The winner of the 39th annual Emmy Awards are in, and while nominated VR projects were few and far between this year, Zero Days VR nabbed the award for the category ‘Outstanding New Approaches: Documentary’.

Update (October 9th, 2018): Both the video, linked below, and description of the project was incorrectly cited, pointing readers to the non-VR project ‘Zero Days’ instead of ‘Zero Days VR’. The corrected article follows below:

Produced by Scatter, a New York-based studio that creates immersive stories and AR/VR creativity tools, the film delves into the rapidly changing world of cyber warfare and its impacts on international politics. Zero Days VR was based on the titular Oscar short-listed Participant Media documentary, and visualizes the story of Stuxnet in a way the traditional documentary simply couldn’t—by placing you inside a virtual world of computer viruses, which the studio says lets you experience “the high stakes of cyber warfare at a human scale.”

Here’s Scatter’s description of Zero Days VR:

The true story of a clandestine mission hatched by the US and Israel to sabotage an underground Iranian nuclear facility told from the perspective of Stuxnet, a sophisticated cyber weapon, and a key NSA informant. Audiences experience the high stakes of cyber warfare placed inside the invisible world of computer viruses.

Zero Days VR was released to the public in June 2017, available both on the Oculus Store (Rift) and Steam (Rift, HTC Vive) for $5. Check out the trailer below for a quick look at Zero Days VR.

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Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Xron

    It shows how grim our future can be… if nothing is done.
    Especially when almost everything we’re using now involves electronics, we even have autopilot cars now, so we are entrusting our lifes into hands of hackers…

    • jj

      Were also trusting our lives to algorithms and machines that are insanely more efficient at the task than you or I. We do need a defense against hackers, but to not use autopilot due to the fear of hackers is the same as not using planes because of the fear of gravity, its just something worth overcoming.

  • plrr

    This says something about the state of VR, or at least the non-gaming side of things. To be honest, this is not a particularly impressive feat: a film with simple abstract graphics. It’s as though they’re praising the medium. Maybe that’s appriopriate, maybe not.

  • Lucidfeuer

    It’s interesting, propaganda in VR. I wonder what will be the impact of this medium vs social networks.

  • sfmike

    People won’t watch this there are football and reality shows on.

  • Rand

    I liked it, good way to tell a story, and the information is straight horror show.

  • Raphael

    Purchased this last year. Very well presented. More engaging than a tiny 2d rectangle video or words on a page.