While talk of Internet of Things dominated most of the speeches made at Computex this year, held from May 30 to June 3, it was the VR booths of HTC Vive and Samsung Gear that drew most attention from members of the public at the new InnoVEX section of the expo. This was largely because they offered them a chance to experience VR headsets and games firsthand, coinciding with the Taiwan launch of the HTC Vive headset in HTC stores.

Among the games that gained the most traction among expo-goers was Front Defense, a VR World War II themed shooter game, designed by HTC's Fantahorn studio. The guy playing when we were at the booth spent most of his short two minute go at the game trying to figure out how to switch guns, however and the combination of headphones and headset made it a bit clunky. The game is also slightly static, as although you can pick stuff up and fire, there's limited ability to move around or explore, hence the use of sandbags to block incoming bullets.

Figure 1: Screenshot of Front Defense taken from the HTC Vive blog

The limited ability to move in games means that bulky accessories and equipment are often needed to complement the virtual reality games. One of the more bulky of these was the strange contraption that is Birdly VR, a flying simulator that lets you soar over buildings and parks, complete with a fan at the front for wind simulation:

Figure 2: The Birdly booth at Computex; Image from HTC Vive blog

Check it out in action below:

There was also a virtual rowing machine called Holodia (see Figure 3), which allows you to row in various environments, including outer space and a multiplayer game Ruckus Ridge VR Party and sci-fi game Jeeboman.

Figure 3: Holodia at Computex; Image from HTC Vive blog

The vice-director of HTC's VR department Raymond Pao took part in the InnoVEX forum and addressed what he called the three key pillars of the VR ecosystem: content, sales channels and hardware. There are already over 200 items on the Steam VR platform that support HTC Vive and HTC is also set to launch its own platform, called VivePort, said Pao. He added that games would be the first area for growth, but that HTC has ambitions well beyond this. As a VR ecosystem is still lacking, the company has launched the Vive X Global VR Accelerator project, aimed at providing education, investment and mentorship to startups. He also pointed to the medical sector and the military, as places were VR technology has already shown growth and pointed to virtual shopping as one of the most suitable applications for VR technology.

Pao stated in an interview with Taipei's China Times that sales of the HTC Vive have been good and that sales have not only been launched in HTC branches in Taiwan, but also on e-commerce sites in China, including Gome, Suning, Tmall and Jingdong Mall and in the US and Europe.

Samsung Gear had this rollercoaster simulator, as well as racing game simulators:

Figure 4: The Samsung Gear VR booth at Computex; Image from Samsung Taiwan

Check it out in action below:

But how much of the intellectual property involved in VR is held by Asian companies?

Among the 870 VR patents, 152 are held by Japanese companies, 16 are held by South Korean companies, five are held by Taiwanese patent holders, four are held by Singaporean patent holders, while China holds two, according to statistics from Taiwan’s Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), with the majority held by US and Japanese, Canadian, UK and South Korean patent holders, with the US and Japan accounting for 85% of the total (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Number of VR patent applications by nationality of applicant / Chart from MIC presentation

In a previous interview, cited by Taiwan's Central News Agency, Pao stated that HTC is going to learn its lesson and that the company's dedicated IP team has been applying for patents in the VR sector in key markets, including China, the US and Europe. He stopped short of specifying the number of patent applications the company has filed, however.

Global VR companies gained financing totaling almost US$800 million in 2014, according to figures released by US market research firm CB Insights, over double the figure from 2013 and in the first three quarters of 2015 the figure reached US$408 million. The VR market is expected to continue to grow to US$40 billion by 2020.

MIC predictions suggest that hardware is the focus of the current stage of VR development, which should last up until 2019, at which point it is expected that software will take the lead, suggesting that a "killer" application for VR will not emerge for some years yet. Games are set to be the largest source of revenue in the VR sector, according to MIC predictions, and mobile phones are expected to lead the initial development of VR, with computers and consoles to subsequently bring an upgrade to the entire industry.

Figure 6: A breakdown of predicted growth in the global VR industry / Chart from MIC presentation

In terms of patent deployment in different industry sectors (see Figure 7), it has been mainly focused on computing technology (31.3%), audiovisual technology (14.8%), optics (7.4%), control (5.8%), telecommunications (1.3%) and medical technology (1.1%).

Figure 7: Chart from MIC presentation

MIC senior analyst and vice director Kuo Chia-jung pointed out five major problems facing the VR sector: the lack of quality content services, the lack of a good VR ecosystem, the lack of reasonably priced consumer products, poor product experience and overly high manufacturing costs. He said that to build good service for consumers, VR firms have to actively promote a VR ecosystem, from hardware, to software and content services. As the VR sector stresses an immersive experience, it relies on the consumer's personal experience to take effect, he added. Therefore, in the short term vertical application services should be developed, like building VR theme parks, VR internet cafes or developing vertical applications in different sectors including education, medicine and army training, he said. The establishment of VR 360 content, plot development and interactivity, completely different from traditional games and films, pose a big challenge for the content industry, as content will be a key element of the future VR industry, he added.

Figure 8: VR Ecosystem / Image from MIC presentation.

Author: Conor Stuart Current Post: Senior Editor, IP Observer Education: MA Taiwanese Literature, National Taiwan University BA Chinese and Spanish, Leeds University, UK Experience: Translator/Editor, Want China Times Editor, Erenlai Magazine

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