Biggest VR Brands Form The VR Illuminati; Oculus, Google And More

Virtual reality technology is fast rising in popularity and with this comes an increasing risk in discrepancies when it comes to practices and standards. In order to get ahead of this issue, the biggest companies that are working on VR products including Google, Oculus, HTC, Acer, and Samsung are coming together to form a coalition. Called the Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA), the group is meant to oversee VR development across the globe.

According to the group, its main goal is to make sure that the promotion, development, and adoption of VR technology would be done responsibly, Engadget reports. Some of the ways that it will achieve this is to do some research and develop the best practices that will ensure everyone benefits from the rise of VR technology.

“While seeking to educate consumers, governments, and industry about VR’s potential, the association wants to get ahead of challenges with developing and deploying the technology responsibly,” the GVRA website reads. “That’s why we feel it’s important to bring together international experts across the industry to work collaboratively on global education, potential technical challenges, and promoting best practices in the field.”

Aside from supposedly providing other companies that are planning on investing in VR the information they need to progress properly in the industry, the group also intends to become a resource that both individual customers and policymakers can base their decisions on. This is quite the huge leap for an industry that, until a few years ago, was dominated by startups, TechCrunch reports.

Right now, there is still a huge possibility that the VR industry could just flop, much like how it did back in the 80s and 90s. The formation of GVRA will streamline practices and standards, which increases the chances of VR actually sprouting roots.

On that note, a noticeably absent party is Steam with its SteamVR platform. As such, making use of the Valve’s OpenVR initiative will likely not be on the organization’s agenda.