These are very exciting times for the virtual reality industry. Oculus is planning to make a big move by introducing its VR television hub. Starting today, the Oculus TV hub is available for owners of the Oculus Go. It is unclear if this free app will come to the regular Oculus as well, albeit that is not a point of focus right now.
Oculus TV is a Major Breakthrough
Finding content outside of video games for the VR platforms available today is a big challenge. Although every headset has its own short films and experiences, the available offerings remain lackluster first and foremost. Oculus TV is designed to change all of that, at least for people who own the Oculus Go VR headset. That unit was released earlier this year and is designed to make virtual reality a lot more appealing to mainstream consumers.
With Oculus TV, users will be able to watch video and image content on a 180-inch TV screen in virtual reality. Additionally, they will be given access to various streaming services, including Pluto TV, Facebook content, and Showtime [which requires a separate subscription]. Bringing this content to such a VR setting will engage the overall viewing of content, and highlight the potential of VR as a media consumption platform.
This new offering will complement the existing solutions offered by the Oculus Go VR headset. Non-VR video services include Netflix, Hulu, Showtime, and a few others. However, for the supported services, having a merged experience can be quite beneficial to the end user. It certainly beats launching separate apps to view different types of content.
Whether or not Oculus TV will become a big success, remains to be determined. Virtual reality remains a very niche market, although this new tool might make it a bit more accessible for people who mainly consume content, rather than play video games. Oculus will ensure other networks are supported in the future, including ESPN. No official timeline or roadmap has been unveiled at this time.
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