The PhoenIX, an animated science-fiction virtual reality series developed by Warrior9. Warrior9

What was television like before episodic narratives? The development of serialized content transformed traditional entertainment media and virtual reality (VR) startups are now hoping it will do the same for their market.

Warrior9 is a Singapore‐based video and VR production house developing what it calls the first animated science-fiction VR series. Called 'The PhoenIX,' the show is set in space and employs a range of technologies such as motion-capture, the process of incorporating human movement into a three-dimensional model, to document mankind's race for survival against an unknown enemy. Unlike conventional animation, motion-capture experienced in VR injects a stronger dose of realism by making viewers feel like they are actually in 'The PhoenIX,' floating in space or caught in the middle of a frenetic dogfight.

"The majority of VR non-gaming content currently comprises of short films and videos. There are few things to keep you coming back. We would watch something amazing in VR like [animated film] 'Allumette' from Penrose Studios and then go hunting for something else," chief creative director Abhi Kumar told CNBC, explaining why his team chose to focus on episodes, instead of one-off experiences. Production of the first season—consisting of nine episodes—will wrap by end 2017 and in the meantime, a teaser will be released next month. Warrior9 hopes to make the series available on as many headsets as possible, including the mobile-friendly Google Cardboard and higher-end devices like Razer's OSVR. As VR increasingly penetrates the mainstream consciousness, with more hardware available on the market, "the technology required to pull off such an ambitious project has finally gotten to the point where you no longer need a huge studio to create engaging visuals to go along with the story," noted Race Krehel, The PhoenIX's lead VR animator. Innovative storytelling is set to be the next frontier for VR, with more investors throwing their support behind content players, not just hardware makers. "I'm very optimistic about the opportunity that content developers (in all forms, from art to culture to entertainment) will have in the VR future," explained Mario Valle, ‎co-founder and managing partner at Altered Ventures, a VC fund specializing in VR and augmented reality (AR). Narratives will be one of the reasons why the VR industry will shine, he added. Jaunt China, a joint venture of Silicon Valley-based Jaunt, is also focused on episodic material. Launched this year in partnership with Shanghai Media Group and China Media Capital, two of China's largest media companies, it already has several projects in the pipeline but is unable to disclose any details.