Welcome to the episode of the podcast I prepared for you, where the developments that caught my eye in the virtual reality sector over the past week are compiled.

  • (1) The second part of HTC Vive’s developer market research has been announced. This time there is information about developers’ problems.
  • (2) The PC preview version of ‘Firefox Reality’, the web browser Mozilla developed for virtual reality headsets, has been released. On the other hand, it laid off 250 people and disbanded the XR development team.
  • (3) The HoloLens 2 app HoloPatient will help doctors diagnose Covid-19 patients.
  • (4) It was announced that Hitman III will include PSVR support. It will meet its enthusiasts in January 2021.
  • (5) Star Wars: Squadrons, one of the flash VR games of the year, is coming out on October 2.
  • (6) The 5G-supported smart glasses Nreal Light will be available for sale in South Korea with LG and Samsung phone options.
  • (7) A battery support unit is coming for Oculus Quest users.

Podcast: TBA

(1) The 2nd part of the market research organized annually by HTC and attended by more than 350 application developers has been announced. If you remember, I gave information about the first part announced last week. This week, the problems faced by developers are addressed. The answer to the question ‘What is the biggest hardware problem you face?’ is actually no surprise. 49% of developers, meaning half of them, answered that the prices of VR headsets are high. 12% stated that they experience problems such as connecting to a computer, and 10% stated integrating existing systems with virtual reality headsets.

When asked, ‘What are the biggest disadvantages of current development tools?’, 29% of developers complained about the lack of multiplayer and social interaction features. 26% complained about the limitations of game engines, 23% about the inadequacy of development interfaces, and 17% about the insufficiency of ready-to-use elements.

When developers were asked, ‘What is the biggest challenge or deterrent for you in terms of developing and commercializing VR-based applications?’, 27% complained about the small target audience, 18% about investors and fund owners’ concerns regarding the future of the industry, 14% about difficulties in user experience, and 13% about the slow development of hardware.

Actually, although there is much to say in the context of these figures, I want to express the most fundamental element. Money! It is understood that the fact that it is not yet sufficiently widespread and sales figures are relatively very low compared to the traditional hardware and software industry, and the slow rate of return on investments still stand as an obstacle before the sector. It is difficult to make precise predictions for the development of technology. We will all see together how the VR sector will develop.

(2) Mozilla’s web browser designed for Virtual Reality, Firefox Reality , had been available on standalone VR devices for a while. It offered support for VR headsets such as Oculus Quest, Oculus Go, HTC Vive, and Pico. Mozilla will also offer its WebXR-enabled browser to PC-tethered VR headsets with the new PC version. For the browser, which also includes 2D, 3D, and 360-degree view features, Mozilla also highlights privacy and security features. It seemed like the features of the web browser, which has been under development for a long time, would continue to increase, but another piece of news shows that things did not go very well. According to the news on the RtoVR site, Mozilla laid off 250 people, and the WebXR development team was disbanded. Fortunately, it was announced that the social interaction-focused Mozilla Hub will continue to be developed. They explained on the company blog that they took these actions not for short-term goals but for a long-term sustainable future. For the layoffs, it published an internal memo titled ‘Message to Employees - Change in Difficult Times’. I think even the title is enough to tell the content of the message. I hope what happened to Netscape doesn’t happen to Mozilla.

(3) The application named HoloPatient , developed by GIGXR and released for the Microsoft HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset, will assist healthcare professionals during the pandemic process. I would like to point out that the application, developed in collaboration with Health Education England and the NHS, is free. In its statement, the company says that no prior training or HoloLens experience is needed to use the app. The app works according to the 4 standardized stages of the disease to combat Covid-19. It uses realistic photos and holographic videos to recognize disease-specific signs and symptoms. Furthermore, it is possible to make disease assessment and risk management with the app. The increase of augmented reality applications in the healthcare sector is a situation we have seen frequently in recent months. While the second wave of the pandemic is being discussed these days, we will see together what else will emerge related to the sector.

(4) I don’t know how much the virtual reality support coming to productions like Half Life Alyx and Microsoft Flight Simulator affected the sector, but VR support coming to other games no longer surprises me. IO Interactive will launch Hitman 3 , which it developed as part of the World of Assassination Trilogy and is the last game of the series, in January 2021. Guess what happened. Yes, the new Hitman game also supports VR. According to the information provided, controlling Agent 47 from inside the headset for the game, which will only receive PSVR support for now, will certainly be an interesting and new experience for Hitman fans. We will have to wait about 6 more months to understand how much it will be liked, but for those who are curious, the promotional video of the game played with VR support has already been released. The link is available in the article on our website.

(5) Speaking of ready games, Star Wars: Squadrons , one of the flash virtual reality supported games of the year from EA, will meet its enthusiasts for Oculus, Valve Index, and HTC Vive via SteamVR on October 2. Lovers of the Star Wars series might have found themselves asking whether to return to the mothership or the nearest friendly planet after seeing the fuel run low while chasing enemy ships in endless space inside the cockpit. Well, it will now be possible to experience these in a virtual reality environment. All jokes aside, the fact that new games are VR supported is good news for the sector. Of course, let’s not forget that everything has a price. The pre-order price for the game is set at 280 TL. By the way, let us remind you that the game is also sold on PC, Xbox, PS4, and Epic Games. So if you don’t have a virtual reality headset and are a Star Wars fan, there is a suitable option for you.

(6) Virtual reality headsets had started to enter our lives in the last few years. But smart glasses disappeared for a long time after Google’s Glass attempt. Excluding Magic Leap’s $2,000-plus glasses that consumers couldn’t buy, of course. Founded by Xu Chi, who left Magic Leap, Nreal is finally launching its first product, Nreal Light, in South Korea on August 21 after more than 2 years of research and development. One of the notable points of the augmented reality glasses, which will be sold with 5G-supported Samsung Note 20 or LG Velvet options, is that they weigh only 88 grams. Among its other features, we can mention a 52-degree field of view, 6 DoF (6-axis motion tracking), and image tracking. The glasses, which come with the 3D ‘Nebula’ interface, convert widely used 2D applications into 3D and project them into the user’s eye. The price set for the glasses, which are compatible with widely used applications such as Google Chrome, Facebook, Kakao Talk, and Instagram, is around $600 and is only valid for South Korea. There is no announcement about the price and release date for the rest of the world. But it won’t be surprising to see them available for sale in new countries this year. Considering that the biggest factor in it being offered for sale is the 5G infrastructure, it is not even possible to hope to see them within the borders of our country.

It is also worth remembering that Nreal’s mixed reality glasses are a computer in their own right. It shouldn’t be forgotten that along with the glasses, a cable-tethered controller and processor unit come together. So the job is not done with just the glasses. Nreal Light, despite everything, is a giant step for the mixed reality sector. The company’s CEO, Xu Chi, stated that they presented the world’s first end-user-oriented AR glasses and that this is a historic moment for the mobile internet sector. As people who have witnessed this historic moment, we will continue to watch the fate of smart glasses.

(7) A piece of news that will make Oculus Quest users like me quite happy. As it is known, the Quest is a wireless and standalone VR headset. In other words, all the hardware required for the device to work is located on and even at the front of the device. This causes discomfort during the use of the device. Also, the 2-2.5 hour usage time was insufficient for some users. The battery support unit named VR Power Battery Pack , which brings a solution to both of these problems at once, will be put up for sale in the US in the coming weeks. The device, which will take its place on the shelves on August 21 and will be sold for $60, is produced by a company called RebuffReality . According to the company’s claim, it is possible to play VR games for 8 hours and watch videos for 10 hours with the battery having a 10,000 mAh capacity. The review done by the UploadVR news site is worth watching.

Let this be all for this week’s virtual reality agenda. You can also follow my blog from Twitter, Instagram, and Telegram accounts; you can be informed of daily developments without waiting 1 week. You can comment for questions, suggestions, and everything else, and if you liked it, you can subscribe from my YouTube channel or the podcast app you use.

See you in the next episode…

Stay healthy…