VR is starting to attract the attention of major theme parks in both the US and UK, and now it’s heading to China.
SPACES, a Los Angeles-based virtual and mixed reality company, has partnered with Chinese theme park group Songcheng Performance Development for a $30 million joint venture. The move will see the pair bring both VR and MR experiences to Songcheng parks around China, which are said to have attracted around 23 million people in 2015. This will include implementing the tech into live stage shows – which we could see being particularly effective on the MR front – as well as new attractions.
The pair also plan to build new parks surrounding the technology.
https://youtu.be/tkw2OFqj__4
In addition, SPACES will also be working to enhance Songcheng’s own hugely popular livestreaming site, 6Rooms, with VR and MR compatibility. You can take a look at it yourself; it looks a little like Twitch, only with less game streaming. The platform attracts 33 million users a month streaming their own shows and creating more than 50,000 live broadcast hours each day. Though specific plans weren’t announced, we could easily see this platform adopting 360 degree content for viewing with a VR HMD.
SPACES’ underlying software will be licensed to Songcheng too, and it will provide technical support for its work going forward. The company has also used this opportunity to announce that it has raised $3 million in a new seed funding round with money from from the likes of Boost VC, Canyon Creek Capital, Colopl VR Fund, GREE Inc., Kai Huang, The Venture Reality Fund, the Sinovation Fund, and Youku Global Media Fund and CRCM VC. The company is set to discuss further opportunities at next week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in LA.
China is rapidly becoming heavily invested in VR, MR and augmented reality (AR) tech. Just yesterday we learned that a Chinese entertainment company was set to acquire a small stake in MR company Magic Leap too.
