A sizable list of virtual reality bigwigs are joining together for a concerted VR collaboration named the Global Virtual Reality Association, or GVRA, whose mission is to promote the "responsible development and adoption of VR" on a global scale.
Global Virtual Reality Association
Among the heavyweights forming the non-profit organization are Google, HTC Vive, Oculus, Samsung, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Acer Starbreeze. These companies aim to promote the growth of VR by developing and sharing best practices, conducting research, and form a solidarity of sorts as the VR industry treads its surging trajectory.
"[T]he founding companies of the Global Virtual Reality Association will work to unlock and maximize VR's potential and ensure those gains are shared as broadly around the world as possible," according to the GVRA.
The association's FAQ page is riddled with steep and vague words that don't elaborate much, but the principle behind the GVRA's formation is founded on the belief in VR's "immense global potential and the opportunities ahead."
"[I]t will change the landscape of education, training, healthcare, and design, among many other areas."
Unification Of Standards For VR Possible?
As companies head out with their individual VR platforms, most recently Google with Daydream, there really isn't a set of standards for virtual reality games and applications, which is a pressing matter considering the rapid growth of the platform.
Often, if not always, Oculus games won't play on the HTC Vive or PlayStation VR. Vive sensors are incompatible with the Oculus, and so forth. These practices fragment the VR platform, and it might dissuade third-party developers from creating VR-specific software if developing one means developing a set of others just for the output to be compatible with a number of VR platforms.
Software exclusivity helps propel the VR competition, of course, but employing a set of standards at least makes it easier for developers to refrain from trundling a game from platform to platform, laboriously changing and repurposing each element for the given platform's specific software development kit.
It's hard to say whether the founding of the GVRA will proffer a universal VR platform in the same vein as Valve's OpenVR platform, but all bets are off once Valve joins the GVRA crowd.
What would you like to see from the GVRA? Do you think GVRA will pursue a unification of standards for the VR platform to prevent it from further fragmenting? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
