HTC Vive, the world’s leading virtual reality (VR) headset maker, on Sunday launched the developer beta version of Viveport M, an app store for mobile VR, and the VR arcade management platform, Viveport Arcade. They are part of an effort to expand from PC to mobile and offline virtual reality.
In April, HTC and the game distribution platform Steam jointly released HTC Vive, a PC-based VR headset. HTC Vive users purchase virtual reality entertainment content, mostly games, over Steam.
Then in September, HTC Vive released its own virtual reality app store, Viveport, a platform offering more content than just pure entertainment. Viveport features content across categories including “VR–like information”, “edutainment”, social media, 360˚ video, news, sports, health, travel and shopping.
Following Viveport is Viveport M, which is supported by most Android phones and enables users to explore VR apps or videos. Registered Vive developers can download it via the Vive website. Viveport M consumer vision will be released before the end of this year.
On top of the Viveport M, the company launched Viveport Arcade, a management platform for VR arcades. VR arcades are similar to internet cafés, in that they are physical businesses with HTC Vive equipment, selling customers use of the VR equipment and charging based on the time elapsed.
“Creating premium virtual reality content is hard work and costs a lot of money. By moving Viveport to mobiles and offline arcades, we will help global content creators rapidly expand their user bases and monetize from their content,” said Alvin Wang Graylin, China Regional President of VR at HTC.
(Top photo from Vive.com)