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VR in the Next Five Years

MoguraVR:

So what do you think will the future of VR look like in five years time?

Palmer Luckey:

The form factor of the devices will improve; they will become lighter, thinner, and more compact. The resolution, colors, and brightness will all improve and they will have variable focus. In five years we might already see the first devices that will be controlled by your brain.

MoguraVR:

Like the technology that was announced at Facebooks F8?

Palmer Luckey:

That’s just one example of it. Competition is about to start with this technology. A lot of people will compete to make a BCI [Brain-Computer Interface] that will allow people to move virtual objects with just your brain. BCI devices that currently are available to consumers are not in a usable state. The BCI devices in laboratories are very different. If someone could make a general BCI device they could sell… the world would change.

By the way, BCI is a technology to control things just by thinking using your brain, technology like SAOs ‘Nervegear’ which sends data to your brain, exists but the technology is a lot more difficult. What I think we will see in five years is the previous of the two, technology that can output data from your brain.

VR in the Next Year

MoguraVR:

How about next year? Of course I know that there are a lot of things you cannot talk about [laughs].

Palmer Luckey:

Of course [laughs]. I will talk just in general terms. There will be no big movements in [the next 12 months*]. The hardware will not change. Of course there might be hardware from new companies entering the market, but the hardware of the major players in the market will stay the same.

In that way the next 12 months will be rather uninteresting for VR users that are just waiting for the next hardware generation. It is going to be the time of content and applications. But for VR developers and enthusiasts it will still be a very exciting 12 months. I think there also will be some announcements and new prototypes.

*Update: After publishing, Palmer clarified that he intended this section to mean “in the next 12 months.” The original article stated “There will be no big movements in 2018.”

MoguraVR:

Will there be a all-in-one integrated model?

Palmer Luckey:

Maybe, I can’t say anything [laughs].

Recorded Memories with 360-degree Depth Capture

MoguraVR:

How about the evolution of content? Are there any interesting developments when it comes to pictures or CG?

Palmer Luckey:

360-degree movies are interesting. But if you truly want to ‘capture reality’ you need to record depth information. In doing so you will be able to actually move through the recording. Live streaming 360-degree video with depth is going to be revolutionary. It will radically change VR content. There are several companies developing this technology. Once this technology exists it will be like recording ‘memories’.

Eventually VR HMDs themselves will surely have such a camera built in. Once you have an all-in-one unit like that you will be able to experience the memories from other people from all over the world. It is going to be amazing. I think this technology will be commercialized within the next five years. But I don’t think it will be available to the general consumer. I think at first the technology will be aimed at professional creators with special hardware.

Ultimately, these cameras will be installed in VR/AR sunglasses that everyone will wear and always will use it to perform scans. Surely this data will be shared and will lead to a situation in which a gigantic world map will be created. I think it surely will take longer than five years for this to happen, but I think in five years you will be able to scan your own living room. It then will become possible for anyone in the world to visit your living room. Maybe a cute girl will visit your room.

MoguraVR:

You might be visited by a virtual girl.

Palmer Luckey:

Of course!

MoguraVR:

In Japan something called ‘Gatebox’ exists… [We showed Palmer the Gatebox in action, it’s a holographic assistant for your home, like Alexa or Siri.]

Palmer Luckey:

Yes! This is it!!! It costs around $3,000 USD doesn’t it? I love this idea. It is very useful to have a AI powered virtual assistant that will tell you what to do. Looking at it another way it also is dangerous. I previously talked about the sci-fi story I am thinking about [in Part 2 of the interview], everything is being left to the computer to do for us, I think it is frightening to think about what might happen when the entirety of society does this. But I still want to use an AI waifu assistant. Though it still worries me if everybody uses it and everything will be managed by a computer system, this could become a serious situation for society. This really torments me [laughs].

MoguraVR:

Should we return to the topic of depth live streaming [laughs]? The previously mentioned living room scanning and depth life streaming is related isn’t it?

Palmer Luckey:

That’s right. Room scanning is not in real-time, it just is a recorded part. It is less complicated and will be faster to make practical use. It might even arrive as soon as next year. Real-time depth live streaming is in real-time and the technological barrier is a lot higher.