The development of Virtual Reality (VR) has had a noteworthy impact on the entertainment world. It allowed the user to have a great gaming or movie watching experience by generating realistic images, sounds, and other effects. Then came the Augmented Reality (AR) technology, which added virtual elements to the real-world environment. Today, Mixed Reality (MR) is combining both VR and AR to deliver an even more immersive experience.
MR technology uses next-generation sensing and imaging technologies to allow you to interact with both physical and digital elements at the same time and manipulate them as you want. It perfectly integrates imagination and reality, which is why Mixed Reality is flaunted as the “future of entertainment”.
How can entertainment companies leverage mixed reality to improve the customer and product experience? How to develop technology that can integrate well with your business? The right step is to find a leading digital transformation consulting service, with this approach companies can find all the support and expertise they need for adopting MR technology.
The Applications of Mixed Reality in Entertainment
Mixed Reality allows you to see and experience the real world while interacting with a virtual environment. For instance, you can take something in the real world and hit an imaginary character in the virtual world with that while playing a game. The MR technology seamlessly blends the basic concepts of real and imaginary elements, offering an unparalleled experience that can significantly change the way a person sees and interacts with different forms of entertainment.
Gaming is not the only industry that Mixed Reality technology is transforming; it is upgrading several entertainment platforms in the modern world, from watching a TV show to cooking. The entertainment industry has greatly evolved with the digital boom, and leaders in the Mixed Reality segment understand that. This is why MR technology is being explored to deliver a unique experience with virtual tours to virtual music concerts, virtual vacations, and more.
1. TV and Movies
As the AR and VR technologies are improving rapidly, the TV and film industry is looking to incorporate Mixed Reality into their applications. It gives them a platform for interactive storytelling, which adds to the overall experience of the viewer. For instance, the You vs. Wild series on Netflix allows you to explore the harshest environments on Earth with adventure survivalist Bear Grylls, and make key decisions to help Grylls survive and complete the missions.
2. Gaming
Mixed Reality gaming has come a long way since the development of the popular AR mobile game Pokémon Go. Microsoft, for instance, has launched a few Windows Mixed Reality games to give an unsurpassed gaming experience to users. This includes simple virtual reality mining games, tower offense games to intensive zombie apocalypse games. Mixed Reality is revolutionizing how VR allows you to step into the game world and interact with the elements using motion-tracking controllers and optical sensors.
3. Live Concerts
VR is transforming live music concerts as we know of today. More and more artists are streaming live concerts to allow fans across the globe to enjoy the virtual spectacle from the comfort of their homes. As virtual concerts are getting bigger, MR can help performers to break the fourth wall, interact with digital props, and enhance fan engagement. It also recreates the live experience by offering 360-degree viewpoints and interactions to make you feel as if you were at the venue.
4. Sports Entertainment
From developing interactive sports stadiums to enhancing the experiences of passionate fans and building global communities, Mixed Reality has great scope for sports entertainment. Developers are working on MR apps that would give you a similar experience of watching live sports action in the stadium at your home. PGA Tour is also looking to use the MR technology for its tournament set-up and golf course design. Likewise, Mixed Reality can also help players and teams to prepare their strategy before entering the arena for delivering their best performance.
5. Museum Tours
Virtual museums can be defined as digital entities that compliments museum experience with personalized, interactive and rich content. In 2017, the British Museum used VR technology to provide an exceptional digital museum-going experience to users. MR technology looks to redefine that with interactive elements that will allow users to visit their favorite museums and art galleries from anywhere in the world.
6. Virtual Theme Park
The improvements in the VR technology allowed many theme parks to incorporate a Virtual Reality component into their existing rides. Some even added new VR rides to the theme parks. Mixed Reality can take it a step further and allow users to go places that they could not in the real world. This can also help theme parks to create highly structured and fantastical spaces that would not be possible in real life to give users a more thrilling and adrenaline-pumping experience.
Mixed Reality environments allow users to interact with different elements during a game, concert, or museum tour, which could not be experienced before. Many of the applications for MR are still in the testing stages and AR/VR headsets are yet to reach a wider consumer base. Yet again, industry leaders are confident about the scope of Mixed Reality in the entertainment sphere and developing new ways to overcome the hurdles and make it a mainstream experience.