Virtual reality entrepreneurial tide Hits: How long can you see spring?

Virtual Reality (VR Reality), this is a strange field in the eyes of the public once again fire up.

A report by SuperData, the US data analyst, shows that in 2014 2.6 billion dollars of investment had been invested in companies engaged in VR, augmented Reality (AR) operations and related projects.

While international giants such as Facebook, Samsung, Microsoft, Google and Sony have been laying out in this area, a large number of VR ventures have sprung up around the world, and China is certainly no exception.

It seems as if Facebook, a 2 billion-dollar acquisition of virtual reality equipment maker Oculus, has become a new battleground for big internet companies as the "Next Generation computing platform". But now they are busy "array", the gunpowder between each other is not so strong.

What is virtual reality?

For many people who have not touched virtual reality, the word sounds unreal and does not know what it can do.

In short, virtual reality is the use of computer simulation to generate a three-dimensional space of the virtual world, to provide users with visual, auditory, tactile and other sensory simulation, so that users have immersive feeling.

The reason for the virtual reality technology is another fire, because in the 1990s, there was a group of game companies set off a wave of virtual reality equipment, but because of the equipment itself and the industry's limitations and too high prices, the virtual reality of the upsurge finally declared a failure.

In the 286 era of computer, virtual reality technology already exists. But under the influence of the operation ability and equipment at that time, this field has been unknown, and in a long period of time in the field of consumption has no achievements, the application scene in the enterprise-level market, the scale is very small.

Nowadays, with the rapid development of computer chip computing ability and the popularization of mobile intelligent terminals, the virtual reality field seems to be facing an important development inflection point.

The most widely known product in this field is the head-wearing display helmet, which can be broadly divided into two categories: VR and mobile-side VR. The PC side Representative has Oculus Rift, the ant sees the helmet, the ucglasses and so on, the mobile end has the Google Cardboard, the Samsung Gear VR, the Storm Magic mirror and so on.

In addition, around the content production, application development, film production, game development, peripheral equipment and other fields are currently involved in the company, and gradually formed a complete ecological chain.

Big enterprise busy layout Small business busy "occupy the pit"

The latest news shows that Google is secretly developing virtual reality version of the Android system. Although Google does not recognise it, the Wall Street Journal reports that dozens of of Google engineers and other employees are working on the project.

People familiar with the matter said that Google began its team formation after Facebook's $2 billion acquisition of virtual reality equipment maker Oculus. And virtual reality is the next wave of the Internet in the next 10 years, according to Facebook CEO Zuckerberg, who says he will Oculus VR into a virtual reality platform and apply it to multiple scenarios in life.

Microsoft's layout, it was in January this year launched the virtual reality technology holograms and the corresponding equipment HoloLens. Microsoft is sparing no effort to promote, all Windows 10 systems will have built-in holograms API, Microsoft will also be porting Xbox games to HoloLens virtual reality headset devices.

In addition, Sony announced the virtual reality for PS4 gaming machine "Project Morpheus", HTC and the game company to launch the HTC Vive helmet, Samsung and Oculus Rift cooperation proposed Gear VR helmet.

International giants of this round of layout, almost all in the year completed, and seems to coincide with the intention to seize the entrance, set up their own business platform.

The Giants do not scare the passionate entrepreneurs, to a certain extent, but they strengthen their confidence in virtual reality technology. Recently, around the VR industry chain, a large number of entrepreneurs have sprung up in various subdivision areas. In Zhongguancun, a gathering of entrepreneurs, a special park around virtual reality has opened up with fanfare.

In the domestic virtual reality market, different types of companies are in different VR fields. In the Game field, in addition to the perfect world, such as game developers announced the development of VR games, there are a large number of start-up teams such as extraordinary vision, Nibiru, Galaxy, such as digital entertainment in follow-up; In the field of content distribution, there are storm mirror app, Dream VR assistant and other products; peripheral equipment Also appeared the Virtuix Omni Body Sense Treadmill, ant vision body sense gun, Connaught also Teng's whole body action capture equipment and so on.

Foreign and domestic, the virtual reality of the industrial chain is ushering in a new period of prosperity.

Opportunities and challenges

The virtual reality of people who are not aware of the general will have a worry, that virtual reality will be a long-term burning money, do not see the profit point of the field. This concern is understandable, since virtual reality technology does not yet have a wide range of applications in which markets.

But good ideas are being dug up a little bit.

Facebook's recent plans may dispel some of your prejudices about virtual reality. After acquiring the Oculus Rift company, Facebook is considering changing the way people spend their money in sports.

Sports-side seats are usually expensive, for example in the NBA Finals when a seat can be sold to 30,000 dollars. and Oculus Rift and other virtual reality vendors are developing a technology that can create unlimited seating, allowing sports providers to sell unlimited "Same" seats.

Of course, the price of these seats will not be as high as the site, perhaps only 1% of the price of the live tickets, which is likely to encourage hundreds of people willing to spend some money to feel an immersive game.

In theory, the number of people in a virtual stadium can be unlimited, and the business outlook is equally imaginative.

The Wasai virtual reality experience pavilion created by domestic manufacturers Solar system is also an interesting exploration of profit model. This type of Internet café is similar to the only difference between the Internet café is the user pay experience is the content of virtual reality, such as film and television, games and so on.

In addition, the demand for VR technology has been growing and increasing in the fields of business, such as military, medical, aerospace and education.

With the industry's commonplace helmet-induced motion sickness and visual fatigue, for example, almost all helmets have a "roller coaster" built in. The experience of multiple virtual reality helmets has not been solved well in the process of vomiting and vertigo. This problem also exists in the gaming experience, where a strong sense of vertigo can lead to a sharp reduction in usage time.

The Storm Mirror's statistics show that the user is currently using a single time of 6.5 minutes. Short user Time is an industry-wide problem, and critics suspect that virtual reality is a false proposition.

Oculus chief technology officer John Carmack has pointed out that their biggest concern is that the lack of polished VR products will make users feel unwell, and that the high hopes that have been raised will soon disappear if the user does not actually feel the desired product charm.

A staff member of the virtual reality game development team, founded last year, told Sina technology that entering the virtual reality field was all about promising its future potential. "We believe that virtual reality will replace PCs and mobile phones as one of the most important windows for people to interact with information in their future lives." ”

But they also have a lot of fear. These entrepreneurs fear that in the early stages of the market, users abandon their willingness to buy because they have no access to the virtual reality experience, and even leave a bad first impression of the bad virtual reality that makes the market difficult to nurture again.

"What the virtual reality is looking for is a killer app, like a Fruit ninja on a smartphone, an angry bird," he said. "Storm Mirror CEO Fengxin Sina Technology," the development of users is a very long thing, if there is a killer application it will be quickly popularized. He predicts that the virtual reality industry will happen in 2 years.

In addition to the experience is not enough to satisfy people, virtual reality to now still have hardware limitations. For example, a 3-minute concert experience with a foreign company named "Paul Mccartney", which takes up more than 500 m in the 1080P format after filming a spherical camera designed to take a virtual reality scene, And only the high-end smartphone can play smoothly. This is the bandwidth, mobile phone performance has put forward higher requirements.

More noteworthy is that the virtual reality industry currently lacks a unified standard. Although Google intends to recreate a unified system platform in virtual reality, it is still unknown whether the online date and other companies are buying it. Different standards, different interfaces, in fact, for developers is also a huge threshold, once the wrong technology direction, the consequences can be serious.

At present, the virtual reality market continues to have the Giants to join, the start-up companies are constantly getting financing, during which there will be the battle between giants and start-ups, content and hardware of the stalemate. Virtual reality has become the next battlefield of global enterprises, but at present, each is still in the "enclosure and preparedness" state,

Although the major enterprises to seize the entrance of the action let us smell a bit of gunpowder, but as every war has a real purpose behind, the virtual reality this war is the first to nurture the market, attract public attention. Obviously this is also a very painful process, before the virtual reality is not really seen in the spring, a large number of hardware and software companies may have failed.

Talk to entrepreneurs

In the in-depth understanding of the field of virtual reality, Sina technology and a number of entrepreneurs dialogue. As an emerging field, there have been a number of domestic enterprises imitating foreign products, but the lack of core competitiveness led them to be eliminated quickly. There are also some good entrepreneurial enterprises in the country, there are two times entrepreneurs such as Fengxin created the Storm Mirror company.

For entrepreneurship, many times without trying, even failure opportunities are not. Sina technology in the exchange with entrepreneurs when found, and 20 years ago that wave different, this wave of entrepreneurship in the positioning and division of labor more clear, but also more rational.

Here's a partial excerpt from a conversation with an entrepreneur:

Storm Mirror

Sina Science and Technology: Now the industry like the Storm mirror so do helmet of what form?

Storm Fengxin: I think there are roughly three models, one is Oculus, the helmet has a screen, the calculation is all on the computer, need to connect. But the greatest value of VR is to move, but wiring restricts action, which in itself is a paradox. I think he's going to give up the model gradually because the smartphone hasn't been popular since they started.

The second is the Storm mirror model, which can be plugged into smartphones, which lowers costs, but there are also problems such as the overall weight of the helmet.

The third is a self-contained device, such as a Sony helmet. The experience of this model will be better, but the price will be relatively high.

Sina technology: What do you think of VR's domestic and foreign market?

Storm fengxin: All need to find a single point of breakthrough. Domestic companies I think startups have a very low probability of exploding, instead of more opportunities in traditional game development companies. And many foreign giants are doing, small companies will be eaten, surrounding companies and content companies in the United States the probability of success is relatively large.

I think the ideal explosion point is to small broad, a small game can be the panorama of this experience to play to the extreme.

In addition, I think that panoramic video will be a better breakthrough, such as landing on the moon, astronauts with camera equipment on the moon to walk around, will attract most people around the world want to see. This is the content of the decision, I think in the content of this 201 years 5, whether the number or quality of the probability of the outbreak is higher.

Sina technology: How do the storm mirror layout?

Storm Fengxin: We will invest some to do peripheral equipment technology company, will also invest in gaming platform, content team we will choose cooperation and support. We are also in the process of preparing a VR-field fund that invests mainly in content companies.

Sina Science and Technology: Storm Mirror 2015 mainly do what thing?

Storm Fengxin: Our biggest goal is to do the platform, in half a year to the user group to millions, now our users have 210,000.

In addition we are also considering the offline experience, the concrete form has not yet formed. Because the biggest problem at the moment is that users don't first understand what virtual reality is.

We also continue to be a 100-day node for software and hardware updates. Storm Mirror the next generation of products will improve immersion, such as removing the border from the current screen and making the mirror lighter.

I don't think the industry will break out for more than 2 years. I think bat will do it before 2016, and the Storm Mirror's choice of independence is also a plan for future financing.

Entrepreneurial Team Extraordinary Vision

Sina Technology: Please briefly introduce your team.

Extraordinary visual illusion: We are currently doing virtual reality content direction of exploration, such as games, but not just games. We have a product of the "Log Bridge". Our current team has 4 people and got some financing in mid-14.

Sina technology: Why do VR?

Extraordinary visual illusion: We like VR, want to do something, and a little ability to do something, do not want to do. Later found that like things can become their own work, it is better to do a good job seriously.

Sina technology: What do you think is most important to the entrepreneur?

Extraordinary vision: I think the experience is the core, if not from the experience, may only be the first wave of taste of the user to buy, when people tried, disappointed, feel the VR too or misunderstood the concept, this time may also have their own road after the ruin. From the point of view of the content of the game, the proportion of the characters, the height, the speed of movement, the size of the scene, the way of interaction and even the color of the scene, etc., all affect the user's experience.

Sina technology: What do you expect in the field of VR?

Extraordinary vision: VR is an opportunity that can be combined with a wide variety of industries to easily span the dimensions of time and space. When VR technology is making rapid progress, everything you do is from 0 to 1, as if creating a new world.

Entrepreneurial Team NED

Sina Technology: Please briefly introduce your team.

NED: We're working on an audio-visual display of the IMAX theater, our team currently has 7 people, the company was founded in February 2015, the project was started last May, and currently not considered financing.

Sina technology: What kind of state do you think the hardware market is now?

NED: There is an interesting phenomenon in the Chinese market: a large number of game engineers want to enter the field of virtual reality development, but in the face of a small number of virtual reality hardware users hesitate; On the other side, hardware companies want a lot of game developers to enter virtual reality content and application development, To make it easier for users to get more experience.

But the hardware products to the user's feeling is still in the most elementary and immature stage, including the existence of dizziness and other problems, leading to the market phenomenon of applause. I think the virtual reality device should not be the way it is. There must be a better hardware solution.

Sina technology: Are you confused and worried?

NED: The VR market is constantly being joined by giants, start-ups also keep getting financing, during which there will be a melee or shuffle of giants and start-ups, a stalemate in content and hardware, a painful process that is expected to take about 2 years to break, worrying that a number of hardware and software companies should die during this period.

Our own choice of direction sometimes will be confused, because we have limited resources to choose only one direction for deep operation, if the original choice of VR, we will directly face and giants competition.

Entrepreneurship Group

Sina Technology: Please briefly introduce your team.

Sky: We were founded last year virtual reality game development team, now focused on virtual reality game content development, has now completed Angel round financing.

Sina technology: Where is your advantage? Why enter the VR field?

Sky: Our team's advantage is rich 3D game development experience. In addition to the development of their own demo to test end-user demand points and concerns in this respect we do more, 2014 ChinaJoy 4 days we received 1200 experience to experience our own demo.

To enter the virtual reality of the field is because of the great potential for its future, we believe that virtual reality will replace the PC and mobile phones, the future of People's daily life and information interaction is a very important window.

Sina Science and technology: There are many startups in VR field now, what kind of enterprises do you think will be eliminated?

Sky: Virtual Reality field hardware will first enter the Warring States era. No product and operation of a great bright spot and strength of the hardware team will be squeezed by the market. and the content development aspect competition is the creativity and the execution power. Before the virtual reality user reaches tens, the content development and start-up team will have more space to exert their creativity to enlarge their own brand and cultivate their own user base.

Sina Technology: What is the future for you to look forward to, what makes you fear?

Sky: We look forward to virtual reality-related wearable hardware will be better, the more cheaper, so that virtual reality into the tens of thousands of millions of households, as a mobile end can be comparable to a large platform.

Our greatest fear is that users do not have the opportunity to really touch a good virtual reality experience. Virtual reality experience can not be described in words, the magic of immersion is no way to use data for quantitative analysis. If the market in the early days, users because there is no chance to contact the virtual reality experience and give up the purchase will, or even because of the experience of the bad virtual reality and left a bad first impression, the market to be again nurtured is difficult.

(Responsible editor: Lvguang)