Immersive technology companies are increasingly integrating their AR, VR and MR offerings with Blockchain. Why?

Merging our physical and digital physical realities is the ultimate promise of immersive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) Virtual Reality (VR) Mixed Reality (MR) – and others in this acronym alphabet soup – which is what makes them such a good fit for Blockchain.

Merging our physical and digital physical realities is the ultimate promise of immersive technologies
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The interesting thing about Blockchain is that it, too, is all about blurring the boundaries between virtual and real. Or perhaps it just exposes that a lot of what we consider to be “real” exists largely in the ether in the form of bits and bytes. What Blockchain does is make the ephemeral feel permanent, and therefore more valuable.

Philip Rosedale is the founder of one of the earliest virtual worlds – Second Life. He told Forbes in a recent interview that virtual worlds need a simple system that allows people to reliably assert ownership.

“I think that Blockchain is super important for money, for digital assets, and most importantly for identity. Not just in the virtual world, but in the real world. It stores that information in a way that only the owner who has the private key can be associated with that little chunk of the Blockchain. The owner can update the object, sell it, move it around. No company or central organization is able to do that once it’s printed in the Blockchain.”

If Blockchain had been around 13 years ago when Linden Lab first launched Second Life, Rosedale believes they would have built the platform around it, and indeed he seems keen to now incorporate the technology into his latest Social VR venture High Fidelity, as are many emerging competitors in that space such as Decentraland which just held its highly anticipated first property auction this month.

The interesting thing about Blockchain is that it, too, is all about blurring the boundaries between virtual and real
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Augmented Reality start-up Lucyd, for example, recently created their own cryptocurrency (the LCD token) and is currently raising funds through an ICO (initial coin offering). Having secured a series of AR patents, Lycid are now designing an interactive AR display that uses your smartphone for processing power and data. Essentially the lens will let users look up from their phones and interact with their apps within a large, smooth AR interface.

Being on the Blockchain they claim, will allow them to develop and distribute AR-native content much more easily so that anyone can develop, share and experience content.

With over 60 million concert tickets sold every year in the US, it is clear that the market for experiences is booming, but equally clear that there is a limit to how many tickets can be sold to access them physically. Which is where companies like of CEEK VR come in.

With over 60 million concert tickets sold every year in the US, it is clear that the market for experiences is booming
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CEEK is a platform founded in 2015 that extends the reach of sold-out shows through its Virtual Reality Venues by allowing users to experience them virtually. It has so far signed up over 100 top artists like Elton John, Lady Gaga, Sting, Bon Jovi and Katy Perry, but believe that incorporating Blockchain technology will allow them to massively scale their operations and realize the dream of a “decentralized VR entertainment Metaverse.”

“CEEK VR’s offering will remove the hurdles of creating premium content and virtual goods featuring licensed music and celebrity assets by offering clearing house services through Smart Contracts that automatically pay respective rights holders and publishers. This means more people will be creating quality content in addition to all the concerts,” says CEEK’s CEO Mary Spio.

Clearing rights for songs, for example, takes a very long time and requires employing full-time staff every time new songs are added to a platform, especially if they are owned by multiple stakeholders – as is the norm in the music industry. By enabling transparent, immutable record of ownership and usage rights to be kept in the Blockchain, however, this process can not only be scaled and automated over millions of songs, but becomes much more accountable, meaning artists will get paid for their work in a much more timely fashion, and reach larger audiences in the process. The picture it paints is very much of a win-win for the creative industries, which has often struggled to cope with disruptive technologies in the past.

If Blockchain had been around 13 years ago when Linden Lab first launched Second Life, Rosedale believes they would have built the platform around it
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Virtual tokens can be used as tickets to VR events and virtual items, but they are also enabling celebrities on the platform to create their own worlds, currency and items in less than an hour, with the potential for unlimited earning. Celebrity minted coins and virtual merchandise items take on the traits of cryptocurrency as each are assigned their own Ethereum address. This means exclusive items can be created, and artists can even sign those items with special cryptographic token signatures that cannot be duplicated and are authenticated on the Blockchain in terms of rarity and value.

Gaze Coin is another Blockchain-powered platform that monetizes VR & AR through enabling such celebrity partnerships. By using gaze tracking, it calculates the amount of time a player spends looking at or immersed inside specific content and then creates a micropayment – advertisers are charged for the time, content owners are paid and gamers are rewarded.

Monetizing virtual goods and services in a frictionless way will be the cornerstone of building these new virtual worlds
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The company is now planning on trialling the first of its “Celebrity Coins” next year. The Kim Kardashian West’s KCoin is linked to the KK Goes to Hollywood app which already attracted 42 million downloads and which has generated nearly $200 million in revenue since June 2014. They stand to make even more, however, by adopting a monetized VR platform where instead of purchasing virtual goods, players can purchase Kardashian’s branded and endorsed products both virtually and eventually in real life.

“For the first time the Kardashian’s have been toppled in the Google search rankings, and by Bitcoin. The idea of linking the two might seem far-fetched, but we see it as the next step,” says Jonny Peters Founder of Gaze Coin. “If the app’s KCoin became a cryptocurrency it would enable brands to track and reward players for influence and advertising, as well as the purchase of real-world goods in virtual stores. So we’re doing it,” he says.

Spio also agrees that creating and monetizing virtual goods and services in a frictionless way will be the cornerstone of building these new virtual worlds. “Tokenization does that, and users will enjoy more premium VR content as well as new earning and spending possibilities,” she concludes.

Article originally published on The Huffington Post

Will Blockchain Supercharge Immersive Tech? https://t.co/2zK93HAJrf via @HuffPostBlog

— Alice Bonasio (@alicebonasio) December 17, 2017

For help getting your own VR/AR/MR project off the ground, get in touch about our Virtual Reality Consultancy services 

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Powering Virtual Technologies With Blockchain appeared first on Tech Trends.

CEEK VR connects fans with artists through crypto-currency tokenization.

Unless you’ve got your head buried in some deep sand somewhere, you’ll be at least vaguely aware of the amazing rise in the value of Bitcoin. Many tech companies have been getting in on the action, bypassing traditional funding channels and raising money through token sales instead – over $3 billion this year alone. This is attractive for start-ups as it not only lands them some capital, but also encourages those investors to become users those platforms.

Blockhain, the technology that enables crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin is now disrupting every industry
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CEEK wants to create a decentralized VR entertainment Metaverse
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Blockhain, the technology that enables crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin is now disrupting every industry, so we’re increasingly seeing some interesting examples emerge of companies incorporating blockchain into their offering, and VR is no exception. And a market that undoubtedly plays to VRs strengths in terms of creating immersion and presence are live events and celebrity-driven experiences.

“Each year 60 million concert tickets are sold in the USA alone. The demand for iconic music artists to perform at live events far outweigh their capacity, leaving them with missed revenue opportunities and fans without the chance to experience live shows. Guns N Roses sold 1 million tickets of their European tour in a single day, for all those fans who missed the tour, they could be there virtually,” says Mary Spio, CEO of CEEK VR, a platform that extends the reach of sold-out shows through its Virtual Reality Venues.

Founded in 2015, the company’s existing content distribution base already has over 100 artists such as Lady Gaga, Elton John, Sting, Bon Jovi and Katy Perry, who collectively bring with them a base of over 705 million fans. Those fans will now be able to use CEEK tokens to see their favorite artists, who will in turn enjoy the ability to sell unlimited virtual tickets and digital merchandise, creating what Spio calls a “decentralized VR entertainment Metaverse.”

The company’s existing content distribution base has over 100 artists such as Lady Gaga, Elton John and Sting
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By tokenizing its network, CEEK believes it can increase its profitability by 30 percent
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Each CEEK Token holder will be able to access virtual reality spaces for real world events such as sports matches, fundraisers and concerts. The platform has a growing partner ecosystem that includes Universal Music, T-Mobile and Apple, using the Platform to scale existing 2D content into virtual reality, as well as creating and distributing original experiences.

CEEK claims that moving into the blockchain will allow them to scale and streamline their processes, making it much more profitable across the board. “Today clearing rights for each song takes a very long time,” Spio explains. “Each time we add songs and artists to our platform we have to hire full-time staff to focus on rights clearances, because most songs are owned by multiple (3-5 on average) labels and publishers.”

Scaling that process across millions of songs quickly becomes impossible, she continues, because if another company or developer wants to use the same music that they have cleared for their platform, they will have to repeat that process all over again, chasing down the publishers and rights holders to pay them. “It’s a cumbersome, costly process that we can now streamline using blockchain and smart contract automation,” she says.

“The greatest challenge facing the VR industry is a lack of high-quality non-gaming content due to the high cost and complications involved. CEEK VR’s offering will remove the hurdles of creating premium content and virtual goods featuring licensed music and celebrity assets by offering clearing house services through Smart Contracts that automatically pay respective rights holders and publishers. This means more people will be creating quality content in addition to all the concerts.”

“We pay 30% of all one-time purchases and subscription revenues to the app store every time a CEEKER attends an event. By tokenizing our network CEEK is able to avoid these fees and increase our bottom line profitability by 30%.”

Virtual tokens can be used as tickets to VR events and virtual items that could be traded as merchandise, but they are also enabling celebrities on the platform to create their own worlds, currency and items in less than an hour, with the potential for unlimited earning. Celebrity minted coins and virtual merchandise items take on the traits of cryptocurrency as each are assigned their own Ethereum address. This means exclusive items can be created, and artists can even sign those items with special cryptographic token signatures that cannot be duplicated and are authenticated on the blockchain in terms of rarity and value.

CEEK Virtual tokens can be used as tickets to VR events
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“Virtual goods are such a natural aspect of virtual worlds, and making the ability to buy and trade goods in VR worlds should be frictionless, tokenization does that, and users will enjoy more premium VR content as well as new earning and spending possibilities.”

With VR and Blockchain it’s probably safe to say there is some element of hype, but it’s equally safe to say they can no longer be called a fad. We will likely see these technologies develop and intersect in all sorts of interesting ways in the coming months and years. And while the jury is still out on what sort of business models will fail or succeed in this brave new blockhain virtual world, if tokenization works for platforms like CEEK, there will probably be no such thing as a sold out event any more, we will have experience on demand.

We will likely see VR and Blockchain technologies develop and intersect in all sorts of interesting ways in 2018
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This article was originally published on VRScout

Tech Trends offers comprehensive Virtual Reality Consultancy services to support businesses looking to adopt VR/AR/MR technologies into their brand and communications strategy.

This Platform is Using Blockchain to Sell Unlimited Concert Seats in VR via @alicebonasio https://t.co/JOxBBiME8m pic.twitter.com/BVLLdBt1LB

— VRScout (@VRScout) December 15, 2017

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.

The post Using Blockchain to Scale Virtual Reality Experiences appeared first on Tech Trends.