Going Virtual

Property owners have been licensing virtual reality applications since at least 2015, with activities intensifying in 2016 as the major high-end VR headsets were released. The number of deals seems to be proliferating quickly this year as more licensors become interested in and comfortable with the technology and as more consumers are able to experience it, either at home or at a destination.

There are three major types of VR applications that are of interest to licensors:

• VR games, which are similar to traditional interactive games in terms of play pattern but occur in a 360-degree VR environment. Examples include Paramount licensing VRWERX for a Mission: Impossible game for HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, and Oculus Rift headsets, and CBS Consumer Products licensing Red Storm Entertainment for a game called Star Trek: Bridge Crew, for use on the same hardware brands.
• VR experiences, which focus on 360-degree immersive storytelling featuring interactive elements but not gaming per se. Aardman created a Shaun the Sheep VR experience app that can be viewed on Google Cardboard and similar headsets, while the NBA partnered with NextVR to allow NBA League Pass subscribers to watch select games in VR on Samsung Gear or Google Daydream View. Cirque du Soleil, with Felix & Paul Studios, and Paramount, with Here Be Dragons, have developed experiences based on O and Ghost in the Shell, respectively.
• Location-based VR, which uses the same sort of VR headsets as are utilized at home, but offers a communal element and often is enhanced with experiential add-ons such as being able to feel movement. The Mummy, Ghostbusters, and Justice League are among the properties that have been developed for VR experiences at venues such as Imax theaters, Six Flags theme parks, and Madame Tussauds museums.

Applications of all three types are typically compatible only with certain VR headsets. The latter fall into tiers. At the bottom are low-cost versions, led by Google Cardboard and including Mattel’s View Master VR. These work with a mobile phone and are considered best for experiences rather than gaming applications.

Next are mid-priced but still mobile phone-connected versions such as the Samsung Gear VR and Google Daydream View.

In the top tier are high-end examples (often costing around $700-$800) that are connected to a desktop computer or console and suitable for sophisticated VR gaming. Examples include Sony PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive.

All told, sales of VR headsets have been lower than anticipated in these early days. Across all brands, sales in 2016 were 89 million units, according to Super Data, with mobile-connected versions (e.g. low- and mid-tier devices) accounting for 98% of that and Google Cardboard alone accounting for 84 million. Sales of VR software, meanwhile, totaled $80 million in 2016, according to the NPD Group.