In all kinds of wearable equipment, it seems that the "most unreliable", the most sci-fi sense of the likely to be virtual reality product VR (virtualreality). At the recent Global Game Developers Conference in San Francisco (GDC), VR helmets and spectacle makers at home and abroad have done their best.
Wearing these devices can give the game and the movie a immersive 3D effect. However, "First financial daily" reporter interviewed the industry learned that whether from product experience or content ecology, VR wear equipment is far from entering the consumer market, wear a long time dizziness, screen particles, immersion, lack of content and other forms of constraints, the current domestic engaged in the field of the seven or eight team.
But industry analysts, with the hardware experience improved, content developers, technology giants and the gradual attention of capital, the industry is expected to usher in the end of the year "Tuyere."
The product experience is difficult to satisfy
A helmet that is much larger than goggles is not elegantly placed on the head, with at least one long line attached to the PC on the helmet, and user action is restricted, and the sensation of a similar physical examination makes the VR wear device experience "a strange feeling".
"At the end of this year, virtual reality wear equipment will usher in a small outbreak, the tuyere is coming." "The domestic virtual reality wears the equipment brand Virglass CEO Chen to" the first financial daily "reporter said, along with the product itself experience improvement (for the long time wears dizziness, the picture particle feeling, the immersion degree is low), the industry is expected to usher in the millions shipments the stage.
The company listed two months ago the first product is a set of entry-level virtual reality glasses, price 429 yuan, the mobile phone into glasses, mobile phone screen as the source, and then through optical imaging technology to create a 3D effect. But it's actually not really a virtual reality wearable device, because only the field of view angle, that is, the display system, the display edge and the observation point (eye) line of the angle reached 96 degrees, so that the eyes are mistaken for immersed in the full 3D scene, and the product is only 68 degrees.
In contrast, the foreign virtual reality wearable equipment industry originator Oculus can reach more than 100 degrees of view field angle, belong to completely immersed virtual reality helmet. At present, in the domestic followers, in addition to 3Glasses to introduce a PC to access the source of the virtual reality helmet (Price 1999 yuan), it is difficult to find the same level of products, virglass of similar products are expected in May this year to mass production.
Chen predicts that, probably by 2017, with the virtual reality content of the ecological perfection, rely on the content to attract users, and the product itself can be reduced to the size of goggles, virtual reality wear equipment will truly enter the consumer market, to reach the industry tens shipments.
It is expected that in another two years time, to 2019 years or so, with the further expansion of bandwidth, as well as 5G, 6G, technology is expected to enter the distributed virtual reality phase, so that devices are shared on the network. For example, users can walk into a virtual cinema, choose a seat with a remote control and watch 360-degree stereo images, and invite others to visualize and interact with each other in the virtual cinema.
In other words, the virtual reality is a three-dimensional virtual world with the help of network, compared with the two-dimensional virtual space, such as playing screen and games.
Content ecology is the key
As the whole industry is still in the initial stage, VR wear equipment manufacturers do not form a mature profit model. Reporters interviewed several related manufacturers have said that selling hardware to make money is still the most important way to maintain the company's cash flow. But in fact, in the home hardware shipments generally maintained in the four or five-digit state, relying solely on the sale of hardware can not long support its business model.
Chen to the "first financial daily" reporters that Virglass is currently working with a number of game manufacturers, virtual reality Studios, as well as high-quality IP resources, such as cooperation with the Grand game, for the existing game to do the operation of VR wear equipment 3D fitness. In addition, it is expected to open its SDK to attract third-party developers around June this year.
"The future may also charge the game, or game free, prop charges, and then split with the developer, big head to each other." "he said. The path to building the ecology of content is similar to the way Apple gathers third party developers. For VR equipment vendors, only the first product to achieve the ultimate, in order to get content in the competition to start right.
In the construction of the content ecology, some foreign VR companies go farther, like Oculus has produced 4 micro-films. In addition, another hardware brand, Htcvive, has won the favor of filmmakers in the 2015MWC (World Mobile Communications Conference).
Grab a thigh and take the entrance
"The first financial daily" reporter from the virtual reality field insiders understand that the current domestic engaged in this line of the seven or eight entrepreneurial team, the average age of 75 to after, the entire industry has not been done, the family is basically in the state of singles alone.
For the VR industry, the focus of the tech media is clearly more than capital, and investors ' focus on virtual reality wear equipment is only a wait-and-see phase compared to the hot O2O industry.
A person in the industry told reporters that VR devices will become the gateway to the virtual reality world, so Facebook has a 2 billion dollar takeover of Oculus. And Google will develop a VR version of the Android system, the lead of the project executives are the previous Google virtual reality glasses cardboard, the same as the square box of wearing equipment is Google's Low-cost 3D imaging products to the user's mobile phone as a screen.
It may soon be possible to see a domestic VR start-up team embracing the thigh of the tech giant.
(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)