It’s finally here! In July, Unity announced our partnership with Lionsgate to create a first-of-its-kind, immersive virtual reality advertisement. And now, leading up to the film’s launch this Friday, October 27th, , the experience is live in two VR apps made with Unity.

Thanks to a close partnership with Lionsgate, the Jigsaw Virtual Room is truly an authentic experience, featuring real props from the movie rendered in VR, custom voice-over from Jigsaw-himself, actor Tobin Bell, and even includes shrines to each of the eight films in the Saw franchise.

When users first enter the ad, they find themselves trapped in a terrifying contraption with only one choice – to live or die. They must solve a quick puzzle and, if they survive, they can teleport around the environment to check out the various Saw film shrines. All experiences end in a final room where the movie trailer plays on large screens inside the headset.

The ad is being distributed naturally in two VR apps: Samsung Internet for VR app and The Spiraloid Workshop’s Nanite Fulcrum. You can check out the Samsung Gear VR version of the Jigsaw experience today!

Samsung Internet VR is Samsung’s extension of their mobile web browser built for Gear VR users. The core app is built in Unity, so as a result, we were able to seamlessly integrate the Jigsaw Virtual Room into the app, even though it’s fully interactive. This is the first of its kind experience to ever appear on Samsung’s VR browser home screen.

“We are excited to bring this new type of experience to VR web browsing and see it as a great opportunity for promoting the work of Unity’s great VR developer community,” said Laszlo Gombos, Director of Samsung Internet.

Spiraloid’s Nanite Fulcrum is the next step in the evolution of the graphic novel. Users enter an exclusive Jigsaw comic book panel where the same heart-pumping ad lives. Nanite Fulcrum is a cross-platform app – live on both Gear VR and Oculus Rift, so naturally the Jigsaw ad had to be cross-platform as well, showcasing the versatility of building an ad experience on Unity.

“The Jigsaw Virtual Room is just the beginning. Now that we’ve proven broad-reaching, deeply immersive ads are possible, we expect to see this trend continue with formats including VR, AR, 360 mobile video, and playables,” said Julie Shumaker, VP of Advertiser Solutions at Unity. “Brands will have the opportunity to tell their story in a way that elicits emotional, memorable interactions. As the development platform with the highest reach in AR, VR, and mobile games, we are excited to see what marketers will do next.”

“Advertising in VR combines the storytelling power of immersive content with the guaranteed reach of a media buy,” said David Edwards, SVP of Digital Marketing at Lionsgate. “We’re thrilled to have worked with Unity on this campaign, bringing Jigsaw into an engaging VR ad experience.”

Lionsgate also debuted the Jigsaw VR ad content within a custom-built experiential ‘Escape Room’ installation at New York Comic-Con October 5-8, 2017. Now, online launch is underway building excitement for the movie premiere with Halloween. To learn more about the Jigsaw Virtual Room and the Unity ads platform, please visit the Unity VR ads page.

