The first year of virtual reality games has arrived. How should you play?

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Like the E3 exhibition, ChinaJoy also began to pursue the concept of virtual reality.

This is an exhibition dominated by "pagers" and girls dressed in "simple" clothes. At this time last year, due to the lifting of the ban on game consoles, console games were coming in full force, and many people speculated that consoles might become the "fourth pole" in the gaming field.

Unexpectedly, a year later, the limelight was stolen by VR games.

According to incomplete statistics from NetEase Technology, VR devices appeared at booths of Sony, Epic, Giant, Unity, Kunlun, NetDragon, etc. Among them, Sony's booth with Project Morpheus was particularly popular and became a highlight of the first day of ChinaJoy. In addition, VR hardware and software manufacturers such as Lexiang, Ant Vision, 3Glasses, and Nibiru also appeared together at the VR portal 87870 booth.

At least in the field of gaming, the first year of VR may not be too far away.

Domestic VR manufacturers: walking in turmoil

In fact, if the VR industry wants to be popular, there must be a specific explosion scenario, and this scenario is basically confined to the three areas of games, videos, and adult markets.

Qin Zheng, founder of AntVision, emphasized to NetEase Technology that the first explosion will definitely be in games. This manufacturer, which once caused a lot of waves in the VR field, seems to be a little quiet this year. Qin Zheng said that AntVision is quietly making arrangements in the game field and has invested in three VR game companies so far, one PC game and two mobile games. The PC game will be officially launched in September.

"We were going to set up a booth at ChinaJoy this year, but we submitted the application too late," Qin Zheng said with some regret. In the end, the Ant Vision helmet appeared at the 87870 booth, where many familiar domestic VR devices gathered together. Some people even joked that almost the entire domestic VR industry was here. The concept of VR did not disappoint these companies, and many game users experienced it.

Of course, it’s not just startups that are getting restless.

Baofeng Technology, which is promoting VR concept, also appeared in the exhibition hall adjacent to Sony's booth. Although the experience of Magic Mirror was criticized by the outside world, Baofeng seemed not to care and promoted the VR social mobile game "Elysium Kingdom" at ChinaJoy. At the same time, it announced that "Elysium Kingdom" already has 20,000 registered users, and the next-day retention rate reached 30%.

This is not a dazzling number. If it were in the mobile game field, it would undoubtedly be directly judged as a failure. But Feng Xin seemed very excited because he felt that as the first VR social game, Kingdom of Bliss has set a record. He even claimed that when Q4 comes, VR will usher in a real explosion.

However, the relatively simple graphics and the resource center that mostly consisted of demos still made people feel that the reality might not be as optimistic as Feng Xin thought. "When mobile games are at their peak, VR is about to reach a turning point", the slogan put up by Baofeng, which participated in ChinaJoy for the first time, almost reflected the eagerness of VR manufacturers to participate in the exhibition: looking forward to the "turning point".

Because in their view, there will be a new world, a new "blue ocean" after the turning point.

Game manufacturers: Reason comes first?

Compared to the over-enthusiasm of VR manufacturers, game manufacturers appear to be relatively rational.

Previously, Hou Yingtao, senior vice president of Touch Technology, told NetEase Technology that game companies are about business, and manufacturers dare not act rashly in a field where there are no successful cases yet. "To put it bluntly, it's still not profitable, and there are too many pitfalls."

However, as VR awareness increases, more and more VR game players are joining the fray. It is understood that Giant's VR game "3D Journey" will soon be open for trial, and has put up banner ads in subways; several VR games are on display at the Unity booth, etc.

It is worth mentioning that Shanda’s VR game, which was previously announced to be exhibited during ChinaJoy, unfortunately failed to show up due to research and development progress issues.

This is not accidental. A middle manager of a PC game company told NetEase Technology that because the technology involved in VR is relatively new and game companies lack experience, fewer companies exhibited VR games at CJ this year than expected. "The initial investment is a huge number, and the domestic game industry is not as healthy as that abroad, so compared with E3, the proportion of VR at ChinaJoy is lower."

Even so, a considerable proportion of mainstream game companies have shown experience demos or VR strategic plans that can be used in conjunction with Oculus and cardboard, but there are only a few manufacturers with finished products.

"Mainstream game manufacturers are still too cautious," said a staff member at booth 87870. He believes that the reason for their caution is commercial factors, but more of it comes from the difficulties in research and development. "From demo to finished product, it is not a simple matter. Whether to invest more resources to drive VR projects, manufacturers are also observing the attitudes of players at the exhibition."

This may be the reason why there are quite a few Oculus Rift DK2 devices at the venue.

Morpheus: CJ*** winner?

However, even if it reaches a "turning point", the VR market may not necessarily belong entirely to domestic manufacturers.

In fact, when Sony's long-awaited VR device Project Morpheus was open for experience at ChinaJoy, the Sony exhibition area in the E7 venue became a hotspot for visitors. Microsoft, which has been competing with Sony for many years and is a neighbor, still seemed a little deserted even with Xbox and Kinect to support it.

According to players who have experienced it, in conjunction with four virtual reality game DEMOs including "THE DEEP" and "Hatsune Miku Stage", the combination of PS4+Morpheus not only makes people feel some graininess in resolution, but also reaches a high level in many aspects such as delay, refresh rate, and rotation.

Morpheus is undoubtedly a strategic product of Sony. Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, said that PS4 is only one link in Sony's virtual reality system, and Morpheus is not an accessory of PS4.

Moreover, Sony has made a lot of efforts to ensure the smooth progress of Morpheus. For example, it is not difficult for developers to migrate from Oculus to the Morpheus platform. Sony said that this process only takes two days.

However, since the hardware and underlying adaptation as well as the promotion of game content manufacturers are still in the initial stage, Sony said that the specific launch date of this "black technology" product has not yet been determined, only saying that it may be launched next year. But considering Sony's influence on content manufacturers, Morpheus is likely to appear together with many VR games on the PlayStation platform when it goes online.

Feng Xin said that traditional game giants will eventually become the mainstream in the VR game industry. Regardless of whether the magic mirror is right or wrong, the surprise brought by Morpheus during the past few days of ChinaJoy may once again announce the strength of traditional giants in emerging fields.

Perhaps, with this surprise, in the interweaving of restlessness and rationality, VR may be welcoming the arrival of its first year.