The Fifth Annual VR Awards hosted by the Academy of Worldwide Prolonged Actuality (AIXR) passed off final Thursday evening. Held remotely, the ceremony passed off in AltspaceVR this yr, after having taken place in VRChat final yr.
The VR Awards in AltspaceVR
The VR Awards have been opened by Kyle Render of the XR comedy present Failed to Render.
“Being concerned on this neighborhood is in contrast to something I’ve ever performed earlier than. We’re paving the street for the longer term,” mentioned Render.
Render additionally launched Mike Butcher of TechCrunch, who MCed the occasion.
“We frequently discover, in an trade that by its very nature is impatient for the longer term, it’s only by wanting again that we will see how far we’ve actually come,” mentioned Butcher.
The VR Awards themselves have been launched by AIXR chief govt Daniel Colaianni.
“We actually do wish to thank the actually tons of of individuals becoming a member of us on-line in VR,” mentioned Colaianni. “Usually, I’d be right here in particular person however truly that is much more thrilling.”
VR Healthcare of the Yr
The primary VR Award, VR Healthcare of the Yr went to Osso VR for “Cinematic VR Surgical Coaching Platform.” The extremely contested class included Khora, Make Actual Ltd., FundamentalVR, and others. Accepting the award was Osso VR VP of Advertising and marketing, Lisa Fong.
“This award really celebrates all the work of our group at Osso VR,” mentioned Fong.
VR Schooling and Coaching of the Yr
VR Schooling and Coaching was one other extremely contested class. Accepted by the corporate’s CTO Ed Wisniewski, the award went to NORCAT for Vale VR, an tools pre-operation guidelines program.
Additionally nominated have been Make Actual Ltd., Orka, VR Inn, and others.
VR Enterprise Answer of the Yr
Naturally an in depth contest this yr, finalists for the VR Enterprise Answer of the Yr class included Arthur, Orka, Make Actual Ltd., Spinview, and others. In the long run, the VR Award went to Masters of Pie for Hyperbat, a program utilizing 5G to speed up the manufacturing of batteries in UK crops.
VR Social Influence of the Yr
As corporations went above and past to attach individuals this yr, the VR Social Influence of the Yr class was full of compelling narratives and experiences from Geometry Ogilvy Japan, Rendever, and others.
The VR Award went dwelling with Accenture for AVEnueS – Race Equity in Child Welfare, a program for coaching welfare staff in delicate communities.
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Rising VR Firm of the Yr
This final yr has been an distinctive yr for VR and, as they are saying, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” The boat rising most noticeably, in keeping with the AIXR judges, was triple A code Gmbgh.
Accepting the award was CMO Felix Schaefer. Schaefer accepted the VR Award for the work that the corporate has performed, however expressed dedication for his or her work but to come back.
“We hope we may help a number of customers with our future VR content material,” mentioned Schaefer.
Revolutionary VR Firm of the Yr
At this stage of fame, it’s protected to say that each one VR corporations are revolutionary. Nominations for probably the most revolutionary included Cleanbox Expertise, Sensorium, Innerspace VR, Decision Video games, and others.
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Accepting the VR Award was Virtualware, an organization spanning training, leisure, and healthcare.
Out-of-Dwelling VR Leisure
As most individuals have been spending extra time of their houses than ever, this was a very difficult yr for Out-of-Dwelling experiences. Because of this, the nominees have been significantly spectacular together with DIVR Labs, meetspaceVR, Ubisoft Düsseldorf, and others.
The VR Award went to Figment Productions Ltd. for Current, Rising, a Tempest-inspired immersive opera.
“Thanks to everyone on the group who made such an awesome expertise for everybody who acquired to come back see it,” Figment CEO Simon Reveley mentioned, accepting the award.
VR Advertising and marketing of the Yr
Entrepreneurs turned to XR to achieve audiences in additional distant and extra participating methods. Corporations behind the nominated campaigns included Accenture, HIKKY Co., Ltd., IMMERSIVECAST, and others.
The award went to Geometry Ogilvy Japan for the Shibuya Digital Halloween expertise, which was additionally a nominee within the Social Influence class.
VR Movie of the Yr
VR show expertise, in addition to rendering software program and connectivity {hardware}, have all superior by leaps and bounds – even within the final yr. Maybe no expertise exhibits this higher than VR movies. Nominees have been insightful, instructional, and – in fact – immersive.
In the long run, the award went to 3DAR for Paper Birds, a narrative a couple of boy receiving other-worldly messages.
VR Expertise of the Yr
The VR expertise class included every little thing from movies to artwork installations to festivals with nominees together with Large Rock Inventive, the Nationwide Movie Board of Canada, Misplaced Eagle Studios, and others.
The massive award went dwelling with Atlas V and No Ghost for the interactive crime thriller Madrid Noir.
VR Social Influencer of the Yr
Because the VR market has grown, so has the marketplace for VR commentary, information, playthroughs, and different content material. This was mirrored in a packed class of nominees for VR Social Influencer of the Yr that included the Between Realities podcast, Cas and Chary VR, Nathie, and others.
For the second yr in a row, the award went to ThrillSeeker.
“What I want to do if I might presumably do it’s thank everyone who has ever clicked on considered one of my movies,” ThrillSeeker mentioned when accepting the VR Award. “I’m only a cog within the wheel… Whether or not you might have one viewer or a million viewers, I promise we’re all simply making stuff out of ardour.”
VR {Hardware} of the Yr
VR {hardware} has not solely gotten higher, it’s gotten extra reasonably priced and extra common within the final yr leading to one other packed class together with {hardware} by Oculus, HTC VIVE, Pico, Varjo, and VRgineers.
See Additionally: Varjo Publicizes VR Headset for “Main-Edge Customers” – Varjo Aero
Nonetheless, HP took dwelling one of many largest awards of the evening for the HP Reverb G2 Omnicept edition.
“Thanks to the VR Awards, AIXR, all of the judges, everybody within the viewers, and Altspace, in fact,” HP’s Joanna Popper mentioned accepting the award. Popper additionally debuted the headset in Altspace final yr at AWE. “Most vital of all is all the builders and the businesses working with us and constructing all of those nice apps on high of our nice {hardware}.”
VR Sport of the Yr
The VR Sport of the Yr class, one of the vital extremely anticipated awards, included nominees from small studios in addition to giants like Archiact, Digital Arts, and ILMxLAB.
The award went to Decision Video games for his or her turn-based dungeon crawler Demeo. The award was accepted by Decision Video games co-founder and Chief Communications Officer Paul Brady.
“VR sport releases have solely gotten higher and this yr is not any exception,” Brady mentioned accepting the award. “We got down to create the type of sport that we actually needed to see in VR.”
Brady additionally mentioned that Demeo could have an replace within the subsequent month. This intently follows the AWE announcement that Decision Video games will launch a studio for the event of AR video games.
Accenture VR Lifetime Achievement Award
Lastly, the Accenture VR Lifetime Achievement Award was introduced to Tom Furness, VR pioneer, lecturer, and founding father of the Virtual World Society. Furness appeared on the AltspaceVR stage not as an avatar, however as a hologram.
“It’s an honor to affix those that have already achieved this award up to now and all these award winners as we speak and within the final 4 years,” mentioned Furness. “I’m nonetheless a child. I’m nonetheless enthusiastic about what lies forward, and particularly to have the ability to work with individuals such as you.”
See You Subsequent Yr
It’s now one other yr earlier than the following VR Awards. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to watch the ceremony in addition to finalist interviews and extra on the VR Awards YouTube channel. You too can see lists of finalists and winners from earlier years on the AIXR website for the awards.
