XR Industry News
The latest news on the XR industry. Covering AR, VR, MR, spatial computing, and the most important companies and platforms in the field.
Oculus Launches Improved Developer Hub, Updated Documentation
Oculus’ new developer hub website is up and running, featuring better navigation, documentation and search capabilities. The improvements address many of the requests and feedback received from the recent global developer survey, and follows an initiative to increase overall...
Half of SteamVR Tracking Course Attendees Using Tech for Non-gaming
In August of last year, Valve created the SteamVR licensing program to allow any developer to create their very own SteamVR tracked object. At that time, Valve partnered with Synapse, a Seattle-area product development firm, to provide a mandatory...
Google Acquires Owlchemy Labs, VR Game Studio Behind ‘Rick and Morty VR’, ‘Job Simulator’
In an interesting move, Google has acquired Owlchemy Labs, makers of the multi-platform hits Job Simulator (2016) and Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality (2017).
As far as VR game studios go, Owlchemy Labs is not only one of the most senior, but...
NVIDIA Shows How Physically-based Audio Can Greatly Enhance VR Immersion
Positional audio for VR experiences—where noises sound as if they are coming from the correct direction—has long been understood as an important part of making VR immersive. But knowing which direction sounds are coming from is only one part...
VR Veteran Tony Parisi is Leading Unity’s AR & VR Strategy Beyond Gaming
The keynote from Unity's Vision VR/AR Summit yesterday showcased just how far Unity is reaching into non-gaming content when it comes to augmented and virtual reality. The person who is in charge of Unity's xR strategy is Tony Parisi,...
Valve VR Frontman Chet Faliszek Departs Company After 12 Years
Though there's surely many talents folks at Valve responsible for the company's VR initiatives, over the last several years Chet Faliszek has become a front-facing evangelist and go-to spokesperson for VR at Valve. Now after 12 years with the company,...
Google Announces New Tools to Develop High-performance Daydream Apps
During the opening presentation at today's Unity Vision Summit, Nathan Martz, Developer Platforms Product Manager at Google, took to the stage to talk about new tools that the company is releasing to help developers create high-performance apps for Daydream, Google's...
New Unity Tools Bring Interactivity and Real-time CGI to 360 Video, Now in Beta
360 video combined with real-time CG and interactive elements was demonstrated on stage at today's Vision VR/AR Summit 2017 keynote. Using two layers of video with 3D elements in between, it is a simple way of enhancing standard 360...
Unity CEO: VR Will Get Huge, But Devs Need to Survive and Avoid Hype Until it...
At VRLA 2017, Unity CEO and games industry vet John Riccitiello dumped a little cold water wisdom on the hype surrounding the red-hot VR industry. Riccitiello believes VR is coming and it will be huge, but advises that developers stay...
Upload LA Opening Represents a Focus Shift From VR Tech to VR Content
UploadVR opened up their new 20,000 square foot Upload LA co-working space in April. I had a chance to catch up with co-founders Taylor Freeman and Will Mason as VRLA to get the inside scoop. Mason told me that opening...
‘Gears of War’ Creator Cliff Bleszinski Wants to Make a Big Budget VR Game
If you don't already know Cliff Bleszinski from his involvement with the Unreal Tournament and Gears of War franchises, you may remember him from Oculus' 2012 Kickstarter video. Now under the banner of his own studio, Boss Key Productions,...
Understanding Predictive Tracking and Why It’s Important for AR/VR Headsets
In the context of AR and VR systems, predictive tracking refers to the process of predicting the future orientation and/or position of an object or body part. For instance, one might want to predict the orientation of the head...
Global Virtual Reality Industry to Reach $7.2 Billion in Revenues in 2017
In a new Virtual Reality Industry Report, Greenlight Insights forecasts modest VR industry growth in the short term, growing into a major global content marketplace by 2021.
In its new Virtual Reality Industry Report: Spring 2017, Greenlight Insights forecasts total...
Crytek-Incubated ‘VR First’ Program to Double Number of Academic VR/AR Labs in 2017
VR First, the global initiative to seed academic institutions with VR/AR hardware and software, today announced that it's nearly doubling the number of its VR labs in universities and science parks across the globe by the end of 2017. With currently 26...
‘COMPOUND’ Demo Hits SteamVR, Puts You in a VR World of Lovingly Detailed Retro Graphics
COMPOUND is a VR hobby project from developer 'NotDead' which aims to immerse you in a world of lovingly crafted pixel art, retro-styled first person shooter.
Update (4/6/17, 11:48PM PT): Compound has received a major update with v0.03b and has launched on SteamVR...


















