The BBC is bringing its VR efforts under one roof to produce all of its immersive content going forward.
The organization today announced VR Hub, which it describes as the new home for VR at the BBC. In the past, the group has released plenty of promising experiences, from 360-degree video add-ons to its incredible Planet Earth II series to interactive VR stories like Turning Forest. Now all future VR efforts will be produced through this new studio via commissions.
The group is headed up by Zillah Watson, who promised that the team will work on “pieces across the range of genres the BBC is famous for.”
“We believe the BBC can bring a unique perspective to VR,” Watson wrote in an announcement blog. “We have an unparalleled position in the lives of the UK population. Every week we reach 95% of the UK population and we have the most trusted broadcast news brand in the world, reaching almost 400m people through the BBC World Service alone.”
As part of the launch, the BBC today released Home: A VR Spacewalk. This immersive experience, developed in partnership with UK-based Rewind, lets players explore the International Space Station in VR, using their hands to pull themselves around a zero-gravity environment. We tried it back at Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2016 and found it to be hugely engrossing. It’s available on both Steam with Rift and Vive support and Oculus Home for free.
Look for more from the BBC in VR as we move into 2018, then.
