Imax plan for VR pods in cinemas around the world, including China and Japan, may be the boost the technology needs
The high cost of equipment seems to be a hurdle the public won’t pass, but location-based VR offers new opportunities for manufacturers of gear, creators of content and distributors
Is virtual reality (VR) about to radically change from being a form of home entertainment to a luxury add-on to a movie experience in your local multiplex? A pilot project by large-format film company and cinema owner Imax to replace seats with VR pods in select locations looks set to be built around the most powerful and immersive VR headsets.
The first Imax VR centre opened at the Grove Imax in Los Angeles last week, with more to follow this year in London, China, Japan and a further two in North America. The new venues will offer consumers a mix of games and other VR experiences on the HTC Vive and StarVR headsets.
The plans were outlined during the recent annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas where more than 170,000 delegates had expected to experience more mobile VR gear. Instead it looks like VR could be about to find a radically different home.
Imax is experimenting with the concept of location-based VR for good commercial reasons. It’s based on the premise that most people can’t afford the three leading VR headsets: the HTC Vive (HK$6,199), Oculus Rift (HK$4,655) or the newly released PlayStation VR (HK$3,099).
Although sales figures are hard to come by, Statista’s projected sales for all three combined in 2016 were under seven million globally.
The most popular VR product is actually the much cheaper and more basic Samsung Gear VR headset (HK$888), which uses a phone as the display. That particular product is little more than a novelty when compared to the others, but sales figures don’t lie.