Miss GamesBeat? We’ve got the low-down.
AR/VR Is Officially “A Thing” . . . Once You Get A Taste Of It
An entire day of GamesBeat was devoted to the realm of augmented and virtual reality—from the implications of virtual reality in entertainment to early discussions about monetization in the space, the excitement and curiosity surrounding it was tangible.
Kicking off the event with a keynote from Oculus’ Jason Rubin, who discussed the company’s role in the second wave of VR.
“There was always this distance with a TV that was a little bit frustrating,” said Rubin when talking about his initial interest in VR. Since then, it’s come a long way, becoming a more robust technology delivering on the immersive experience it promised.
“This is the time where filmmakers, game-makers, experience-makers and whatnot will be able to take people and transport them into other places,” he said, emphasizing the usefulness of the medium across every point in the entertainment industry. What’s more—when developers have had a taste of what VR has to offer, according to Rubin, they stay dedicated to creating these experiences.
“Literally every single [developer] we’ve worked with is coming back to VR,” he said. “After they finish a title, they’re not leaving VR.”
While major game developers have been relatively tepid about going all-in with VR, the same cannot be said for Hollywood, which has been actively exploring the medium.
“It’s cliché at this point, but the minute you strap [a device] on, you realize that this is a thing. It is a medium that is here to stay,” said Lionsgate’s Peter Levin. The company has been exploring exploring virtual reality, both by adapting existing IPs like John Wick and building from the ground up for the medium with “12 to 15” total projects. Of course, this experimentation with VR also extends to how Lionsgate approaches marketing.
“We have a big initiative based with our marketing and promotional vehicles with some of our biggest IPs,” said Levin. “What a great way to bring attention to a nascent market like VR.”
Pokémon GO Is Just The Beginning—There’s More To Finesse With AR
The sensation of Pokémon GO was not lost on the attendees at GamesBeat this year and inevitably if the conversation veered into augmented reality, you can be sure it also involved Niantic Labs’ runaway hit as well.
“I think that it’s not the be-all and end-all of augmented reality yet. There’s a lot more you can do on that front,” said Dean Takahashi, lead writer at GamesBeat to [a]listdaily. “If they could improve the gameplay to make it a little more interesting to hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike, then it could be one of the games that could be closer to being something like the Citizen Kane of augmented reality.”
While the game has certainly reached phenomenon-status, for many, the critiques of the game experience shows just how much work there is still to be done with the medium.
“Pokémon GO shows us that if the experience is magical and worthwhile, people go through a lot of hassles,“ said Tom Sanocki, CEO of Limitless VR, to [a]listdaily.
John Hanke, CEO of Niantic Labs, talked about how the game is going to continue the march forward with making it less oriented around your phone, getting users to interact more naturally with their environment.
“I’m looking forward to the launch of the Pokémon Go Plus,” said Hanke. “That will give players the chance to play the game without looking at their phone all the time. They’ll get to look at the world around them.”
As time goes on, Hanke sees wearables and augmented reality becoming more seamless experience.
“I see a progression of wearables that get more sleek and sexy over time. It’s not binary where you don’t have AR one day and then do have it the next.”
Storytelling Can Help Push ESports Into The Mainstream
ESports is on track to becoming a $1 billion dollar industry this year. With that kind of money and the audience numbers it touts, the level of interest in eSports is a bit feverish from the outside looking in.
“It’s really been kind of this thing that grew on its own very organically, and therefore very tough from a discovery point of view for people who are not seeking out the content,” said Activision Media Networks VP, Mike Sepso at the event. “So it’s a huge audience, but it’s a very tapped in audience. It’s a very big niche.”
From those who are actively working to put eSports in front of the mainstream audience and change the public perception of the industry, there is loads more to be done. The next step? Storytelling.
For Peter Moore, EA’s chief of competitive gaming, what traditional TV does particularly well is telling the stories behind the athlete, whether they are competing in the Olympics or in the NBA. They make us care about who we are watching by using the powerful device of storytelling.
“We’ve got to make people care about competitive gamers,” he said. “They can’t be seen as nerdy, Doritos-chomping, Mountain Dew-guzzling recluses in their mom’s basement.”
