A NEW REALITY IN EUROPE Market Prospects & Expert Insights on VR, AR & MR in Europe
Produced by In conjunction with:
May 17–18 Amsterdam A New Reality in Europe
CONTENTS
1.0 The huge opportunities for VR/AR tech and content development in Europe 3
2.0 Meet the Experts 5
3.0 Chris Koomen, Product Owner, VR, KLM 6
4.0 Patrick O’Luanaigh, Founder & CEO, nDreams 9
5.0 Simon Jones, Director of Unreal Engine Enterprise, Epic Games 12
6.0 Drive VR/AR Adoption, Create Growth 15
May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
2 A New Reality in Europe
1.0 THE HUGE OPPORTUNITIES FOR VR/AR TECH AND CONTENT DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPE
Europe is a massive market for immersive tech and content developers. As Juan Bossicard, co-founder of EUVR told Techcrunch in August 2017, “Europe has the potential to become a leading region in VR content: Our creativity, our cultural heritage and our talents are all assets that can be used to create unforgettable VR experiences, amazing video games and disruptive B2B applications.”
In 2018, the immersive tech industry continues to grow at a rapid rate with innovative start-ups and established tech and content juggernauts all diving into it from all corners of Europe.
From Germany, France, The UK, Netherlands and Sweden right through to Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia and Poland, the activity around VR and AR development and application use is already huge… and is increasing in momentum all the time as the install base grows.
As the latest data from SuperData demonstrates in the charts below, Europe is almost on a par with the US – and well ahead of Asia – in terms of headset shipments. And is virtually matching both these global markets in consumer VR/AR/MR revenue too. The future is very bright and the opportunities are huge.
FRONT-LINE INSIGHTS ON THE BIGGEST MARKETS, APPLICATIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES, FROM THOSE IN THE KNOW
In this paper, we’ll hear from technology platform, content and enterprise use experts who give their views on how they see the markets developing, where the primary obstacles are and who’s making the biggest waves and creating the most compelling May 17-18, Amsterdam content and applications.
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer They give their perspective on the potential for VR and AR in Europe, compared to other & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR markets; on which European countries they see driving VR and AR hardest; and on who they see as the key European companies leading the way in Europe.. Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
3 A New Reality in Europe
Hear from KLM who are pioneering the use of immersive technology across their business – particularly in training
Learn from nDreams what it takes to create and monetise a portfolio of VR games
Get insight from Unreal Engine on where they’re seeing the principal enterprise use-cases
And if you’re looking to find out how immersive tech is changing and enhancing digital experience development across consumer entertainment and enterprise, make sure you sign up to attend the next VRX conference and expo in Amsterdam on May 17-18 – Europe’s leading senior level immersive tech event.
With speakers including the interviewees from this paper, and dozens more of the globe’s top visionaries talking about the huge impact of immersive tech on gaming, entertainment, enterprise and more, VRX Europe 2018 is the continent’s most senior level B2B event for VR and immersive technology. Check out full details on www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
4 A New Reality in Europe
2.0 MEET THE EXPERTS
VR Intelligence has gained insights from three of the world’s most highly regarded immersive tech experts, to gain their views on, and objectives in, the European VR/AR market.
Chris Koomen is the product owner of virtual reality at KLM. His current work involves finding applications for VR across the airline, from cabin crew training to ground operations.
Patrick O’Luanaigh is the founder and CEO of nDreams, an independent VR studio based in Hampshire, UK. The studio has released eight VR titles to date, the latest of which has garnered an impressive 79 rating on Metacritic.
Simon Jones is the director of Unreal Engine Enterprise at Epic Games. His team helps companies use Epic’s real-time technologies to power activities in design visualisation, engineering, sales and marketing.
May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
5 A New Reality in Europe
3.0 CHRIS KOOMEN, PRODUCT OWNER, VR, KLM “Vacations are often quite expensive, CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH YOUR RECENT VR/AR PROJECTS so improving that AND WHERE IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGIES ARE HAVING THE MOST experience and IMPACT ON YOUR BUSINESS?
reducing the amount In 2017, we did a total of 19 VR experiments. Out of those 19, 4 have been implemented. of time holidaymakers One of them is a 360-degree immersive training for ground crew. This is an interactive waste having to VR training programme with the use of Samsung Gear VR. We also have a training orientate themselves programme for cabin crew. It focuses on the KLM city hopper, where people get trained upon arriving could be to work the aircraft. Using VR, they can see where things are within the cabin such as a huge opportunity.” lifesaving equipment, but also how things work on the aircraft and how you can navigate through it.
Another VR implementation is for our intercontinental service. This is another VR training exercise that takes the user through the galleys and how to serve people on the airplane.
We have also implemented cockpit training. This one is perhaps the most obvious when you think about possible VR projects for an airline. The difference is our particular scenario – a mid-flight lightning strike.
THE TREND FOR KLM SEEMS TO BE IN TRAINING RATHER THAN MARKETING, WHY IS THAT?
We haven’t seen much take up in marketing yet because we are still exploring how to use it for marketing. It’s quite difficult to use VR for marketing because it’s quite big and not a lot of people know about VR in the mass market. To date, I’ve seen Delta and Virgin doing that, and they have a movie about their products.
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE POTENTIAL FOR VR AND AR IN EUROPE, COMPARED TO OTHER GLOBAL MARKETS?
I think training will be a big opportunity for VR in Europe. I can see that the technology will also be used in entertainment – and by that I don’t mean video games. There is a big use case yet to be explored involving orientation when it comes to vacations. People heading off on holiday will be able to see what their destination looks like and can actually see where they are going.
May 17-18, Amsterdam Vacations are often quite expensive, so improving that experience and reducing the amount of time holidaymakers waste having to orientate themselves upon arriving could The senior-level B2B event driving consumer be a huge opportunity. & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR I think VR will head more in that kind of direction rather than as an alternative to movies. Tickets available at Movies are too difficult to create in VR – you have to point out the focusing point for the www.vr-intelligence.com/europe audience so that they can follow along with the story. With 360-degree video it’s quite
6 A New Reality in Europe
difficult to get people to see what you want them to see without having them look the other way at something they may have found interesting in the background of your scene.
WHICH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DO YOU SEE AS THE CORE DRIVERS FOR VR AND AR, AND WHY?
The biggest that I know of is Holland actually, because we do quite a lot in VR and AR. I think Sweden are doing some things and I’ve seen a few things in the German market too.
At the moment, I think there aren’t any other airlines as far along on the VR journey as KLM. We already have VR training programmes up and running and our cabin crew are actively using them. I spoke to some people from Google early last year and they said how impressed they were with how far we have come. For example, we have a hangar evacuation training that is fully interactive. That training includes 1150 possible choices as you work through the programme, and each choice creates a new path that has knock-on effects further down the line.
“VR is just a tool... WHO ARE THE KEY COMPANIES YOU’VE SEEN LEADING THE WAY You have to really IN EUROPE? think about how you use that tool in I haven’t seen too many companies doing what we do when it comes to training. I’m aware that Air France have an engine fire-up programme, but from what I hear the whatever industry implementation is on 360-degree screens rather than actually within VR. It’s a very you’re working in. The different thing. companies that really do that will be the Over in America I know that Walmart are using VR to train their staff in quite an impressive ones that succeed.” way.
There’s no doubt that VR is a great technology and you can do great things with it, but a lot of people don’t realise that it isn’t necessarily the answer to everything. Because of the projects I have already delivered, a lot of people at KLM come to me asking for help with VR projects. To be honest, sometimes those problems could be solved much more efficiently with a simple PowerPoint presentation, rather than going the whole way and jumping into VR.
VR is just a tool. A hugely powerful one, yes, but a tool nonetheless. You have to really think about how you use that tool in whatever industry you’re working in. The companies that really do that will be the ones that succeed.
May 17-18, Amsterdam WHAT ARE KLM’S PLANS FOR FURTHER INTEGRATING VR AND AR INTO YOUR EUROPEAN OPERATIONS? The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR At the moment, we’re working on quite a lot of training projects for VR at KLM. I’ve already got as many projects lined up for 2018 as I had in 2017 – 19 projects – so I’m going to be Tickets available at pretty busy. I’m expanding my team to help out with some of that workload. www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
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We’re also looking at how we can use VR on the commercial side, but we’re still in the experimental side.
Right now, we’ve pretty much figured out exactly how to implement training in VR, so future improvements will come with improvements to the aesthetics rather than the actual functionality.
The main areas of experimentation for us now are how we use VR for the customer. One of the projects I’ve been working on is IMCA, which stands for immersive cabin. That targets our solution for how we can use VR during a flight. The fundamental questions we want to answer with the IMCA project is VR’s suitability for increasing the well-being of passengers and cabin crew, generating extra revenue and improving operational efficiency.
May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
8 A New Reality in Europe
4.0 PATRICK O’LUANAIGH, FOUNDER & CEO, NDREAMS
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST NOTABLE PROJECTS YOU’VE BEEN WORKING ON RECENTLY?
We launched a VR game called Shooty Fruity just before Christmas on all the big, high-end VR headsets. It’s currently the highest rated shooter on PlayStation VR and we’ve had excellent sales, user ratings and critical ratings as well. I’m really excited by that, and I think the game will be a standout title on VR for quite some time.
We also launched a game called Bloody Zombies a few months before that, around September. Bloody Zombies is both a VR and non-VR game. Again, we got some great critical feedback and user reviews.
At nDreams we have multiple VR titles in development that we haven’t talked about yet. Some of those games will be released as we move throughout 2018. “The market here is very similar to the US NDREAMS HAS A HISTORY OF EARLY PLATFORM ADOPTION, IN – there isn’t much of PARTICULAR THE COMPANY’S DEVELOPMENT WORK WITHIN a difference between PLAYSTATION HOME. IS THAT PART OF THE COMPANY’S STRATEGY? the two. When you look at traditional It very much is part of our strategy. We pivoted to focus entirely on VR back in 2013, which gaming, the US and looking back was incredibly early – some might say even too early. We saw the very first Europe are more or iteration of PlayStation VR – Project Morpheus – behind closed doors, and we saw the less equal markets Oculus Kickstarter and basically fell in love with the tech. We had been doing a lot of work in terms of size and in PlayStation Home. In fact, we were the biggest global publisher on that platform. But importance.” that platform wasn’t growing. Because of that, we decided to pivot and become one of the first studios anywhere in the world to focus on VR development and publishing. Since then we’ve launched seven games on high-end and mobile VR devices and have grown the team off the back of some VC funding as well.
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE POTENTIAL FOR VR AND AR IN EUROPE, COMPARED TO OTHER GLOBAL MARKETS?
I think the potential in Europe is huge. The market here is very similar to the US – there isn’t much of a difference between the two. When you look at traditional gaming, the US and May 17-18, Amsterdam Europe are more or less equal markets in terms of size and importance. The potential of VR and AR within both is absolutely massive. The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR We’re still in the early stages of VR. The headsets are still a bit expensive, they’re still tethered and there’s still a lot of technology coming through. The analogy I would give is Tickets available at that we’re still in the ‘brick cell phone’ stage of development when it comes to VR. There is www.vr-intelligence.com/europe a lot of growth to come.
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What we see coming from the technology companies in the future, how we see the install base growing slowly but steadily and what we see developing in AR as well… it’s all incredibly exciting. I have some strong ideas about where this is all heading and what things will look like in a few years. In the meantime, we’ll see headsets like PlayStation VR continuing to sell really well in Europe – from what we can see they had a fantastic Christmas period and they’ve announced that over two million headsets sold, which is great.
WHICH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DO YOU SEE AS THE CORE DRIVERS FOR VR AND AR, AND WHY?
The UK has a pretty impressive development scene for VR right now, which is always encouraging to see. On the consumer side, we’re seeing strong sales in Russia, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect. Certainly, Russia has been strong, and France and Germany have been robust markets for us.
From a marketing and sales point of view, I would put Russia, France, Germany and the UK “From a marketing – as our key European markets. and sales point of view, I would put Being based in the UK certainly has its advantages. We have such a strong heritage in 3D Russia, France, and very high-quality games. When it comes to VR, by its very nature it’s all about 3D; you’re creating 3D environments and characters, and you have to have really high-quality assets Germany and the UK to succeed. That’s something that the development scene here has been really good at. – as our key European Over the years some of the best 3D games for the console platforms and PC have been markets.” developed by the talent we have in the UK.
Other countries have a great mobile development scene, but a lot of that is 2D and that definitely makes the shift over to VR more difficult – you have to have that core 3D skillset.
WHO ARE THE KEY COMPANIES YOU’VE SEEN LEADING THE WAY IN EUROPE?
We were very impressed with CCP, the developers of EVE: Valkyrie, but they seem to be taking a bit of a back seat in VR. My feeling is that they will wait a year or two to see how much the market will grow before potentially taking another run at it.
Crytek have done some interesting stuff with their title Robinson: The Journey. Supermassive, who are based just down the road from us in Guildford, have really supported PlayStation VR with their launch titles Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Tumble May 17-18, Amsterdam VR. There are also lots of smaller devs that are all doing some pretty cool things – maybe only with one product each – but there are some really impressive titles being developed The senior-level B2B event driving consumer around the UK. & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
10 A New Reality in Europe
HAVE WE BEGUN A SECOND WAVE OF HARDWARE INNOVATION IN “So far, because of VR? the requirements of VR in terms of I don’t think it will happen immediately, but we are at a stage now where we will see new framerate and having hardware coming, like the HTC Vive Pro. The hardware that excites me the most is the wireless system from Oculus, codenamed the Santa Cruz. I am so excited for that because to render everything it’s wireless, self-contained, does full hand tracking, full 360-degree tracking and there’s twice – once for each no cables or external sensors. It’s a really strong, solid headset that does everything you eye – we just haven’t would want. I think that’s where VR needs to be. Once headsets like that become $200 or been able to match less in terms of price point, that’s when VR really will start to become mass market. the fidelity of the best games on console and There’s a lot of very cool technology on the way that will make a massive difference, like PC. With eye-tracking eye-tracking for example. It hasn’t been incorporated into headsets yet, but you should be able to get a huge boost in performance by being able to render in detail where the user is that might just be looking, and having very low detail in the periphery. possible.” So far, because of the requirements of VR in terms of framerate and having to render everything twice – once for each eye – we just haven’t been able to match the fidelity of the best games on console and PC. With eye-tracking that might just be possible.
WHAT ARE THE KEY OBJECTIVES FOR NDREAMS IN 2018?
We’re continuing to grow the company and we’re looking to create some bigger titles for VR. We will continue our focus on high-end VR, supporting headsets like HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR. However, we will be bringing some titles to other headsets and even some mobile VR headsets.
Our aim in the next year is really to grow the team and to make higher and higher quality games. If you look at the quality level of the games that we have been generating since 2013, you can see the progress we’ve made as a company. Shooty Fruity is the latest example of that – I’m really proud of what we delivered on quite a tight budget. That’s an indication of where we are heading, and you will see some really innovative, unique titles coming from us that properly make use of what makes VR so special.
May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
11 A New Reality in Europe
5.0 SIMON JONES, DIRECTOR OF UNREAL ENGINE ENTERPRISE, EPIC GAMES
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST NOTABLE PROJECTS YOU HAVE BEEN WORKING ON WITH EPIC IN EUROPE?
The most important thing to say is that we provide the technology platform – most of the really clever stuff is created by our licensees. Across the European market, this team looks after everything that isn’t games. We focus on three main verticals: AEC (architecture, engineering and construction); manufacturing, which is primarily the automotive, aviation, aerospace and marine industries at the moment; and the film and TV space.
“Some of the There’s a tonne of activity going on in Europe across all of those. The architecture biggest successes industry, for example, was one of the first to adopt real-time technologies, so those guys we’ve seen have pre-date even this team at Epic. Some of the biggest successes we’ve seen have been been in AEC and the in AEC and the automotive industry, as well as within some industries we didn’t really anticipate like medicine and artificial intelligence. automotive industry, as well as within some Our licensees are now generating the levels of fidelity typically expected from an offline industries we didn’t image but from Unreal Engine and these are getting close to, and in some cases replacing, really anticipate like photography and traditional CGI techniques that these industries traditionally used. medicine and artificial intelligence.” As a technology maker, we don’t just have one or two great VR projects I can talk about as use cases. By the very nature of our business, we have visibility of hundreds of successful projects across a wide number of industries.
FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE POTENTIAL FOR VR AND AR IN EUROPE, COMPARED TO OTHER GLOBAL MARKETS?
At Epic, I have a global role in the automotive sector and then an EMEA role that runs alongside that. When you see a lot of analysts talk about the the opportunity for AR and VR technology, they largely talk about it from an entertainment standpoint.
Many start-ups are building applications and getting investment to innovate a consumer experience and they’re making that experience available by consumer methods – whether that’s on the Steam store or the Apple App Store or whatever. That’s where a lot of the focus seems to be, and when you hear criticism of the VR and AR industry, it’s primarily because the installed bases are still growing. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are awesome, but May 17-18, Amsterdam they’re expensive for a home installation. As a result, the install base hasn’t yet got near the games consoles for example. The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR PlayStation VR has managed to break into the home, so we’re seeing good opportunities there. Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
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For this team at Epic, the enterprise use of VR and AR is a huge opportunity. Some of the barriers you have with consumer VR simply aren’t there in enterprise. Enterprise customers, if they’re building a design visualisation lab for the aviation industry, they’re not worried that the hardware costs of a few thousand dollars whereas at home you might. These industrial users can easily spend a million dollars on a VR setup for a lab to innovate their processes.
We’re seeing the use of VR and AR explode in the enterprise space because it allows them to achieve tasks they simply cannot do in other ways.
McLaren have been working on a piece of technology that allows their designers to physically design cars in VR, before passing those designs back into their traditional modelling package. They’re doing that because it changes everything about the way the designers can work. In the past, they’ve had to use 2D materials – a screen or pen and paper or similar. Now they can sit in the seat of a vehicle and design the vehicle around them.
Another great example of that is a company in Manchester in the UK called C4X Discovery. They’re using Unreal Engine to design drugs for the cancer industry. They’re now, at a molecular level, designing the way that drugs interact with each other. They’re designing and experiencing the relationship between molecules that you can’t even see under the microscope. May 17-18, Amsterdam The technology is unlocking capability and efficiencies within industry that goes way The senior-level B2B event driving consumer beyond entertainment. I think that is the huge opportunity. & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
13 A New Reality in Europe
WHICH EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, AND KEY COMPANIES, DO YOU SEE AS THE CORE DRIVERS FOR VR AND AR, AND WHY?
The UK is a strong player – there are quite a few big players based in the UK. Agencies like Rewind and Neutron VR have done a great job of marketing themselves as experts in the space. There’s a lot of really good teams in Germany, and Berlin is a particular hub for talent, as are some of the southern cities in Germany like Munich.
“We’re pretty We’re pretty impressed with projects coming out of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. impressed with There are a few very good outfits there like MediaMonks that are very strong. projects coming out of Amsterdam in The I’m conscious that I’m citing those three territories – the UK, Germany and The Netherlands – and that probably mirrors the territories we’ve been focusing on so far. Netherlands. There are a few very good There are a lot of good things in VR happening in France, Spain and Italy, and we’d like to outfits there like encourage VR Studios in those locations to reach out to us. MediaMonks that are very strong.” WHAT ARE THE KEY OBJECTIVES FOR EPIC’S EUROPEAN OPERATIONS OF 2018?
A lot of the data that arrives from enterprise to work within Unreal Engine are directly from design or manufacturing, often as detailed as a CAD drawing for a vehicle. By necessity these designs are incredibly detailed, and therefore you have potentially millions of data points that all need to be rendered at 90 frames per second to an incredibly high aesthetic standard. That takes a lot of computing crunch. Because of that, a big part of what we’ve done over the past six to twelve months is to develop a frictionless workflow, where our enterprise customers can have a click/input approach, so using their data in VR is less challenging. It’s effectively building compatibility between Unreal Engine as a games engine and the systems clients are using in the market to develop their products.
Two years ago, this team started off as just two people. We’re fortunate in that Epic are heavily invested in the success of the enterprise team. Today, globally, we’re over 30 people and growing again in 2018.
Our objectives are always to find industries that we can genuinely help to revolutionise using real-time technologies. In 2018, we will continue looking for more of those stories, whilst also expanding our understanding of how to better assist those industries. If we can find capabilities that we can build into Unreal Engine to unlock industries that we’re not yet aware of, we will have a truly successful year. May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
14 A New Reality in Europe
6.0 DRIVE VR/AR ADOPTION, CREATE GROWTH
With so much opportunity on the horizon for VR/AR technology and content development across Europe, now is the time you need to hear from those building the future of VR and immersive tech and network with the true industry leaders in the field.
VRX Europe 2018 in Amsterdam is purpose built to give you the chance to do just this. Established as the region’s leading senior level cross-industry event, the agenda features the brightest and best minds from across gaming, media, enterprise, brand marketing and immersive technology.
With speakers representing everyone from Audi, Rewind, nDreams, GfK, KLM, SuperData and Volkswagen there’s no better place for you to learn from and network with the top tier companies leading the charge.
Head to the dedicated event website to see more: www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
15 A New Reality in Europe
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May 17-18, Amsterdam
The senior-level B2B event driving consumer & enterprise adoption of VR, AR & MR
Tickets available at www.vr-intelligence.com/europe
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