Google Working on Android VR to Compete with Facebook, Valve
David Curry | | Mar 07, 2015 11:16 PM EST |
(Photo : Google) Google is reportedly working on its own virtual reality platform.
To capitalize on the newfound interest for virtual reality, Google has apparently organized a new team inside Mountain View to create an AndroidVR platform focused on bringing virtual experiences onto an already massive platform.
The goal of AndroidVR is to offer a platform that can work with phones or VR headsets and the Google Play store will be tailored towards VR supported apps.
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Google has already shown interest in VR with the launch of its Cardboard VR project that allows anyone to attach a smartphone to a headset for under $50.
This new project will be much more formal, however, and Google is looking to compete against Oculus and Valve, the two major players in the VR market.
AndroidVR might also feature augmented reality apps, a different type of virtualization that takes real-world objects and adds virtual parts to them. Google Glass, Windows HoloLens and Magic Leap are all augmented reality products but none have been commercially released.
It will be hard for Google to win the VR war since Valve took a strong step at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco last week. The HTC Re Vive VR is getting rave reviews from press invited to check it out, showing SteamVR might be head-and-shoulders better than Oculus' own platform.
Facebook is investing a heck of a lot of money into VR after spending $2 billion on the acquisition of Oculus and even more on hiring new developers to make games for the Oculus Rift 'Crescent Bay' developer kit.
All of this will come to market late this year, Valve and Oculus both have their sights on late 2015 as a launch date for the first VR headsets.
Sony is looking at 2016 for its own Project Morpheus and rumors of Microsoft's own VR headset are still floating around.
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