Jaunt is a Palo Alto-based company that is currently one of the leading providers of 360-degree virtual reality content. The young organization managed to carve out a name for itself during the early days of the emerging VR industry and that first to market approach earned it a $65 million fundraising round in 2015 that was led by none other than the kingmaker of modern media itself: Disney.
Today, Jaunt has applications on just about every consumer VR platform including the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream. The only notable exception to Jaunt’s availability on the various hardware platforms was Sony’s PlayStation VR headset. As of today, however, that exception no longer applies.
Jaunt is announcing the release of its “custom” PlayStation VR application. This app will be available for free download immediately and grants PS VR users access to, “Jaunt’s entire catalog – including more than 150 high-quality and award-winning, immersive VR experiences spanning travel, sports, music, film, horror and more,” according to a release.
Jaunt is making platform parity a high priority across all of its various applications and states that, “For users with high-bandwidth internet connections, Jaunt for PS VR offers the same detailed video resolution and smooth low-latency head-tracking as Jaunt for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.”
The PS VR’s unique ergonomic design is cited by the company as providing users with “a comfortable experience that enables immersion and engagement for longer periods of time,” but the most significant value proposition of the PS VR ecosystem for any company is its install base.
The PS VR is compatible only with Sony’s PlayStation 4 video game console. The PS4 has been selling phenomenally for years and recently surpassed 50 million total units worldwide. Early estimates suggest that the PS VR will not sell an enormous number of units by the end of this year, but such a deep ocean of potential users is impossible to pass up for any VR company.
