the application, the overarching term of XR seems to have become the new popular descriptor.

Talon Simulation, which offers its Vortex VR motion simulator to entertainment centers, has introduced its Strike XR platform, incorporating haptics along with the motion-platform.

New headsets for XR have been introduced by Lenovo, Pimax, Pico, Varjo and Lynx, along with the award-winning HTC XR Elite.

Qualcomm, which has introduced an XR headset using its latest Snapdragon Space XR platform from manufacturer Oppo, is becoming the de facto standard chipset provider for most of the XR standalone platforms, establishing their XR consortium, supporting 65 devices.

All this is hoping to ignite a new arms race ahead of the much-anticipated Apple XR entry.

Meta doubles down

June saw a clamor of manufacturer events focused on promoting individual concepts to redefine what had been the VR landscape and attempts towards a new land grab of the XR horizon. Meta decided to jump its original plans forward and announce, early, its Meta Quest 3 platform.

The successor to the Quest 2 now offers a smaller form factor, with a better display, faster Qualcomm XR2 processor and new controllers. But all this comes for a higher $499 price point for the 128 GB unit compared to the previous headset.

Scheduled for a fall release, the announcement claimed some 500-plus games and apps available, all backwards compatible with the previous system.

The fact that Meta felt it needed to try and steal the headlines and crash ahead of Apple's launch told how cutthroat this phase of the VR scene has become. The ability of the new system to do pass-through and support XR seemed key to its strategy going forward.

The Quest 3 announcement promoted "Meta Reality," attempting to highjack the MR term as its own, and building a wall against the overarching use of the "XR" term by the industry — all while seeming to relegate the term "VR" to the backwoods.

Meta's MR is supported by the Quest 3's full-color pass-through technology, such as was released with the ill-fated Quest Pro earlier in the year. This was also reflected in the announcement that the original Quest 2 will see a price drop — as the system will continue to be sold alongside the new Quest 3.

Meta was working hard to try and deflect negative coverage after announcing a third round of layoffs of an additional 5,000 staffers. This sees a grand total of some 20,000 Meta employees having been laid off during this massive round of axing.

It was revealed that these latest layoffs directly impacted the operation's VR and AR divisions. Many of those executives who had shaped Meta Reality Labs' previous initiative in VR were now removed, as this high-stakes strategy became set on the reveal of the new headset, both ahead of Apple's reveal and ahead of numerous leaks. Meta's plans for a reveal later in September were abandoned to get their message out first.

One interesting aspect regarding developments at Meta was the revealing of the reasoning behind the last-minute removal of the Depth Sensor from the recently-released Meta Quest Pro headset. Aimed at a commercial and prosumer market, it was revealed through various sources that the Depth Sensor camera had been removed from the hardware's fabrication at the very last minute.

It was later revealed, having been added instead to the Quest 3 hardware, that the reason for the Quest Pro change was regarding concerns that the system allowed "X-Ray vision," seeing through clothing of those looked at. Whether this issue has been addressed with the latest hardware has yet to be revealed.

Meta VR games to be launched over the next 12 months for both Quest 2 and 3 include "Samba de Amigo VR" — the 1999 arcade property ported into an online VR experience by Sega Corp.

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Virtual Reality and nDreams revealed more about the coming Ghostbusters VR experience for the Meta Quest family. The sequel to the popular "Arizona Sunshine" property from Vertigo Games was shown with "not actual footage" of the game — even though the title has already been announced for PC and Sony PSVR2 release.

AR continues to stir the mix

AR, meanwhile continues to make waves on the LBE landscape.

Puttscape is a physical mini-golf course that has been augmented using virtual game elements which interact with the physical game. The players wear an AR headset while they play the golf game, with the added element of avoiding the digital features. This is a major development for mini-golf, which is seeing a growing popularity in the competitive socializing scene.

Ontop Studios has introduced an AR arena game called "New Fantasy," with up to six players using AR-enabled smartphones within a special arena to compete in a fast-paced game, running, jumping and dodging, while battling the arena's central deities to collect treasure and score points. The system has already been installed in several European venues and is looking to roll out internationally, making its first trip Stateside.

Niantic, the AR specialists famous for "Pokemon Go!," has introduced an AI agent called Wol — an AR-based owl character developed in partnership with 8th Wall and Inworld AI. The AI character will be supporting users on its soon-to-be launched AR headset.

Xreal, formally Nreal, has introduced its Xreal Beam AR glasses.

AR has nonetheless proven to be a difficult tech to establish, and many hoping to see its mainstream adoption have only seen it faulter. Magic Leap, the once poster child for the sector, has pivoted hard into enterprise, including healthcare, to try and survive and regain its eyewatering $2 billion valuation. The company recently saw a majority share taken in it by a Saudi fund for $450 million.

Likewise, REK, the developer behind the ambitious LBE AR/VR experience "REKfitness," revealed it has shut down the game and refunded 80% of the investment capital, blaming the cancellation on the game being "too early, the timing was off." This followed paid pilots at Two Bit Circus in Los Angeles.

In a changing landscape, immersive entertainment continues to encompass a mixture of technologies in pursuit of consistent user retention.

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by KWP and its director, Kevin Williams, the leading interactive out-of-home entertainment news service covering the immersive frontier and beyond.)

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About Kevin Williams

Along with advisory positions with other entrants into the market he is founder and publisher of the Stinger Report, “a-must-read” e-zine for those working or investing in the amusement, attractions and entertainment industry. He is a prolific writer and provides regular news columns for main trade publications. He also travels the globe as a keynote speaker, moderator and panelist at numerous industry conferences and events. Author of “The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities,” the only book on this aspect of the market, with the second edition scheduled for a 2023 release.

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