INTERVIEW NATE MITCHELL, OCULUS
VR IN THE MAINSTREAM
ONCE Oculus was acquired by Facebook the world started to consider how VR could work beyond games. After all, why would Facebook invest in something that has been largely niche until now? “There are a lot of ideas
Allowing people to try Oculus Rift is key to selling it, says Mitchell
Of course Oculus isn’t just a high-end gaming device. It works on mobile devices, for instance. And although the idea of playing Call of Duty in VR may seem exciting to core gamers, there’s plenty it can do for the non- gaming enthusiast (see VR in the mainstream). “You can have it on a Macbook Air or mobile device, a lower-end experience. Take the virtual movie theatre Oculus Cinema. I showed it to my Dad and he was like: ‘Does that mean I can have an IMAX theatre in my house?’ You can have experiences like that on a lower-end machine.”
WINNING EA Mitchell was equally honest about Oculus’ difficulties in winning over the super publishers. Indie developers and niche studios are the ones that have made the leap onto VR. Yet the likes of EA, Activision and Ubisoft have been more cautious. We recounted to Mitchell
a recent interview we had with Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick. When we brought up VR, Zelnick talked enthusiastically about the possibilities, yet when asked if he was bringing anything to these platforms he
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The huge excitement around VR only goes so far if the numbers don’t make sense.
Nate Mitchell, Oculus
replied: “Oculus hasn’t launched commercially, neither has Morpheus. It is too early to support them commercially.” Even Sega, who at E3 showed
an incredible Oculus Rift demo of Alien Isolation has since announced that it was just a prototype. “It is a challenge, because there is an inherent risk you’re taking with Oculus because there are no units out there,” acknowledges Mitchell. “You are monetising against a question mark. “Indies can take the risk with VR, because their budgets are smaller. But creating a big budget made- for-VR title is a big risk. “We are trying to encourage people in a lot of different ways. There is huge excitement around VR from design and engineering. But that only goes so far when you’re talking to a CEO of a big corporation if the numbers don’t make sense. “What we are doing to mitigate risk is show up with publishing dollars and help take the burden off the developer or publisher. If you want to invest heavily in a great VR game, we are willing to show up and invest, too. “We know it is hard. We
are in the trenches with the developers trying to mitigate a lot of that risk.
that we have,” said Oculus’ VP of product Nate Mitchell. “An experience like the Game of Thrones exhibit where you can put on the Rift and ascend The Wall. We are going to see a lot more of that very quickly. “The possibilities for Rift in education are the most exciting of all. But it is the hardest industry to get into. There isn’t much money in
An Oculus Rift on every kid’s desk in schools, that is one of my goals.
Nate Mitchell, Oculus
education, and there aren’t many experienced 3D developers. But a Rift on every kid’s desk, that is one of my goals.” You can even shop in
virtual reality and try items out before you buy them. “Look at the Detroit Auto Show, they had an exhibit with Nissan where you sit down in this pod and put on a Rift and you’re inside a prototype car. The next step is: ‘what if I could customise this car?’ You could change the colour, the dash and things like that in this virtual space. That can be applied to pretty much anything. You could try on clothes then buy them. This will be a major part of VR.”
July 18th 2014
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