With more than 5 million Oculus Rifts set to be sold in 2016 and the steadily decreasing cost of virtual reality hardware, the industry is set for a major boom. Los Angeles is doing everything it can to be at the very center. Here are five LA companies that are shaping the young VR market:
After raising a $4 million seed round last summer, Survios is on a mission to change the face of gaming with VR. The company has released a variety of games including a totally immersive zombie apocalypse shooter. Survios takes a holistic approach to developing their VR experiences by producing both hardware and software for their games.
In true LA fashion, Wevr is focused on VR content production. The Venice-based company collaborates with creative minds and provides them with the VR playback software necessary for them to produce immersive content. Wevr takes pride in being an open platform for any aspiring VR producers who otherwise wouldn't have access to the technology and insight.
Led by journalist Nonny de la Peña, Emblematic Group is a virtual reality experience creator that takes users to the scene of various current events. The company has created immersive experiences to place people in war-torn Syria or at the scene of the Trayvon Martin shooting in hopes of providing a new understanding to the world's most important stories.
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This VR content site has partnered with NBC, The New York Times, Vice, United Nations, and Annapurna Pictures to deliver mainstream content to the VR viewer. Their videos can bring users to the forefront of local and global issues, inside an award-winning film, or to Studio 8H to watch a Jerry Seinfeld SNL monologue.
Taking the social media angle to VR, SpherePlay is creating an online meeting place for people to share their immersive videos with friends. The site currently features demos and an early access sign-up. Once launched, it will allow anyone with VR capturing technology (or simply a smart phone) to create 360 degree posts to share with their SpherePlay connections.
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