There’s an interesting article about the Liverpool-based social VR company vTime XR, which appeared last October on the British website BusinessLive (I guess I must have missed it!).
Titled Inside Liverpool firm vTime – the tech business behind world’s first cross-reality social network, the article provides some statistics on how popular vTime XR has proven to be since its launch in 2015:
…earlier this year, an update to the app meant a name change from vTime to vTime XR. That saw it become the world’s first cross-reality social experience – meaning users can meet, chat and share with others in AR, VR or 2D mode.
With VR, the app’s users stay fully-immersed inside the locations using a headset, while AR mode allows them to place a live, 360-degree model of the destination on any real-world, flat surface.
That creates a shared virtual space by using VR headsets or a smartphone, with the app allowing any users to meet – regardless of which mode they are using.
The product has been downloaded around 1 million times, with users in 190 countries across the world, and [the software] available in eight formats.
vTime XR is an example of a simple but well-done single-purpose VR platform. Its sole purpose is to allow you to connect and converse with your friends, coworkers—even complete strangers!—in groups of up to four people at a time. It has deliberately focused on that core use (conversation), adding support for new platforms over time. Because it is so easily rendered, it can be used by just about anybody: people on mobile devices, cellphone-based VR, all the way up to the Oculus Rift VR headset. (Surprisingly, it’s not available for the Oculus Quest yet.)
Congratulations to vTime XR for reaching the significant milestone of one million downloads!