By the second quarter of this year, Apple’s Vision Pro headset is likely to get its first metaverse app. Victoria VR, a firm that works on projects related to web3 and virtual reality is developing this app for the Vision Pro. As per the initial announcement disclosed over the weekend, the app will feature ultra realistic graphics to make the headset experience as immersive as technologically possible. With this, Victoria VR is looking to connect with the members of the global high-end gaming sector at a time when the global games market is poised to reach the valuation of $256.9 billion (roughly Rs. 21,33,268 crore) by 2025.
Apple released its futuristic, mixed reality (XR) Vision Pro headset on February 2, 2024 – several months after announcing it at its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, 2023. The headset is outlandishly priced at $3,499 (roughly Rs. 2.9 lakh).
Deploying its app on the Vision Pro, Victoria VR is looking to integrate Apple’s inhouse technology with its own and offer life-like play experience to gamers.
“There will be new opportunities every day encouraging users to return and engage with the world. We will host competitions and give daily/weekly/monthly rewards for users and working with the top tier of the gaming industry, we will be creating a series of Quests and mini-games drawing on the rich experience gained from our predecessors,” Victoria VR said in its whitepaper released earliler this week.
It is interesting, that despite Apple’s reluctance to let its users engage with volatile virtual digital assets like cryptocurrencies, Victoria VR’s app will expose Vision users to crypto and NFT activities.
“Our primary focus will be targeting users of cryptocurrencies and speculators as early adopters. We will become one of the main global marketplaces for NFTs. Within Victoria VR, users will be able to create NFT’s and securely trade in and outworld NFTs in the The Big Market VR,” the whitepaper further noted.
Apple, as of now, has not addressed the crypto-related elements of VR games on the Vision Pro. The iPhone-maker has previously come under fire from members of the Web3 industry for obstructing app growths on its App Store.
In April 2023, a California appeals court had also called Apple’s policy of not allowing app developers to integrate third party payment methods with their services as ‘unlawful’. The court ruling is expected to bring changes to Apple’s App Store payment practices in the EU and could also allow Web3 apps to add more operability to their iOS iterations.
