MIT Technology Review Subscribe

Oculus just kicked off an experiment in social VR

Last night, the Facebook-owned company made a splashy case that VR still stands a chance of going mainstream.

The news: About 9,000 people watched Australian singer Vance Joy rock the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado last night, but many more experienced the performance. That’s because Joy’s concert was the first to be broadcast by Oculus’s new VR app, Venues.

Advertisement

A first: Previous live broadcasts in VR allowed only small crowds to interact. Last night’s concert marked the first time viewers of a live event were able to join and talk with large numbers of other digital event-goers.

This story is only available to subscribers.

Don’t settle for half the story.
Get paywall-free access to technology news for the here and now.

Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in
You’ve read all your free stories.

MIT Technology Review provides an intelligent and independent filter for the flood of information about technology.

Subscribe now Already a subscriber? Sign in

How it went: There were a few connection issues, but for the most part the system operated as planned. Attendees chatted with their virtual seat neighbors and sang along to the music. But it was still evident that VR just can’t match the thrill of physically attending a live event.

This is your last free story.
Sign in Subscribe now

Your daily newsletter about what’s up in emerging technology from MIT Technology Review.

Please, enter a valid email.
Privacy Policy
Submitting...
There was an error submitting the request.
Thanks for signing up!

Our most popular stories

Advertisement