Facebook spending $2 billion earlier this year to acquire virtual reality headset maker Oculus VR has the technology world a buzz about the seemingly endless number of possibilities enshrouded in the concept of virtual reality that are now coming into focus. The acquisition also let the world know that mainstream consumer virtual reality products are closer than most may have thought and they’re not just going to be for gamers. University of Southern California researcher and virtual reality pioneer Mark Bolas may have put it best when he told Los Angeles Times’ Riley Snyder in an article on Sunday, “It’s stunningly difficult to limit the areas that I think it’s [virtual reality] going to influence.”
Researchers see VR gaining traction rapidly in the coming years. According to KZero, hardware sales of consumer virtual reality products will be nominal in 2014 (around $60 million), but will explode to $5.2 billion by 2018.
The growing interest is not facing a shortage of headset makers, with the now famous Oculus Rift of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) making the most headlines. Within the world of augmented reality, several other public companies are making a splash, notably Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) with its Glass project that has hit the streets with mixed reviews and Vuzix (OTCQB:VUZI)(TSX-Venture:VZX), a long-standing player in the video eyewear category.
These headsets and glasses are great, but VR is nothing without content, offering a tremendous opportunity for properly aligned companies. That’s where technology and content solutions company Next Galaxy Corp. (OTCQB:WILS) is establishing a leadership position in the industry through the development of its flagship consumer product, Ceek (pronounced "seek"). Ceek, which is being developed for the Oculus Rift as well as other head-mounted displays, such as Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) Project Morpheus, is described by the company as a unique blend of the real world, virtual and augmented reality that will allow users to "simulate the communal experience
of being at a movie, music concert, sports game, museum, business conference or meeting, spectator event or travel destination."
That description translates to a world of opportunity for consumers to experience things that were probably normally out of reach, whether it’s alone or with a friend to virtually sit in front-row seats at a basketball game, take a trip to the Louvre, attend a Beyonce concert, local event or just hang out together. Next Galaxy has taken the social media and avatar component to the next level, using a biometric identification and other leading technologies to ensure authenticity of users and generate real-life avatars, rather than the cartoonish figures used by most today.
Shy of teleportation, this type of virtual reality experience is the answer to be immersed in an environment as if you were actually there. The Next Galaxy website shows Ceek laid out as a digital city, where users will enter and then pick the experience they wish by traversing throughout the streets to buildings and venues of all different themes.
To bring this project to fruition, Next Galaxy has partnered with EON Reality, a world leader in virtual reality software, systems and applications. On Monday, EON Reality was named by Research and Markets alongside peers like Oculus and Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) as a major global player in the virtual reality market.
Per the agreement, EON Reality will provide software and turnkey VR development to be integrated into the Ceek platform in order to enable a fully interactive Social Virtual Reality experience for Ceek users. EON will also offer CEEK operational oversight, ongoing support and updates, as well as EON's SDK and EON's communication suites that enable communication between virtual environments.
"Next Galaxy's Ceek platform is very exciting with the potential to change the social media landscape," said Mats Johansson, CEO of EON Reality in a statement today; adding that the future of social virtual reality can now be seen clearly with Next Galaxy’s platform.
"Our partnering with EON Reality assures the successful realization of NGC's CEEK platform as a definitive Social Entertainment destination for Virtual Reality. To be working with the best in the industry not only guarantees the speedy delivery of our platform, but also the unmatched quality of the product we are offering to the marketplace,” added Mary Spio, President of Next Galaxy.
The group of developers building Ceek now includes the seasoned Next Galaxy Corp. team, EON Reality and a newly recruited game, movie and cinematics designer that has worked on blockbusters like Crackdown for Sony’s Xbox One and Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Next Galaxy is new to the public domain, going public late last month through a reverse merger with Wiless Controls. In just a few weeks since the merger, trading activity is picking up and the stock price has climbed, including rising 59 percent in early Tuesday action to 17.5 cents.
With a market capitalization still under $12 million, there’s plenty of headroom for growth as this upstart now has a heavyweight on its side to be the first to market with what looks to be a revolutionary product to push virtual reality passed a tipping point. Proper due diligence is, as always, encouraged.
