VR becomes the protagonist again. What are the new highlights of the 2016 E3 Expo in the United States?

In 2016, the highlight of the global capital market was VR. At this year's CES and AWE, two major electronic technology events, VR's momentum far exceeded that of other smart hardware and smart home appliances. The same was true for this year's E3 exhibition in the United States.

The Chinese translation of E3 in the United States is Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3 is the world's largest and most well-known interactive entertainment exhibition. In 2016, E3 ushered in its 21st exhibition. This year, VR showed a new highlight in the new stage at the E3 exhibition. The forward-looking and technological sense shown by VR is still unstoppable, surpassing the game masterpieces and game hardware at the E3 exhibition, and becoming the most popular technology product.

The VR products exhibited at the E3 exhibition are still cutting-edge and cutting-edge, making people feel the shock brought by future technology. From an industry perspective, this exhibition more reflects the great alliance of various companies in the VR industry. Among them are not only the old brands Google, Microsoft, Sony Oculus Rift, but also the new representative Immerex. Various manufacturers are showing some new trends in this alliance.

Exploring the past and present of the E3 exhibition in the United States

E3 is a combination of the first three initials E of The Electronic Entertainment Expo. Since 1995, E3 has been a conference for the release of computer games, video games and related peripherals. It has a supreme position in the global electronic entertainment industry, and some commentators call it "the annual Olympic event in the electronic entertainment industry." Just like CES, the E3 conference attracts the attention of many exhibitors and players, and the content exhibited at the E3 conference often represents the pulse of the industry's development.

Compared to CES (International Consumer Electronics Show), E3 in the United States may be relatively unfamiliar to many people in the domestic technology industry. In fact, as a relatively closed and high-end event, the core content of E3 in the United States is sometimes more interesting than CES and AWE. This has a lot to do with the participation mechanism of E3 in the United States.

In recent years, CES has often been questioned as "anyone with money can attend the exhibition", but unlike CES, the US E3 exhibition has maintained a high "level" since 2007, and only buyers or media personnel with invitation letters can enter.

In fact, the manufacturers participating in E3 are generally giants in the gaming industry or leading companies in vertical industries. Manufacturers such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have always been regular visitors to E3. In recent years, with the development of new technologies such as VR, manufacturers such as HTC and Immerex have also become newcomers to E3.

What are the new highlights of VR manufacturers at this year's E3?

In previous years, the products released by various manufacturers at E3 were usually their own blockbuster games or new consoles, and most of these products were closely related to games. However, in the past two years, with the development of VR, ES has shown a more and more horizontal development trend, with more and more exhibits, and gradually tending to shift towards the direction of entertainment electronic consumer products.

This trend was particularly prominent at this year's E3 exhibition in the United States. Even as the VR industry continues to mature, the E3 exhibition has also reflected some new connotations. In addition to traditional new game products and game hardware, VR has become the most prominent field at this year's E3 exhibition. Whether it is hardware, content or ecology, all aspects have shown some different colors.

1. Hardware manufacturers are disrupting

VR devices in the past have been widely criticized. Either they must be connected to a game console and a high-configuration PC like Oculus Rift, which is inconvenient to carry and is purely a toy for geeks; or they take the route represented by Google Cardboard, which has a very low threshold and can be used with a mobile phone, but the resolution is low and can only be regarded as an entry-level experience. It is precisely for these reasons that VR has always been considered immature by the industry and it is difficult to achieve a revolution in a short period of time.

However, at this E3 exhibition, Immerex, a new VR company in North America, became a dark horse. The new generation of head-mounted display released by Immerex at the E3 exhibition, VRG-9020, has an extremely compact and fashionable appearance design. The helmet is only about 200g, which is only half the weight of the mainstream helmets on the market. For users, the volume is only slightly larger than a pair of sunglasses, which has obvious advantages compared with other bulky products.

From the middle of last year to this year, in just less than a year, VR has made rapid progress in hardware. The emergence of VRG-9020 largely illustrates a problem: VR hardware is changing every six months, just like the birth of smartphones. Manufacturers with product advantages can easily lead the next wave of competition.

2. Content manufacturers unite

In addition to hardware, content producers are also launching a fierce offensive at the content level. Judging from the game blockbusters that debuted on the first day of this year's E3 exhibition, both Sony and Microsoft are investing heavily in VR games, and VR games have been initially put into formal commercial use. The investment of leaders such as Microsoft and Sony will also have a far-reaching impact on other content producers in the future.

In addition, the American adult film website Nauxx Amexx also brought their VR film works to users on site. Websites like Nauxx Amexx can produce their own content based on the characteristics of VR. This actually also indicates that VR content production has gradually formed an industrial chain, and ordinary content producers can also carry out effective content production. This also shows in a large sense that VR content will also usher in an explosion in the next stage.

Of course, the most interesting thing is that VR newcomer Immerex has completed the production of multiple movie-level VR videos through cooperation with Hollywood production teams. This move actually has more far-reaching significance, which means that the VR industry chain has penetrated into the traditional industry chain. The feedback from the traditional content industry chain can easily lead to the production of a large number of contents, laying the foundation for the next content prosperity of VR.

3. Outlook for ecological integration

VR requires the integration of content, hardware and ecology. In fact, at the ecological level, the improvement of the upstream industrial chain also requires the efforts of manufacturers.

From the perspective of upstream content production tools, manufacturers such as Google have already made a lot of arrangements. At this E3 exhibition, Google exhibited its application channel in Google Play and launched a popular panoramic photo shooting application; in terms of content aggregation, GoPro launched the panoramic shooting device Jump and built an output platform on YouTube.

Some giants have already promoted the development of content tools at the front end. At present, the threshold of VR hardware of various companies is relatively low, and the experience is not very good. However, these actions can be said to be "many hands make light work", which can also help existing manufacturers to open up the entire industry chain.

It is not just a content production tool. At the content development tool level, manufacturers such as Google and HTC have also opened SDKs to prepare for the current industrial integration and drive the development of the entire industry.

I believe that with the efforts of platform giants and emerging disruptors, the VR industry will undergo more dramatic changes. In the near future, we can even imagine such a scene - we wear VR products the size of ordinary glasses, wander in the world of virtual reality, and feel the impact of the wonderful world. Whether flying in space or fighting in Afghanistan, the helmet on the head will not bring too much burden, and the steps of experiencing virtual reality will become lighter.

In the big alliance, the VR industry chain is gradually maturing

Of course, the vision still needs to be linked to reality. In reality, the VR industry chain needs to be constantly polished and improved.

Although the layout and exhibitions of various manufacturers at the E3 exhibition are different, they all reflect a core issue - the current VR industry chain is gradually maturing.

Whether it is Google and other manufacturers promoting the improvement of content production tools and development tools in the upstream, or other manufacturers promoting content production and the integration of content and hardware in the middle and back ends, it means that the current VR industry is in its early stages of growth. The efforts made by each manufacturer are not a zero-sum game, but rather push the entire industry towards maturity.

In the future, VR will gradually explode in this mature industry chain. At the E3 exhibition today, various manufacturers' layouts, Google is more inclined to front-end development, while Immerex is more inclined to back-end integration, coupled with the efforts of a series of manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung. This positive combination is allowing the entire industry to move towards a new height in the union.

Yesterday, I saw a very admired industrial and economic reporter write the following words in my circle of friends:

Will VR have a future? It does. But it is clear that if platform-based enterprises do not participate, it will be difficult to stimulate the scale of the industry. The participation of large enterprises can dilute market risks and promote product and business optimization, thereby driving the industrial chain forward. From a long-term perspective, VR cannot expect one or two companies to connect the upstream and downstream. It relies on joint innovation at the level of many industries, enterprises, regions, countries and even the world. Openness and sharing must be the driving force.

Open sharing must be the future driving force of VR. The performance and response of various manufacturers at the E3 exhibition in the United States also illustrate this point.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.