According to a job posting on LinkedIn, Amazon is seeking a “virtual reality experience development executive” to produce “innovative mixed reality experiences for distribution on Amazon Video.” Amazon Studios has seen success for original content such as The Man In the High Castle and Transparent, but the studio is obviously planning something a bit more interactive. Applicants are expected to have experience with the development of TV shows, movies or video games, but also VR technology and content production.
Mixed reality implies the use of augmented reality (AR), perhaps direct tie-ins to Amazon programming. Netflix saw great success with virtual reality and 360-degree video tie-ins to Stranger Things, and Berlin Station, a thriller coming to EPIX this fall, received a fully interactive, 360-degree video experience. Considering Amazon’s successful partnerships with networks like HBO, mixed reality could very well extend to other IP beyond their own original content.
“The ideal candidate will be interested in telling stories uniquely, bringing people together and expanding the definition of entertainment,” the posting reads. “They will have brilliant artistic taste, a hunger for calculated risks and they will live slightly in the future already.”
Amazon has been planning a move into virtual reality as soon as this past March, when the company posted a job opening for a virtual reality software developer. A source told Variety that the company is developing an app or service similar to the one launched by Hulu earlier this year, with plans to license content from third-party producers.
Reaching $1 billion in revenue this year, virtual reality is here to stay and no longer science fiction—so Amazon is wise to explore the new medium. As the technology becomes more affordable, and streaming entertainment even more popular, consumers are more likely to invest in “innovative mixed reality experiences” for many years to come.
