AltspaceVR Will Close Its Virtual Doors On August 3

[kcarbotte]

AltspaceVR is one of the pioneers of social interaction in virtual reality, but it won’t be around to help shape the future of VR. The company failed to secure funding to keep paying the bills, which left it with no choice but to close its doors.

AltspaceVR Will Close Its Virtual Doors On August 3 : Read more

 

[bit_user]

In anticipation of the numerous comments decrying VR to be a flop, I just want to remind folks that lots of innovators have gone belly-up, while the imitators who rode their coat tails often achieved stellar success.

Just a few examples: Fairchild Semiconductor gave way to Intel and others, Atari created console gaming before Nintendo and Sega, Altavista created web search before Yahoo and Google, and MySpace did social networking before Facebook. I'm sure you can think of others.

Succeeding in VR is going to mean playing the long game. I think we all know it's not going to happen overnight, but it's not disappearing either. Perhaps AR actually needs to go mainstream first, since it has more practical applications.

 

[virtualban]

Tech is not enough when there is no community, yet.
SecondLife focused on community and let the tech come, when it comes. And they are still going steady.

 

[dark_lord69]

To really launch Social Media in VR you might need a company with a larger list of users...

Facebook VR?

Although I think part of launching a social media VR platform would be the ability for friends and family to see YOU, not your avatar. (Even if it's only the face to start with.)

Until then you'll be talking with the dinosaur avatar of your brother and if you're just talking then you've narrowed it down to just a phone call and an avatar to look at while you chat. (Not very cool.) It needs to feel like more than just a phone call. But the hard part would be to get everyone's face into VR... but if any company could do it, leave it up to Facebook.

 

[crac4a5]

Summerwars

 

[Jeff Fx]

AltSpace was a great concept, and they put more work into VR than just about anyone, but did they have a business model? Where was the revenue to come from?

 

[kcarbotte]

AltSpace was a great concept, and they put more work into VR than just about anyone, but did they have a business model? Where was the revenue to come from?

I think you hit the nail on the head there. Every time that I spoke with the people at AltspaceVR, they had great ideas for technology, but they always danced around the concept to charging for a product.

I always assumed they would turn AltspaceVR into a digital concert venue and charge artists and performers to run shows that they could then sell tickets for. That never happened.

 

[kcarbotte]

AltSpace was a great concept, and they put more work into VR than just about anyone, but did they have a business model? Where was the revenue to come from?

I think you hit the nail on the head there. Every time that I spoke with the people at AltspaceVR, they had great ideas for technology, but they always danced around the concept to charging for a product.

I always assumed they would turn AltspaceVR into a digital concert venue and charge artists and performers to run shows that they could then sell tickets for. That never happened.

 

[Fred Madrid Castellano]

I visited AltspaceVR and there was impossible to build anything, was boring. Twinity is a lot better even if it is "old" tecnology.

 

[cryoburner]

AltSpace was a great concept, and they put more work into VR than just about anyone, but did they have a business model? Where was the revenue to come from?

Making it advertising supported would be a logical business model. There's a lot of ways that could be done in a virtual space. Everything from simple billboards, to branded objects and themed locales.

They may have just been hoping that some big corporation would acquire them for a large sum of money though.

 

[blackbit75]

In anticipation of the numerous comments decrying VR to be a flop, I just want to remind folks that lots of innovators have gone belly-up, while the imitators who rode their coat tails often achieved stellar success.

Just a few examples: Fairchild Semiconductor gave way to Intel and others, Atari created console gaming before Nintendo and Sega, Altavista created web search before Yahoo and Google, and MySpace did social networking before Facebook. I'm sure you can think of others.

Succeeding in VR is going to mean playing the long game. I think we all know it's not going to happen overnight, but it's not disappearing either. Perhaps AR actually needs to go mainstream first, since it has more practical applications.

Yes it's a flop. But nothing more far away than I would like to say. I would LOVE that virtual reality became in a success.
3D TVs, Nintendo 3DS, and now VR is getting ill.
There aren't AAA games, apps that make anyone want to buy VR. May be, Resident Evil 7 with PSVR.
I would like to be wrong.

 

[dark_lord69]

In anticipation of the numerous comments decrying VR to be a flop, I just want to remind folks that lots of innovators have gone belly-up, while the imitators who rode their coat tails often achieved stellar success.

Just a few examples: Fairchild Semiconductor gave way to Intel and others, Atari created console gaming before Nintendo and Sega, Altavista created web search before Yahoo and Google, and MySpace did social networking before Facebook. I'm sure you can think of others.

Succeeding in VR is going to mean playing the long game. I think we all know it's not going to happen overnight, but it's not disappearing either. Perhaps AR actually needs to go mainstream first, since it has more practical applications.

Yes it's a flop. But nothing more far away than I would like to say. I would LOVE that virtual reality became in a success.
3D TVs, Nintendo 3DS, and now VR is getting ill.
There aren't AAA games, apps that make anyone want to buy VR. May be, Resident Evil 7 with PSVR.
I would like to be wrong.

Or the HL2 vr mod?
Or Skyrim VR?
Or Doom VFR?

You might want to try playing Robo Recall. (It's the closest I've played to a triple A title in VR.)

It feels more interactive than other games because:
-You can physically move to dodge bullets
-Bend over to pickup a gun from the ground (OR catch it in mid-air)
-Grab Missiles and bullets then throw them back.
-Grab Robots and ripp off their head, legs and arms.
-Throw those limbs at other robots
-Throw robots up in the air
-Throw robots at the wall
-Throw robots at each other
-Use a robot as a shield
-Grab 2 robots and smash them together
-Use the smaller or flying robots as a gun

What I like about Robo Recall is that it feels like you could do whatever you come up with to kill them. If you haven't played Robo Recall with a standing space you haven't experienced what VR could/should be.

Other shooting games I've played have you standing in the same spot and just shooting in different directions which can be fun but only to a point and the standing in the same spot limitation gets old really quick. On the other hand I can work up a sweat when playing Robo Recall.