20 COMPANIES MAKING GOOD ON THE PROMISE OF VIRTUAL REALITY
TALESPIN
Industry: Corporate Training, Workforce Development
Location: Culver City, California
What it does: Just because a world is virtual doesn't mean it’s necessarily fantastical. Talespin's newest technology, for instance, recreates one of the most commonplace environments imaginable: the office. The software deposits employees and managers into virtual sales cold calls, performance reviews, and other stressful on-the-job situations, so that they can handle them more adroitly IRL. One simulation, in which a user is tasked with firing “Barry,” a natural language processing-powered “employee,” proved so immersive for one manager that he reportedly cried during the mock-termination.
WEVR
Industry: Media, Entertainment
Location: Venice, Calif.
What it does: When looking at VR through the lens of leisure, we tend to first think gaming. But VR-as-entertainment might just achieve mass appeal in the shape of something more akin to traditional filmic storytelling. WEVR has been driving in that lane for nearly ten years, releasing projects with everyone from Reggie Watts to Run the Jewels to Deepak Chopra. Up soon: the long-awaited virtual-reality film helmed by technophile blockbuster director Jon Favreau (the Lion King reboot). Is it all still a bit niche? Seems that way. But the broader allure is built right in.
FRAMESTORE
Industry: Media, Film
Location: London, England
What it does: You've seen the digital handiwork of Oscar-winning visual-effects craftsmen Framestore in movies like Spider-Man: Far from Home and in TV shows like Black Mirror. The company brings that same visual pizzazz to VR, too, working on the Fantastic Beasts experience for Google's Daydream headset and building a virtual-reality tour of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
See the full story here: https://builtin.com/media-gaming/virtual-reality-companies