The state of VR at ChinaJoy 2016 was, frankly, underwhelming; last year’s unbridled hype was all but gone. The technology was not the instant revolution it promised to be, at least in its current form. For the ordinary gamer, there still is little reason to enter the market.
Due to its capricious consumer base and flimsy copyright laws, China is an excellent place to examine and predict future market trends. Curious as to how the Chinese market perceived VR’s current trajectory, we took a moment to interview Zepetto’s project manager and VR team leader, Yoo Young Jeon.
What a pleasure to see you here. Before we delve into the subject at hand, why don’t you tell our readers of your career prior to joining Zepetto?
I started out in publishing in Japan, then moved on to become a project manager for Gravity’s development team. After a few years of drifting from project to project, some games more successful than others, I joined Zepetto as chief project manager of a new title and VR team leader. I’ve been in the gaming industry for about twelve years.
“VR team leader” is not yet a commonplace job. How did VR get your attention?
I persuaded our CEO last year to jump into this upcoming new market; and as he is always interested in new technologies and products, he was quick to recognize VR’s potential. Our core strength as a company is our prowess as a developer, so we do not skimp on R&D or tool/engine construction. We’re receiving the company’s full support. It’s almost come to the point where I feel guilty for being supplied with such an abundance of resources.
What’s your VR team working on now?
Since kicking off in January, we are still mostly in R&D. Genres, platforms, engines... getting our feet wet and learning. Our aim is to build a multiplatform foundation that will serve as a flexible bedrock for our future VR content. R&D will continue until the end of the year, by which we should have developed three software prototypes. We already have a simple one finished; the next project, to be finished by November, should be more high-end.
Most VR developers are wondering as to what type of content will go mainstream first, which is why we want to build a flexible foundation. We’re going with the fundamentals first. Risk management, figuring out which genres work better on which HMD (head-mounted display) - we want to be prepared for any situation.
Zepetto is best known for its FPS Point Blank. Is there a chance your new VR title won’t be a shooter?
It’s entirely possible. Our first prototype was based on shooting elements, but could become an entirely different game just with some tweaks. Perhaps we will go in that direction and break down traditional shooter boundaries.
The Korean VR market is yet to form. Any predictions?
The global market isn’t all that different, either. According to our research early this year, North America, Europe, and Japan will probably have a robust market for high-end HMDs, but not Korea. There’s definitely an interest, as shown in the number of people trying VR out with rudimentary units, but it will takes a couple of years before a high-end market emerges.
What are your thoughts after gauging the Chinese market in person?
I was surprised at the prevalence of high-end HMDs; it rivaled that of the Western countires. Content demand seemed more geared towards mobile, though, so it will take time for a high-end market to form. Still, I was delighted to see so many different HDMs. People are generally quick to doubt Chinese electronics, but I was jealous of their robust hardware development.
What does the VR market need to really take off?
Killer content. Think about why people buy video game consoles - there are a variety of reasons, but most people buy them to play specific titles, such as The Last of Us for PS and Gears of War for Xbox. The VR market needs franchises that can justify the purchase of an HMD, because there is little reason to buy one at the moment other than its mere novelty. I’m looking forward to next year bringing some of VR’s first killer content.
Mobile VR is more widespread. Any thoughts?
I think mobile VR isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and I’m not just talking about its quality or details. Mobile VR has hardware limitations. It provides inferior quality experience compared to a high-end HMD. Most importantly, our status quo in which mobile VR is spreading misconceptions about non-mobile VR is hugely problematic. How VR isn’t as good as they thought, how it only causes motion sickness, or how it overheats too much in extended play sessions… is mostly due to their playing mobile VR, not high-end VR.
Is Zepetto planning to stem this worrying trend?
Yes; we’re developing something that will do just that. It’s more of a fake 3D implementation using an HMD than a real VR showing, but that’s enough when doing a light port from a PC monitor to a mobile HMD. The aim is to show off the usefulness of an HMD as a general-use device, and to show how unintrusive it can be used. It’s a bit premature to reinvent the HMD models out on the market right now, or figure out another breakthrough to eliminate motion sickness - for now, we should focus on analyzing the market as it is and organically grow it.
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