Advanced Television

VR

Report: $5.7bn gaming investments in 2018

Digi-Capital’s Games Report Q1 2019 tracked games companies raising $5.7 billion (€4.9bn) in 2018, which was over twice the previous record investment from 2017. Tim Sweeney’s Epic Games’ $1.25 billion was not only the largest round raised last year, it was the largest non-IPO games investment of all time. The only larger single amount raised […]

January 29, 2019

Research: PlayStation VR leads the market

SuperData, a Nielsen company, has released its latest extended reality (XR) findings focused on revenue and projections for the virtual, augmented and mixed reality markets. Based on high consumer interest in Oculus Quest, SuperData expects 1.3 million units will sell this year and annual XR revenue will reach $11.5 billion (€10bn). Following a robust holiday […]

January 28, 2019

WarnerMedia launches Content Innovation Lab

WarnerMedia has revealed plans to launch the WarnerMedia Innovation Lab, a future-forward incubator that will combine emerging technologies with content from across its operating units to create new and innovative consumer experiences and businesses. The initiative will further encourage deep collaborations across WarnerMedia and AT&T, as well as between key corporate partners and developers of […]

January 23, 2019

Immersive content fund bids invited

Digital Catapult, a technology innovation centre that unlocks digital growth in the UK economy, and national development body Arts Council England, have announced an Open Call for a new cohort of content creators to join CreativeXR, a programme aimed at supporting the development of new virtual, augmented and mixed reality experiences within the creative industries. […]

January 22, 2019By Colin Mann

Report: For AR/VR 2.0 to live, 1.0 must die

AR/VR 1.0 kicked off in earnest when Facebook bought Oculus back in 2014. This inspired a generation of entrepreneurs, corporates and VCs to build early stage AR/VR. Despite significant technical progress, even industry insiders admit this hasn’t produced a mass market yet. Mobile AR delivered 2 per cent higher revenue than we forecast for 2018 […]

January 16, 2019

Report: Digital tech to drive sports revenue growth

A report by global digital infrastructure provider Tata Communications examining the commercial transformation of sports identifies 2019 as a defining tipping point for the global sports industry, with digital technology innovation set to kick-start a new era of unprecedented commercial growth for broadcasters, rights holders and sports organisations. The Show Me the Money! report – […]

January 15, 2019

VR game revenues to reach $8.2bn by 2023

A study from Juniper Research has found that revenues from VR-specific games will reach $8.2 billion (€7.1bn) by 2023, rising from an expected $1.2 billion in 2019. It argued that development of smartphone VR content is essential to increase consumer confidence in VR across all platforms, following a disappointing year of hardware sales in 2018. […]

January 15, 2019

ESPN enhances ESPN app

Disney’s Direct-To-Consumer & International (DTCI) segment and ESPN have released a series of enhancements to the ESPN+ streaming service within the ESPN app, designed to improve the consumer experience by serving customized content, more user-friendly navigation, offline viewing and more platforms on which fans can access programming. “One of the most important focuses for ESPN+ […]

January 15, 2019

Blippar goes into administration

Blippar, the augmented reality developer, has fallen into administration over a funding row. It was one of the UK tech sector’s so-called “Unicorns” – start-up businesses that are worth $1 billion or more. The firm was co-founded by Ambarish Mitra, and its technology was used in a partnership with the BBC’s acclaimed Planet Earth II […]

December 18, 2018

IMAX pulls plug on VR arcades

In recent times, IMAX has contemplated putting in VR areas into all of its cinema foyers as a potential money-raiser from cinema-goers wanting to spend time on the new craze while waiting for a movie to start. But not any more. The experiment is over, and a regulatory SEC filing from IMAX says its final […]

December 17, 2018By Chris Forrester