The game 'I Expect You To Die 2' 'has generated >$1m in sales in the first week'

 "The sequel to Schell Games’ popular VR puzzle game hit a major milestone just one week after going on sale.

In 2016 Schell Games launched their game I Expect You To Die on Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, and SteamVR headsets. In this James Bond-esque adventure, players took on the role of a professional spy tasked with solving a variety of cinematic puzzles within a set period of time. Needless to say, the game was an instant hit, captivating VR players with its colorful setting and unique puzzle-solving mechanics.

Capitalizing on the success of the original game, Schell Games launched I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar in August of 2021. Now, less than a month after its release, developer Schell Games is claiming that its sequel title managed to surpass $1M in sales less than a week after launch. This is a huge milestone not only for the developer but for the VR industry in general."

Source:  VR Scout, 9th September 2021

VR & AR start-ups raised $3.6bn in the 12 months to March 2018

"AR/VR startups raised a record over $3.6 billion from VCs and corporates in the last 12 months to the end of Q1 2018. Over three-quarters of a billion dollars was invested in the first 3 months of this year alone. A fundamental transition in the fundraising market towards AR from VR, as well as the very early-stage dynamics of mobile AR, are driving an acceleration of fundraising trends anticipated at the start of the year. As expected in a transitional year, overall deal volumes declined slightly in the short-term as VCs and corporates look to medium-term mobile AR and long-term smartglasses growth.
The investment dollar figures for the last 12 months and first quarter are impressive, but digging beneath the surface reveals what is really going on. As has become more expected in early-stage tech markets, mega-rounds take the lion’s share of dollars invested. In the last 12 months Magic Leap raised nearly $1 billion ($502 million in Q4 2017 and $461 million in Q1 2018), Improbable raised $502 million, Niantic raised $200 million and Unity did another big round."

Source:  Advanded Television, 3rd April 2018

More than $3bn was raised by VR & AR start-ups in 2017

"AR/VR investment records were broken last year as startups raised over $3 billion across 28 AR/VR categories (over $1.5 billion in Q4 2017). Perhaps the most surprising thing was the bellwether of big AR/VR rounds, Magic Leap, becoming slightly less mythical by finally revealing its product and taking less than a fifth of all the money raised in 2017."

Source - DigiCapital, January 2018

Sony has sold more than 2m Playstation VR headsets

"Sony released some new stats today detailing the progression of sales for its PS4 console and PS VR headset systems. The numbers that matter: 70.6 million PS4 consoles, 617.8 million PS4 titles, 2 million PS VR headsets and 12.2 million PS VR titles.
Things appear to be moving along rather well in console-land, where Sony is almost certainly winning the console wars with Microsoft. Microsoft hasn’t released unit sales numbers since January of this year, when it announced that 26 million Xbox One units had been sold. In that time, Microsoft has released an updated version of the system, the 4K-playing Xbox One X. Sony released the souped-up PS4 Pro last year.
Meanwhile, Sony has also made significant inroads on sales of its VR headsets. The company announced in June that the company had sold 1 million headsets. The headset has been given a sort of price drop through the inclusion of a camera that had previously been an additional purchase."

Source:  Techcrunch, 7th December 2017

Earlier - 1m announced in early June 2017

Sony has sold more than 1 million PlayStation VR headsets

"Sony has now sold more than 1 million PlayStation VR headsets, the company announced today. The news follows a reveal back in February that the PSVR had topped 915,000 units sold since its debut last October. It puts PSVR ahead of direct competitors like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift — according to research firm SuperData, the two sold 420,000 and 243,000 units respectively by the end of 2016 — but still well back of Samsung’s Gear VR, which has sold more than 5 million units globally. Shawn Layden, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, admits there’s still plenty of work to be done, especially given the large install base of PS4 owners, which is approaching 60 million. “It’s still just a million units,” he says."

Source:  The Verge, 5th June 2017

More than 1m 360° videos and 25m 360° pictures have been posted to Facebook

"Today, Facebook is intertwining the real and virtual worlds of Facebook a bit by launching its first dedicated app, Facebook 360. The app will serve as a hub for the 360 video and photo content posted to the site. Facebook boasts that there have been more than one million 360 videos posted to the site alongside more than 25 million 360 photos to date. At launch, the Facebook 360 app will be available only for the Gear VR mobile headset. Users can download the app in the Oculus Store."
Source:  Techcrunch, 8th March 2017

More than 10 million google Cardboard viewers have been shipped worldwide

"We first launched Cardboard in 2014 as a simple and affordable way for everyone to try virtual reality. With only Cardboard and the smartphone in your pocket, you can travel to faraway lands, ride a roller coaster, or take a guided tour of the solar system. Today, more than 10 million Cardboard viewers have shipped worldwide. There have been 160 million downloads of Cardboard apps on Google Play—and 30 of those apps have more than 1 million downloads."
Source:  Google blog, 28th February 2017

Sony's Playstation VR has sold nearly 1 million units

"The PlayStation VR was a risky prospect for Sony. As a relatively pricey (£350) add-on for the PS4, centred on technology that's still a niche to the mainstream, it could have been an expensive blunder for the gaming company. Instead, it's been a bigger success than Sony hoped.
Speaking to the New York Times, Sony Interactive Entertainment chief executive Andrew House revealed sales for the VR headset hit 915,000 on February 19.
That figure exceeds what already looked to be a warm reception for the PS4 peripheral. Earlier this month, analytics firm SuperData estimated the PSVR had shipped 750,000 units since launch.
In fact, the PSVR has been so popular, it even caught Sony off guard."

Source:  Wired, 27th February 2017

Ten Trends for 2017

It's time for my annual trends presentation.

This year it seemed to me that lots of what was happening and about to happen were comebacks - things that had been heralded a few years ago, but were finally hitting the mainstream, the most obvious being Augmented Reality, but also Live Video (remember webcams?), Web TV and more, which can all be said to have followed the Gartner Hype Cycle, and are now getting to the 'mainstream' stage.

& in the spirit of accountability, I also look at what happened to last year's trends.  enjoy!

Carat's 10 Trends for 2017 from Carat Global

2.3m American households own a virtual reality headset

"Parks Associates announced new consumer research today showing that 2% of U.S. broadband households, or 2.3 million households, own a virtual reality headset. The research firm will host CONNECTIONS™: The Premier Connected Home Conference May 24-26 in San Francisco, where its analysts will discuss findings from 360 View: CE Adoption and Trends, a survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband households, which reveals 5% of U.S. broadband households plan to buy a VR headset in 2016, an increase from only 1% who made a purchase the year prior."

Source:  Parks Associates, 16th May 2016

Note - This figure seems high, until you realised that it includes Google Cardboard.  

Samsung's Gear VR has over 1m monthly active users

"Samsung’s Gear VR headset had more than one million monthly active users in April, according to new data released by  Oculus Wednesday. The Facebook-owned virtual reality company now wants to get those users to keep coming back by launching a new user interface for the headset.
[...]
Oculus said this week that developers have built over 250 apps for Gear VR so far. Interestingly, one of the biggest draws for the device is video content: Seven out of the ten most popular apps are video-related, and almost 80 percent of the users of the device use it to watch video on any given day, according to Oculus."

Source:  Variety, 11th May 2016

Over 5m Google Cardboard devices have been shipped

"A year and a half ago we introduced Google Cardboard, a simple cardboard viewer that anyone can use to experience mobile virtual reality (VR). With just Cardboard and the smartphone in your pocket, you can travel to faraway places and visit imagined worlds. Since then everyone from droid lovers and Sunday edition subscribers, to big kids and grandmas have been able to enjoy VR—often for the very first time. Here's a look at where we are, 19 months in:
1. 5 million Cardboard fans have joined the fold.
2. In just the past two months (October-December), you launched into 10 million more immersive app experiences:
3. Out of 1,000+ Cardboard apps on Google Play, one of your favorites got you screaming “aaaaaaahwsome,” while another “gave you goosebumps.”
4. You teleported to places far and wide, right from the comfort of YouTube.
5. Since we launched Cardboard Camera in December, you’ve captured more than 750,000 VR photos, letting you relive your favorite moments anytime, from anywhere."
Source:  Google Blog, 27th January 2016