In anticipation of the upcoming film Spider-Man: Homecoming, Dell collaborated with Sony Pictures for a virtual reality experience that serves as part of a multi-platform marketing deal for both of the brands.

The experience, created on Dell Precision workstations, gives consumers a chance to suit up as the comic book character and icon to hone their web-shooting skills and sling high above Gotham City in pursuit of the Vulture.

It is paired with an experiential ploy at select Cinemark theaters in the US, where moviegoers can experience Dell’s PC line of VR-ready products firsthand.

Dell’s latest move in VR complements a strategy of engaging gamers by using two distinct brands—all while enabling VR “to come into its own.” They also envision a sizable potential for VR esports.

Gary Radburn, Dell’s global head of virtual and augmented reality, joined AListDaily to share some insights on how they are approaching the immersive vertical.

On Dell’s positioning for professional-and-consumer-focused VR . . .

 I feel that we’ve got the largest range of VR-ready products out there. We do a lot of internal testing with our products as well. We ensure that the consumer and the commercial sectors get the best experience they possibly can when they use VR. The worst thing that can happen is somebody uses a system, they have a bad experience and they don’t come back to it for a long time. We’ve taken all of that legwork out by introducing systems that go above and beyond in terms of VR testing and the experience. We invest in the commercial space with VR centers of excellence at some of our solution centers, where we invite customers in as a free-of-charge service to actually experience their industry, or their vertical, in a VR environment. It allows them to associate the goodness that VR can bring, the shortening of time cycles and the increase of monetization because of it. From the consumer’s point-of-view, just really giving people the best so they can blow away their friends with the experiences they’re receiving. We’ve traditionally had all the graphics power inside the tower systems, both in consumer and in the professional space. Now with the advent of the new chip sets that are there with the power that’s available inside a mobile platform, we’ve really reached that point in the industry where mobile becomes pertinent. We have the 13-inch Alienware with 1060 graphics inside of it that can really drive VR in a small platform. On the professional side, we haven’t had a platform before that’s been able to drive VR with the chip set. With the Dell Precision 7720, the chip set inside of there, the P500 from NVIDIA, really allows you to drive VR in a degree we haven’t seen before inside of commercial space.

On marketing content in new ways . . .

Currently, you can use techniques like audio and visual cues of getting the audience to watch particular things. In a 360 video, that becomes a bit more complex. But you can be clever—like if the action is taking place in front, you can actually put audio and visual cues in the 360 space. Then using social media, you can say, “Did anyone see what happened in the scene, five minutes in at 270 degrees?” Those people are going to go back and re-watch the film, but from a different perspective. From a marketing angle, you’re now getting more eyeballs on the film because people are going to want to watch that experience more than once.

On storytelling opportunities VR opens up . . .

In terms of the marketing, the whole idea of making a film is to get eyeballs on it. Story experiencing as we’re seeing in the 360 and immersive video space is really helping people connect. You’re now being put inside an immersive environment. We’re seeing pieces being written where you’re actually a central character, and seeing VR from a different point of view. You get more of an emotive connection, and you get more empathy with what’s actually trying to be expressed. Because of the impact, you feel like you’re actually there. You can look around, immerse yourself in that space. It really helps you understand more than a potentially flat film, and takes it to a next level.

On confusion in the space slowing down adoption . . .

I feel that VR is very much like the wild west at the moment. There’s a lot of people saying “this” is VR, but VR encompasses so many different mediums at the moment. We’ve got 360-degree video, which could be an immersive video. You’ve got photogrammetry. You’re then moving into VR itself with six degrees of freedom—augmented reality, mixed reality, and then people are using this over-arching concept of “we do VR.” There’s no division. There’s no context of what people are actually doing, so consumers get confused. Confusion then slows down adoption. We need to actually start using terms that the entire industry can use, and everybody agrees to. For example, when we say we’re doing 360 video, which is the entry point to VR, we can say that’s an “immersive video piece.” With 360 video, it’s a low cost of entry for doing that inside of a piece.

On the democratization of VR . . .

We’ve got a huge gamut of products at different price points for different needs. Not everyone needs the fastest, the best, the top end. So now we’ve got different price points along the way. You can then decide on what your end result is going to be, on the power of the system that you need to be able to drive that, and there will be something at a price point that can suit you. So basically, the democratization of VR is starting to happen. It’s not for the largest wallets in the land anymore. We’re now trying to bring VR to more and more people because VR is very exciting. It used to be deemed as a high cost of entry. That’s now changing over the period of time. We’ve all seen the shop videos on YouTube of people trying it for the first time, like older family members and being absolutely in awe. Younger generations just take it in stride and say this is the norm. But where do we move from there?

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