HTC's virtual reality content management and sales platform named Viveport Arcades is coming to China.
HTC announced during the 2016 VR Developers Conference held in San Francisco that the company will soon open the service the U.S., China, and Europe as it aims to provide the opportunity to experience virtual reality to the public.
HTC will authorize the use of this app to cinemas, cafes and VR gaming halls to allow retailers to establish their own VR public space. The entire process can be realized via a Viveport program and it is easy to operate for vendors.
At the same time, developers can list their games in the arcade game catalog of Viveport app store and HTC will share their profit from Viveport apps with developers. At present, Viveport app store has 120 kinds of games for trial and final prices have not yet been determined. Currently the trial costs range from USD5 to USD13.
HTC plans to develop VR into a billion-dollar industry over the next two years and the only way to realize it is to place VR devices in the hands of consumers. However, due to high prices, most people do not have the luxury to try VR devices. At present, HTC's VR device Vive is sold at USD800 and it requires a high-configuration gaming PC, so this Viveport concept may be a good way to introduce VR to more consumers.