sword art online oculus rift virtual reality
Main characters from the show: Kirito (left) and Asuna (right)

Today marks the start of Anime Expo 2014 in Los Angeles, where Oculus VR is representing with a booth at the show. The company is showing a never-before-seen Sword Art Online demo for the Oculus Rift, a popular action anime show which focuses on virtual reality and MMORPG themes.

There’s not much info yet regarding the demo, though the splash screen indicates cooperation by Bandai Namco Games, who has published one Sword Art Online game for the PSP and is currently working on a title for the PlayStation Vita based on the anime. It isn’t clear at this time if this is a segment of a forthcoming Sword Art Online game for the Oculus Rift, or just a short promotional piece for the show.

In a video taken at Anime Expo today, we can see users with the Oculus Rift DK2 walking through the Sword Art Online VR demo, which seems to be a passive experience as viewers don’t appear to have any form of input other than the headset itself.

From the video we can see scenes similar to those found in the anime: Asuna, a main character from the show, defending the user against a boss-like creature and eventually destroying it and, during another segment, resting in the grass on a sunny day. Later in the video we can see some head-based interface interaction which appears similar to what’s seen in the show.

A Vine from Anime Expo shows an Oculus Rift version of the VR loading sequence that’s seen in the anime itself:

Sword Art Online is a recent action-anime, aired in 2012, which was based on a novel series by the same name. The show show centers around the main character Kirito, a teenage boy who plays a virtual reality MMORPG called—you guessed it—Sword Art Online. Players in the show don the “Nerve Gear” VR headset which directly interfaces with the brain for life-like simulation and input. The virtual world within the show is called the Aincrad. Like any good anime based on VR, players eventually get stuck in the virtual world, with dire consequences if anyone were to remove their VR headset in the real world.

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Sword Art Online is available to watch online in full on Hulu.

The show has gained a cult following which has only been bolstered by the recent resurgence of consumer virtual reality. Many fans have been eager to see a Sword Art Online game based on the anime, or perhaps moreso, the fictional MMORPG game that is presented within the show.

Sword Art Online is a but a recent entry into the world of anime with themes of virtual reality, including the acclaimed .hack series and others such as Accel World, Log Horizon, Btooom!, Ixion Saga DT, and plenty more.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • EcchiSketch

    Don’t wanna be THAT GUY… but there’s a typo. The character’s name is “Asuna”, not “Asuma”.

    • Ben Lang

      Thank you, fixed : )

      • alexeamae

        now every one knows lol

  • Pontianak

    This is an anime near and dear to my heart. It goes into what it means to be in relationships and in love in a virtual world. My fiancee and I actually met online in a gaming clan, and we were a full country apart from each other. Myself in the United States, she in Canada. That long distance relationship online turned into real life seeing each other, and we are getting married in real life around the end of july this year.

    If SAO turns into a real VR product, I’d be one of the first people to get it.

    • Ben Lang

      Congradulations : ).

      Like any serious gamer, I too have made my fair share of real friendships within multiplayer gaming worlds. Stories like yours are only going to become more prevalent as virtual reality grows.

    • snake0

      And then it turns out it was your sister all along

      • Kemic

        I want to +1 this but… Spoilers

        She’s his cousin, not sister. They were just raised together, so they’re like brother and sister and treat each other that way.

      • X Blade Vexas-20

        she is his sister dude u should pay attention to animes more…

        • Inervo

          she is his cousin. not his sister as the one 2 above wrote they were just raised as brother and sister and he knew she was his cousin but she not just watch the anime and you will see it

    • Kayaba Akihiko

      Have fun getting stuck in the game

      • Levi

        Your Username+Your Comment= Perfect hahaha

  • sponge101

    I’ll be honest, never saw this one coming from oculus. Sure, you have independent anime demos from independent developers but never imagined oculus showing up at an anime expo. A Ghost in the Shell demo might be better though imo.

    • deadering

      I’d love to see a ghost in the Shell experience on Rift too, but it’s just not as relevant as this sadly. Sword art online is one of the most popular anime and is literally vr.

      I think technolust will be a cool cyberpunk experience like ghost in the Shell. Darknet shares similarities to the digital portion which is also cool.

  • Brad Hawthorne

    Seems like the ideal fit to me. SAO technology is very Rift-like. They’re using the DK2, so they have close ties with Oculus on the event.

    Other insight…SAO season 2 starts July 5th. Watch it simulcast on Crunchyroll. I’m interested to see how they animate the Gun Gale Online story arc.

    • Kemic

      I’d say current tech has more in common with the .hack series than SAO. In the .hack’s, the real world parts they show have people wearing goggles and using controllers, which is currently one of the more common ways that rift experiences are designed for.

  • Inervo

    never thought to see this from oculus rift but why does asuna fight gleam eyes from so far away?

  • Druss

    Oculus was working on an MMOS(ocial)RPG or something right? SAO would be perfect in concept, but the actual tech to make it immersive like in the anime just isn’t here yet so it will only disappoint.

  • Leo821

    If we were to get the game witch i really want to! Would we be able to make our own character? because i wouldn’t want to do everything the way kirito did and i wouldn’t really want to i want to make my own decisions and have my own new adventure and be my own character not someone else. thank you so much for your efforts on the game.

    • Leo821

      Also, i was wondering the age requirement? to play the game?

  • Thedarknight

    I hate to be “that guy”, but Druss is %100 right. Sword Art Online is my favorite anime I’ve watched, to the degree of pursuing game design in order to make it into a real game. When I saw this, I was literally angry: SAO CANNOT be captured with a controller!!! Though they may not want to admit it, the people who’ve watched SAO and would LOVE to play it don’t want this in any way, shape, or form. No one wants to replay the story from the anime: they want to be IN that world as themselves, swinging that sword or stabbing with that spear with their own arms, not some pre-installed motion! SAO, in essence, is the greatest conceptual MMO, a game where skill with a sword can take you anywhere to beat anything or anyone. Forgive me for this, I don’t WANT to disrespect those who are working so hard to bring the game to life, but this game will be a complete flop if it ever releases.

    So, TL:DR, before you can even THINK about making this game, two things have to happen:
    1) Eliminate the storyline from the Anime. Everyone knows what happens, and it wouldn’t even work out since everyone knows who Heathcliff is. Make it a fresh new game, dictated by the players, not a rigid story.
    2) PLAYERS HAVE TO MOVE THEMSELVES!!! You might as well make it for the xbox and sit really close to the TV for all this will do. There’s no actual skill in pre-made movements, all you need is memorization and BOOM you’re an expert. On top of that, it’s not immersive if you don’t move yourself. It just isn’t.

    You obviously won’t think anything of this post even if you end up reading it by some chance, but I needed to get this off my chest, because for my aspiration to be ruined by a group of people who don’t understand the spirit of SAO and the freedom it represents – a live fantasy world where people can play together as themselves, not some cheap knockoff game – makes me absolutely furious.

    • Leo821

      I 100% agree to every thong you just said and it true to make it better we need to speak up and tell the company the problems to not only make the game better but so the company can make a better profit to help payoff the money for the creation of the game all that hard work and payment for nothing! If I were a creator of this I would work harder and thank you for the help of the improvements to the game. Thank you for backing me up with this problem.

      • Inervo

        thats all right you can´t make a game like SAO with oculus rift. We need a real Nerve Gear for it and not a pc or anything other gaming thing to make SAO possible in such a way that all the Anime fans will want to play it cause it is as perfect for us to play SAO with our own psyche (like it is in the anime) and not a controler and a vision gaming thing like OR to see as if we would be in the game

        • Thatoneguy

          Actually with body tracking suits and the tech people are coming up with we really aren’t that far away from a SAO quality game. Now as far going full dive with something like the nerve gear this would transmit your actual electrical signals from the brain to your character,no we are nowhere near that level of advanced tech,we barley even understand the human brain as it is. I am a huge Sao fan and just recently found the series but the idea of huge VR sandbox style RPG is going to be hard to live up too,but with enough time invested and lots and lots of money it could be possible. Can you imagine how many servers you need just to house all the players interested in this,that would probably be the hard part keeping everything running once idk lets say 10,000 people (just to keep with the story here) logged on? Alot of mmos today have a hard time with lagging and servers crashing. Anyway i agree with the fact they if they do produce this game they need to drop the story line and maybe even all the main characters,nobody wants to play a story they have already seen the ending to. I keep watching the first 14 or so episodes because its Aincrad and the game Sao that I fell in love with. Also a little off subject but I’m a little disappointed with the series,having never read the books the faries threw me for a loop but it was still good,the new season on the other hand not so much,I quit watching after they basically made kirito a girl

          • alexeamae

            WHAT!!!!????? KIRITO BECOMES A GIRL!!!!?????? *weeps*

      • Gabriel

        Not trying to hate on SAO or ant VRMMORPG for the matter, the chances of SAO becoming what is shown in the series, is damn near impossible. I do believe and know for a fact its possible, because I myself, have made something in VR similar to SAO, but I broke it so nobody could use it, people got into fights over who did what with something apt hat was MINE! Yeah, so, I can’t do anything. Also! More info about this:
        -Its being done in Japan.
        -Release dates being
        –July 2016 (Japan)
        –June 2017 (America)
        -They’re making something similar to the AmuShpere
        -Multiple servers, each server has unique player data
        -Some collectors pack
        (Not all of this is true, I got this info from a friend, but he can’t remember where he gt it from. Just bare with me)

  • TokyoDrifter14

    I agree for the most part with wut most of u posted. If they were going to make a Vr Sao they would have to take it ALL the way, and make it as the game from the anime not a game about the anime. Seeing as we don’t hav full dive tech, I wouldn’t mind seeing the game from the anime on our current systems with our current ways of play (ie ps4 xbone, etc)

  • charizardfuego52

    i really prefer that you can create your own avatar and make your own history, not taking place with kirito and talking with his friends, so, you only have 1 thing with that… being another character with another type of interaction.

    • charizardfuego52

      well, if this thing is like i saw… IT WILL BE A FUCKING PSPVITA GAME IN OCULUS, IT DON’T HAVE ANY CHANGE!

  • Gabriel

    Not trying to hate on SAO or ant VRMMORPG for the matter, the chances of SAO becoming what is shown in the series, is damn near impossible. I do believe and know for a fact its possible, because I myself, have made something in VR similar to SAO, but I broke it so nobody could use it, people got into fights over who did what with something apt hat was MINE! Yeah, so, I can’t do anything. Also! More info about this:
    -Its being done in Japan.
    -Release dates being
    –July 2016 (Japan)
    –June 2017 (America)
    -They’re making something similar to the AmuShpere
    -Multiple servers, each server has unique player data
    -Some collectors pack
    (Not all of this is true, I got this info from a friend, but he can’t remember where he gt it from. Just bare with me)

  • alexeamae

    Ok. So here is my question:Why don’t you just do the nerve gear hemlet with the data load up in the main frame and a face scan then make it so you can enter the game by putting a simualtion device with the right currencey of waves for humans to paralse but not kill,but at the same time only activates when a command in the brain tells it , And for the brain command part you should vist a brain doctor and learn the parts of the brain then program the device to pick of signals from the needed part of the brain?

    • Inervo

      cause properply that we dont know enough about the human brain so that it isn´t so easy to develop such a thing

      • alexeamae

        is it that you don’t know enough about the brain or human kind doesn’t know enough about the brain?please Explain to me where the problem of developing that product comes up.

        • Yoshino

          Human kind doesn’t know enough about the brain to develop such an advanced product like that. What you are saying is correct, but just knowing what the brain controls and ‘mash waves’ won’t be enough. The brain is the most complicated organ we have and research about it will probably continue for a long time. It seems to me that the information you have about the brain is rather minimal. Scientists out there developing technology would have done that a long time ago if it was possible in the first place.

      • alexeamae

        To:Inervo
        Is it that you don’t know enough about the brain or human kind doesn’t know enough about the brain?please Explain to me where the problem of developing that product comes up. And why don’t you find the correct waves to send through the brain by testing on mammals close to humans ,like monkeys.My freind said some thing about mash waves in the brain and being able to read through wave pick up and process. My anut is in college to be a nurse and i saw the part of the book where it shows the parts of the brain and what it controls , well maybe that infomation could come of use to you because if you send the waves to the right part of the brain to do the simualtion .

      • alexeamae

        sorry i added more info. so same info repeats in them

  • Crucialjoker47

    I do agree SAO is my favorite anime and the first 14 episodes is my favorite and I think that we should create our on character and make our own story line but I do like the Aincrad (sorry if I spelled it wrong) map how you have to go up 100 floors and when you beat the final boss on the last floor you can still play the game like just have fun battles other players cook and stuff like that and if you need any beta testers me and my brother would love to be one just contact us, and try to make it the best as possible because think of how much money you will get you will be richer than Bill Gates and if it works perfect then you can create DBZ, Pokemon, Naruto,Bleach and other anime

  • Crucialjoker47

    Oh and you should make it where your mind sort of goes in the game because on the video where ever he turn his head the screen changes then if he tried to walk the person on the game walked you should make it where your mind transfers into the game and not having to move your real life body

    • Igame Z

      #NeuralGamesRFuture.

  • X Blade Vexas-20

    I have a serious question are they going to make a SAO vrmmorpg in real life!!!!! if they are please tell me!

    • Crucialjoker47

      There trying to!!!

      • X Blade Vexas-20

        HOW CLOSE ARE THEY!?

  • X Blade Vexas-20

    is it going to be like the show?

    where its like sleeping or are you going to be playing it and you are awake

    how much is it going to cost?

    • Crucialjoker47

      Idk they haven’t said yet but I hope they make it were you do have to go to sleep

      • It’s not magic it won’t be like that for a long time unfortunately. That would take a lot of work and research for something like that. It uses the already existing oculus rift vr headset which is just a visual experience. With motion control sensors for input. However hopefully someday nervegear will exist.

      • Joshua Jenkins

        Same I’m so happy about it

  • Leo821

    If it’s really like SAO then it will be worth some time in there for a while until the people fix the glitch. SAO is like a second life. And it will also be kinda useful if we had to fall asleep to go in because then we can still have a great adventure while getting the rest our body needs and there is a clock inside the game so you know when to log off.

  • Crucialjoker47

    Heck yea I mean I would love being in SAO for a while it’s my favorite anime I will make great friends and have fun

  • Crucialjoker47

    I would like to be a beta tester also

  • Daxtal

    Imagine the anime Freezing in this. Gah. So hyped and can’t wait.

    • Crucialjoker47

      I can’t wait either

  • BrycesRice

    How much do you guy’s think this will all cost? I mean Christmas is coming you guy’s should ask for this :D

    • Crucialjoker47

      They say it dosent come out until 2017 for America and 2016 for Japan

  • X Blade Vexas-20

    Hey guys try playing Resident Evil in the dark while playing on the Oculus Rift

  • Kirito_KP

    okay, so let me get this right, you have created a VR headset as shown in the Anime otherwise known as the nervgear? if you have, does it work like shown in the anime? and will it work like shown in the Anime?

  • SaberGeekEX

    Ok, as much as I want to see asuna by my side. Please let us make our own characters with our own story. I don’t care if I have to wait 7 years of development, just plz! And let everyone be on the same server to make it more realistic, even though it would be taxing, It would make people want to beat the game before everyone else!

    • Joe Varney

      if you want your own character,why dont you just play literally any other mmorpg?

      • Russ3ll

        he means in VR

  • SaoFanLinkStart

    I am a new follower of this comment or blog whatever you guys want to call it ive been looking into Oculus Rift version 2dk and I have read enough so far look we all want to experience this amazing vrmmorpg world I don’t care if it cost 3k ill buy it but only the people that have experience the oculus rift can tell you what its like or you must try it out for yourself, for the oculus rift to connect to the brain well almost sounds insane but we all want it to be true for this I think this will take years to create im sure the military has something close to this I would say 15 years till the create something this incredible like sao even the show has said it started 2020 or so I mean that’s obviously ahead of our time but its fiction anything is possible we just have to sit back and wait :( sorry to share my opinion im sure I am wrong on some things I want this so bad but we are all in for the long run.

  • Joy

    I HOPE THAT THEY WILL INDEED MAKE THIS COME TRUE.
    PLEASE BE DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER GADGET MAKERS AND MAKE GAMES COME ALIVE. THANK YOU

    • Darker

      Calm down with the caps, friend.
      But I’m sorry to say we probably won’t have true VR for a few decades.

      • theotaku

        I’m willing to wait that long.
        I am so excited!

  • Joy

    i cant wait

  • Kimora Lim

    im hoping they will make the game very human reality like I mean like the location is very human reality and that Asuna, Kiriton, etc will be in the game but they will look very human like. I hope they will make the game like this and that we all can play in one server from all around the world. I really hope the game will be like this because if its not then what am i doing with these money i have been keeping for thins??!!!

    • Macsimus

      lol I hear you I hope they make it soon

    • freshboy20317

      She is soooooooooo right about that one sever and real human like stuff it would be amazing and many ppl would get it its the perfect idea and hopefully we shall make that possible btw have anyone of u heard of a name game kill can’t believe Chelsea shell bulet died so sad Chelsea head was on a long giant needle saddd !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Duk

    i likehow no one is saying that they would be ok with it aslong as there is a logout button

    • freshboy20317

      Lol

      • Anyelys

        I wouldnt care to be trapped in such a video game IF it didnt damage our bodies in real life. I mean, what is the difference between that worl, where you can die, and our world, where you can die as well. The ONLY difference is that in THAT world, everything is cartoon-like and you still feel everything as if though real.

    • freshboy20317

      What if there wasn’t and u were trapped

  • Gaming Geek

    I’m still wondering how much it will cost? I be honest I would love for everyone to make there own character, so no ones character looks the same.
    LOL soooooooooooooo excited

  • Donny Bryant

    2022 here i come

  • Igame Z

    I wish there were special glasses that let you see the real world as an anime. That would make my life close to perfect. Maybe a VR Capsule that would let you live in an anime, like, fully human/anime artificial intelligence as characters in your “life” as you continue your on going life as an anime protagonist. Maybe being able to choose the genre, as an action, a romance, a fantasy… The technology needed for this to happen is probably hundreds of years in the future. ;( Sigh… Maybe in Heaven…

    • Igame Z

      Now that I think about it, It would be simple with some kind of neural programming. I wonder how much it would cost ;/

  • Hector Lopez

    I wonder how much it will cost

  • IntergalacticGamer

    I would love it if there was a VR game based on the TV series sword art online but i don’t want it ot have the same caracters i would like it so that everyone in the world has only but 1 account and can NOT creat any others.i would like it like this so it has a more reall feel and i sugest with the single account to have it as a photo ov the person and then it vertially creats the person in anime so then every person can only have the one account. I’d also like it to be ,as other people have said in the comments, for it to operat on on the brains respons waves so for example if u wnt to walk instead ov u walking or moving in real life, the headset records the respons putting it in the game so that u do not move in reall lif but in the VR world. I really like that idea for it will seem more realistic and id also the game should have a logout option that can be used at anytime but if say u were in a boss battle and u were bout to die and u log out your vurtual body will still die as for in the game everything keeps going like in reall life and it can not be paused. I know all this seems great and fun and a good idea but it may take years to creat but at the rate our world is becoming more suficient in technoligy i only predict a few decads ov creating but i would like the creators to make it look real not just a bogy rip off ov a game a real looking game like as if u were standing the world itself looking at everything in the same graphics as the TV series. I am happy to wait half my lifetime for this game to be created aslong as its worth it.

  • Roger Ducrin

    Ok, just to get things cleared up. I would REALLY like it if people wouldn’t copy Kirito or Asuna profiles, especially if they don’t look like that IRL. I just finished SAO, and I look exactly like Kirito IRL, although I obviously am not an animation. I would hate seeing everybody being either Kirito, Klein, Asuna, Silica, Sugu, etc. if they don’t really look like them. So PLEASE hear me, and don’t lie to yourself about being someone on the same level as the main characters in the animation. HOWEVER, if you actually look like them, don’t be bothered by this. I just want the world to know that you are yourself, not an amazing dark warrior who dual wields. I may look like him, but I’m not even gonna bother naming myself Kirito if I get the chance to play an actual VRMMORPG. I stick to Marethyu, thanks. Whoever agrees, please comment, and if you have a good reason to disagree, please post below. Thank you for reading this!

    PS If you get stuck in a real SAO, good luck!

  • Xavier

    sometimes I wonder if they are working on It or if they are just making enough for show because I’m only a teen and can think of more than 2 ways to make the almost exact same as whats in the show in terms of headgear and gameplay

  • Zero

    We have created technology like this in less thank 50 years think about where humanity will be in 1000 years.

  • Rato

    So for everyone super Hyped about The BIT VR MMORPGS LISTEN UP!
    They anounced the release date of the BITVR (aka Nervgear).. The data is 2022 June or sooner!The first project started is SAO (Sword Art Online) in honor of the anime creator (forgot his name xD).More info: Its a helmet that conects with your brain.If you have watched the anime its exactly the same.. I heard that right now year 2017 there are already 200 beta testers !!! THAT IS AWESOME…Think of good nicknames and dont pick stupid names like XX_Killer_XX or something like this xD cauze that is like … as if you were reborn in a new world.. WOULD YOU CALL YOUR SELF LIKE THAT XD. THATS MOST OF THE THING I KNOW xD (sry for Caps)..

    • Andrew

      Can you give me a hyperlink to BITVR?