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

The Boost VC Podcast

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

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