V I R T U A L E N T E R T A I N M E N T A N D M A R K E T I N G

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V i d e o G a m e s Because the Oculus Rift was originally pitched as a video game platform, media industrial trade and technology blog articles have worked to assert that VR has applications beyond video games. Nonetheless, video games will be the primary driver of VR technology and content. This is because video games are the most natural fit for an existing media to be delivered through the VR platform and were therefore the first media to experiment in the platform. Development for VR has come first from Oculus VR, independent developers, and more recently by established, major video game companies. Although this movement into VR game development will most certainly increase as more headsets (including Oculus Rift, Sony’s Project Morpheus, and HTC and Valve’s Vive) become available, it will also grow in the meantime because the virtual store inside Samsung’s Gear VR opened in March 2015, which allows developers to sell their VR content for the first time. Independent developers, such as university game labs more interested in experimentation than commercialization, are currently the primary producers of VR game content. By contrast, major video game publishers – including Electronic Arts, Activision, and Ubisoft – appear, like Hollywood studios, to be taking a wait-and-see approach to VR. They cite market uncertainty and the technology’s tendency to give users motion sickness as reasons for their delayed entry into VR. Video games in VR will become a more attractive market in 2016 with the release of Oculus Rift and other headsets. Even before then, developers will enter the market due to the March 2015 opening of the Gear VR virtual storefront, which The New York Times hailed as “the biggest step yet towards discovering what kinds of creative works will prove most successful in this medium.” This is not to say, though, that major publishers aren’t already adding VR support to pre-existing console and PC games and already experimenting with the technology. Major publishers are drawn to VR because it provides these companies with another platform - that they can control through proprietary hardware - on which to release software that helps to maximize the value of existing, popular content. For instance, Sony can integrate its Project Morpheus VR technology with its PlayStation 4 console to create a new user experience based around existing franchises. Furthermore, despite hardware manufacturer, game developer and publisher Nintendo having insisted that creating VR content would cannibalize its established console business, the company (which in 1995 released the failed Virtual Boy portable VR console) in March 2015 partnered with DeNA to create mobile games. This is significant because DeNA’s investment arm is focused on VR, which suggests that Nintendo may soon be joining Sony 10
and Valve as one of the only major, established game companies to work in VR. For the time being, though, content from Oculus VR, Sony Computer Entertainment, Valve, and independent developers will drive not only the market for video games but for all entertainment in VR as well. B r a n d s In addition to video games, innovation in VR content has been coming from digital studios working on behalf of Hollywood studios and brands. Currently, this content has been proprietary to the client. Furthermore, early VR marketing experiences have been confined to exhibition at large events, such as South by Southwest and the Detroit Auto Show. Like Hollywood promotional content, then, this branded content is designed to expose the brand not only to VR users but also to those with whom the user shares his or her experiences on social media in the form of videos, pictures, or text. While this content currently may be proprietary and presented only at select venues, as VR headsets are introduced on a wider scale, additional income could be generated for brands. That is, branded content could be made commercially available, with the client receiving a cut of the revenue, through virtual stores such as that which recently launched for Samsung Gear. While the initial branded content for VR has been in an exploratory experiential format created for a single client, additional methods of integrating advertising in VR will become possible. First, pre-roll ads will play in front of short-form VR video content. It will be important, however, for these ads to not be simply lifted from existing Web video platforms such as YouTube; rather, the ads must be created with VR in mind. More specifically, as Weta Digital software designer Daniel Smith told The New York Times, “In V.R., there is this amazing but very unforgiving 360-degree view of the world.” Ads created for VR will need to keep this and other features (such as the ability for users to enter and explore environments and have multisensory experiences). 360-degrees views, for example, will be able to present a more immersive environment to users and can, therefore, include more brand exposure. These ads may follow the exploratory experiential format currently being made. Unlike existing Web video pre-roll, though, users will be more likely to engage with these virtual ads because they provide an immersive experience. Second, postproduction tools will allow for product placement to be integrated after shooting, with the ability to update this product placement for each time an ad appears. Third, post-video tags will follow a similar format as those on YouTube, whereby users are invited to engage with additional content. Therefore, branded content and brand integration for VR will both follow and expand from what is currently being used for Web video. 11
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