Ep. 86: The Tipping Point of VR Mass Adoption—with Tipatat Chennavasin of Venture Reality Fund

If you look at the numbers, VR appears to be on the precipice of mass adoption. 60 virtual reality titles have generated more than $1M in revenue, with the top-grossing games making $10M-plus. Millions of headsets are in circulation, and we’re seeing 3K to 5K concurrent users per popular title. Governments are investing billions to develop VR technology and $3.4B in VC money was invested in the ecosystem last year alone. So, what will it take for VR to take off around the world? Tipatat Chennavasin is the cofounder and General Partner with The Venture Reality Fund, a VC firm that invests in early-stage AR, VR and AI startups in an effort to power the future of computing. Tipatat is a thought leader in the AR/VR space, mentoring companies, incubators and accelerators around the world. Prior to The VR Fund, he served as cofounder and CEO of Big Head Mode, a mobile gaming startup acquired by PlayFirst in 2013. Tipatat earned his BS in Symbolic Systems from Stanford. Today, Tipatat joins us to explain what first drew him into the world of virtual reality. He describes the consumer appetite for VR in Asia and the incredible Chinese city dedicated to the space. Tipatat also shares detailed metrics around VR adoption and VC investment in the industry. Listen in for Tipatat’s insight on the tipping point for global acceptance of virtual and augmented reality—and learn about his vision of the role VR will play in the future of work. Topics Covered What inspired Tipatat to invest in VR Cured real life fear of heights Change way we learn, heal and communicate The consumer appetite for VR in Asia Gaming ingrained in culture Chinese government investment How the numbers differ from perceived investor sentiment $3.4B invested in ecosystem during trough $3.2B invested during height of hype The data around VR adoption 3M PlayStation VR, 4M NVIDIA headsets 60 titles made $1M+ in revenue (top-grossing $10M) Tipatat’s take on the most surprising VR use case Virtual influencers What’s preventing mass adoption of VR Alignment of hardware and software Underestimate impact of Oculus Quest How Tipatat spends his time in VR 2.5 hours/day VRChat, Rec Room and art programs Tipatat’s insight on the current gaps in VR Use digital skills to make living in VR Enable non-IT workers to do IT work Resources Tipatat on Boost VC S2EP03 https://simplecast.com/s/28858f9c John Carmack https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Carmack CES https://www.ces.tech/ VRST in Tokyo https://vrst.acm.org/vrst2018/ Nordic VR Forum https://vrforum.no/ Road to VR https://www.roadtovr.com/ VRChat https://www.vrchat.net/ SteamDB https://steamdb.info/ Oculus Quest https://www.oculus.com/quest/ Beat Saber http://beatsaber.com/ Rec Room https://www.againstgrav.com/rec-room/ Job Simulator https://jobsimulatorgame.com/ FitXR https://fitxr.com/ Space Pirate Trainer https://www.spacepiratetrainer.com/ Future Present by Michael Pinsky https://www.amazon.com/Future-Present-Ethics-Science-Fiction/dp/0838639240 Tilt Brush https://www.tiltbrush.com/ Oculus Quill https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/1118609381580656/ Goro Fujita https://twitter.com/gorosart?lang=en Connect with Boost VC Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/ Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/ Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC