The right fish in the right pond – thank you so much, Pico, for inviting us! – was at once humbling, impressive and most of all encouraging. The things the high-end virtual reality developers do are simply incredible! Even for myself and Mark Madsen, our little team sent out into the world, the experiences were unbelievable – and we work in the same industry.
The enormous demonstrations from some developers and publishers must on its own costs more than developing an entire game does for us at Cross Reality. And the technology makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – who is afraid to look at the price tag.
But at the same time, I feel more secure than ever in our own niche, striving for accessibility, simplicity and fun. I love the idea or playing VR as a fighter pilot (hmmm… that’s a good idea!), but I really don’t want to put on the same amount of equipment as a real-life fighter pilot. And with my experience of operating entertainment venues with my Cross Reality co-founder Marie Möller, I’m sure the systems cost about as much as a real fighter jet too. Which puts them in a price range that we simply could not afford even if we dared to invest so much money in a VR system.
That’s where Cross Reality comes into the picture. Our systems and games are developed to be easy to install and start playing, be robust enough to minimize down time and offer the highest ROI in the market for our clients. The wow factor comes from the games and the experience, not from the most expensive equipment. Having the most cutting edge tech is not our niche, we instead strive to get as much fun and replay value out of what we do have as simple and as cheap as possible
If Cross Reality was a movie, we wouldn’t be Avengers or Avatar, but a small budget independent film. Let’s say we are Reservoir Dogs, it’s mostly some people talking in a warehouse with a total budget of USD 1.2 million – but to me personally, a much greater experience than super heroes and aliens. Not to mention, something that I want to re-watch again and again.
After taking part of Laval Virtual, I realize that we are not even a big fish in a small pond, but a small fish in a pond that is growing into an ocean with room for every kind of fish that is creative enough. And while we aim at growing even faster than the industry as a whole, I love where we are and what we are. We are the right fish in the right pond.
I also have a lot of new ideas about how to use virtual reality outside the traditional gaming market… but I will keep you guessing about those for just a little bit longer.
