Will The Sphere Become How the Mass Market Experiences VR/Virtual Worlds?

The Sphere in Vegas isn't what we usually define as VR, except that it's a massive wraparound LED display in a giant concert dome, effectively putting up to 18,000 people inside virtual reality. Lately I've been wondering if the Sphere and technology like it will become VR for the mass market -- that is, the roughly 75% of people who aren't particularly interested in immersive 3D virtual worlds or HMDs, or even get nauseous when trying to use them. (I.E., the reason why sales of the Quest remain steadfastly slow.) 

Postcards from Earth, an immersive feature film for the Sphere directed by Darren Aronofsky, debuted last week, and veteran virtual world developer Keith Morris was there in the audience to experience it first-hand:

"The opening scene starts off in standard movie dimensions. And then there's a scene where we're approaching the Earth. But as the earth grows in our view, it expands outside of the bounds of this screen. And then suddenly it feels like we're collectively descending onto the planet. The seats begin to rumble and then just as it feels like we're about to burn up in the atmosphere, the scene cuts to flying over a snowy mountain range, and the audience feels a gust of wind. There was a collective gasp."

And yes, he tells me the experience rivals anything he's experienced in traditional VR/virtual worlds:

"I experienced a sense of wonder that I had not felt since I first demoed the HTC Vive when it came out. It felt like the entire stadium had been transported into a virtual world. Much like a shared virtual experience in Second Life, but more immersive."

And not just technically impressive, but resonant on a deeper level:

"I felt really emotionally impacted by the environmental message of Aronofsky's production. To feel like you're physically in these beautiful natural spaces and then suddenly be transported to the filthy environments we've turned them into was just overwhelming. Highly effective."

He was just as impressed, by the way, with the AI embodied robots in the Sphere's lobby:

"They're backed by large language models and interact with people in real time. You can have a conversation with them.

"They directed people to stand within one of 4 circles being projected onto the floor.  Audio of someone speaking played over the speakers. As you moved from one circle to the next, you could hear the language change from English to Spanish, to Mandarin, and to Japanese."

Back to the core Sphere experience: Its capacity is over 17,000 people per show, with multiple shows per day. At that rate, it's can easily draw an audience of 10 million per year -- and in 10 years, upwards of 100 million. That might seem like an implausibly large number, but Vegas itself averages 30-40 million visitors per year.

Photo courtesy Keith

Comments

[Keith Morris]

It was amusing to observe a crowd of humans being directed by an AI-embodied robot, and I wonder if the designers of the exhibit deliberately sought out to accomplish that.