Rhino Entertainment Original
Text|Fangzheng Editor|Park Fang
Capital markets always like the new and dislike the old.
Since ChatGPT drove AIGC to become a new favorite of capital, its "predecessor" metaverse has been thrown into the cold. Let's take a look at the recent news about the metaverse:
First, Meta (formerly Fackbook) announced plans to lay off more than 10,000 employees, Microsoft dissolved the industrial metaverse division that was only established for four months, and then Byte's Pico was cut and lowered sales targets, and Tencent was suspected of suspending part of its XR business.
The above domestic and foreign developments have been interpreted by many as the "general trend" of the metaverse. But at the same time, Rhino Jun found that the domestic manufacturers can't let go of the development of VR entertainment for the time being.
For example, it is reported that Tencent is currently in contact with Meta, hoping to represent the latter's Quest 2 headset (the world's highest-selling phenomenal VR device); The ""Wind from Luoyang" VR Full-Sense Theater" produced by iQiyi Split Mirror Studio recently landed in Shanghai, as one of the Luoyang IP "One Fish and Twelve Eats", it represents the latest achievement of content platforms to explore offline VR real scene entertainment.
As we all know, after the Oculus Quest 2 sold more than 10 million units in 2021 and the Pico series acquired by Byte entered the public's attention, the "VR all-in-one machine" with mature technology has leapt to a new generation of mass consumer products. However, the "content shortcoming" has become the number one obstacle affecting the sales of related equipment.
But because of this, Rhino Jun has always believed that due to the large market gap in the supply of VR content, this provides opportunities for entertainment giants such as iQiyi, ByteDance, Tencent, and Mango to "open up territory" for long-term exploration of the VR field.
"Device" matures, "content" pulls the crotch
VR devices in 2023 are no longer what they used to be.
Unlike around 16 years (the first year of VR), most VR devices still have problems such as poor picture quality, weak interaction, heavy wear, and toy feeling. Today's technology is approaching the maturity of the VR all-in-one machine, which not only basically solves the pain points of the product a few years ago, but also brings a new user experience.
Although the data of Oculus Quest 2 selling tens of millions of units has always been questioned, and Byte has recently lowered Pico's sales target, it is undeniable that the VR industry has made a decisive breakthrough in device development. The problem is that the supply of pan-VR content (VR videos, VR games, etc.) is insufficient, making these devices a breath away from "magic machines".
However, according to Rhino Jun's observation and statistics, iQiyi, ByteDance, Tencent and other platforms that have entered the VR industry in China have spared no effort to develop related projects in recent years to fill this "content hole".
Let's look at iQiyi first.
While iterating Qiyu VR equipment year by year, on the other hand, iQIYI has simultaneously produced "VR masterpieces" in the industry such as "Borderless City VR", "The Legend of Sword and Fairy IV VR", "Killing Big Star" and "Last Wish" since 16 years, among which "Killing a Big Star" won the "Best VR Feature Film Award" at the Venice Film Festival.
iQiyi's development of VR series goes deeper into the upstream of production. iQiyi's comic drama "The Fox Demon Little Red Lady" filmed last year is the industry's first drama to use "XR virtual production" technology. In short, the play "front-faced" the film and television post-production, and completed the digital production simultaneously in the 2400-square-meter virtual studio, which greatly improved the shooting efficiency of fantasy dramas.
Byte's content development revolves around Pico.
Film and television content is Pico's advantageous section, and at last year's Pico4 press conference, Liu Cixin officially announced the co-production of a VR version of "The Three-Body Problem" with Pico, which attracted heated discussions from many parties. In addition, Byte also cooperated with VeeR to create a VR version of the sci-fi animation "Spirit Cage", cooperated with Discovery to launch the VR documentary "Follow Deye to East Africa", and cooperated with four major museums to launch the VR version of the science and education film "Ancient Books and Travels".
VR live streaming is also the focus of Byte's preemptive layout. Last year, Pico launched three VR concert live broadcasts of Wang Xi, Zheng Jun and Wang Feng, and also held the first virtual VR night talk in China for the virtual idol girl group A-SOUL. Cooperation with events and galas is also Pico's main selling point, many people watched 64 matches of the Qatar World Cup on Pico last year, and the Jiangsu Satellite TV New Year's Eve party at the end of the year was also broadcast live on Pico.
At present, in the VR industry, many people are optimistic about Pico relying on VR video to overtake. Sun Wenbo, CEO of Lanting Digital (a well-known VR service provider in the industry), believes that "Meta is not very good in video, and Pico's original Douyin ecology is very good, and the video will be an opportunity point."
Tencent also has the opportunity to come out on top.
If the negotiations with Meta go smoothly, the "National Bank version of Oculus Quest 2", which has a large number of exclusive 3A masterpieces and more than 400 high-quality applications, may be able to seize Pico's current market share in China. Tencent Video can also access the product to empower its VR dramas, VR documentaries and other resources, and Tencent's choice of "agency" is undoubtedly much more cost-effective than "self-research".
VR reality as a "content amplifier"
VR reality is also a nugget for entertainment giants.
For content platforms, VR equipment is essentially a "hardware-based, content-supplemented" format, compared with offline VR reality entertainment is "extending content IP and landing in offline entertainment space", which seems to give full play to the content advantages of entertainment platforms.
Generally speaking, when it comes to VR entertainment, most people first think of the "VR experience hall" that can be found everywhere in shopping malls. It is true that VR entertainment was easier to land as an "experience hall" in the early application, but the instantaneous and weak sociability of the business model made the product never as popular as script killing and escape room.
VR real scene entertainment is very different, first, VR+ real scene extends the project experience time, users can immerse themselves in the charm of VR scenes like visiting an amusement park; Second, falling into a dream-like adventure with friends and NPCs, which meets the social interaction needs of most people in the process.
iQIYI is a pioneer in testing the waters of VR reality.
As far as the latest landing of this ""Wind from Luoyang" VR Full-sense Theater" is concerned, it uses carriages, wooden kites and other vehicle experiences + heat sensing devices that simulate wind, water, etc. + smell generation devices that enrich the sense of smell, empowering players with "five senses experience" that cannot be achieved by online VR, and the playability is quite high.
More importantly, players can "immerse" in the story presented in the "Fengqi Luoyang" series, playing as a member of the mysterious organization "Bad House" in the land of Shendu to solve the mystery of the celestial phenomenon. The core experience of this product is closely revolved around the story IP of "Fengqi Luoyang", which can be called the "content amplifier" of the content platform to achieve IP value-added.
In fact, this is not the first time iQiyi has launched a VR live-action entertainment project. Since 18 years, iQIYI Split Mirror Studio has begun to lay out the offline VR market, and the team's "Future Frontier", "Operation Hong Kong Island" and "Lost in the Snow" have a good reputation among hardcore players.
Mango Supermedia also sees the commercial potential of VR reality.
As early as 2019, Mango established a VR R&D team "Mango Vision", and built an IP-themed offline interactive carnival "Youth Mango City" at the Youth Mango Festival held in 2020, which is the earliest platform for landing VR reality entertainment projects in long videos.
I have to say that Youth Mango City has brought the value of mango program IP to the extreme. It includes the IP pavilion of 7 popular variety shows in the Mango series, such as "Star Detective" and "Escape Room" IP pavilion can interact with real NPCs and continue the plot of the show to play VR script killing; The IP pavilion of "Happy Camp" restored the 13 classic games in the show and was made into a VR version of the game that can be played at daily gatherings.
It stands to reason that Mango's attempt can be described as an example of landing the big IP of the content platform offline, but the relevant attempts do not seem to bring the expected market returns. Perhaps the use of offline scenes to continue the vitality of variety show IP needs to wait for the further maturity of VR technology to bet on a "hit".
VR variety shows are difficult to run through
The VR industry urgently needs "content explosion"
In the final analysis, the VR industry has not yet run out of the "explosion".
Through the above observations, we will find that domestic entertainment platforms are continuously improving in B-side VR technology research and development and VR product development. But the problem is that they have not created a "content explosion" that is widely consumed in the C-end market such as script killing.
Over the years, another strategy commonly adopted by long-form video platforms is that they all choose to develop VR variety shows, hoping to use the public influence of variety shows to drive users to consume related products.
The most typical is "Vowel Adventure" produced by iQiyi last year, which almost comprehensively shows iQiyi's phased achievements in developing VR equipment and exploring VR technology in recent years, hoping to use celebrities to experience VR products and VR games to achieve the purpose of "bringing goods".
In terms of Tencent Video, under the Detective Day founded by the old team of Ming Detective, "Login to Yuanyuzhou", which "logs in to the metaverse", also has a similar production purpose, allowing star guests to go to a waterfront land full of game settings to embark on an 8-day adventure, popularizing various VR gameplay to the audience.
However, the combination of VR elements and variety show ecology seems to have appeared "unsatisfactory", and the VR variety shows launched by these long video platforms have not set off a national discussion in terms of popularity, and have not achieved the expected "bringing goods" effect.
From this point of view, compared with deliberately doing a variety show to promote VR, a popular VR device, VR film and television works or VR game works may be a more efficient means to promote the popularization of VR.
Just as the iPhone 4 led the comprehensive innovation of the smartphone industry and ChatGPT drove the development of the AIGC industry in one fell swoop, the VR entertainment industry needs to wait for their "ChatGPT".