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FORTUNE.COM // JULY 2019
is, right now, the closest thing VR has to a “killer app”—a piece
of content so good that it’s possible consumers will buy VR
headsets just to play the game. It’s exactly the kind of outcome
Facebook hoped for when it started Oculus Studios, a division
that gives funding and technical advice to third-party game
developers like Beat Games.
Facebook’s initial vision for VR was far grander than games.
It thought cinematic virtual reality would be a breakthrough
application and that Facebook itself, rather than third-party de-
velopers, would create the masterpieces. Facebook established
the Oculus Story Studio in 2015 as an in-house film department
dedicated to making movies for virtual reality. Yet despite win-
ning an Emmy for its animated short “Henry,” Facebook shut-
tered the studio in 2017. Yelena Rachitsky, a Facebook executive
producer who’d been with the defunct studio, says Facebook
realized its clout was better deployed encouraging an ecosystem
approach. “I think there is just a reality that a lot of the creativ-launched with the device, none more
popular than the colorful rhythmic sensa-
tion Beat Saber, developed and published
by indie Czech studio Beat Games. Best
described as Dance Dance Revolution meets
Star Wars, Beat Saber in March became the
first VR game to claim to surpass 1 million
copies sold, and it shows no signs of slowing
down. That’s thanks to an active fan com-
munity on YouTube, generating millions of
hits from videos showcasing standout play-
ers. In April, it was featured on a Tonight
Show segment with the host Jimmy Fallon
and actress Brie Larson each playing the
game on national television. VR enthusiasts
nearly hyperventilated in their praise. “This
is huge!” tweeted popular VR YouTuber
Nathaniël “Nathie” de Jong. “True killer
marketing for the entire VR industry.”
After 15 minutes of playing the game,
I am sweating. You’re “exercising without
knowing you are,” says Beat Games CEO
Jaroslav Beck. “You are feeling the music
in the most powerful way because you are
physically experiencing it.” People across
the industry, from developers to inves-
tors to company executives, say that this
ity doesn’t necessarily happen within a
big corporation,” she explains. “It’s the
creators out there who aren’t limited or
confined by specific corporate structures
[who] I think have the innovative and cre-
ative thoughts that are going to continue
to push the boundaries in VR.”
Hollywood also figured prominently in
Facebook’s VR dreams. Edward Saatchi,
whose father, Maurice, cofounded the ad
agency Saatchi & Saatchi, was a founding
member of the Oculus Story Studio. He
says the goal was to create VR content that
could “inspire an industry.” Five or so years
ago, Hollywood directors approached
then Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, intrigued
by the technology’s prospects, says Saatchi,
who now heads a “virtual beings” company
called Fable. “They were super excited
and said, ‘Let’s make a VR movie.’ But he
was like, ‘I have no idea how to do that.’ ”
The Story Studio was Oculus’s attempt
to find out how. “Our goal was to get film
schools teaching VR movies, to have film
festivals accepting VR movies, to have
famous directors do VR movies,” Saatchi
explains, noting that director Alejandro
González Iñárritu, whose Birdman won an
Academy Award for Best Picture in 2014,
took home another Oscar for his 2017 VR
“I think
there is
just a
re alit y
that a lot
of the
creativity
doesn’t
happen
in a big
cor poration.”
YELENA
RACHITSKY,
OC UL U S
EXECUTIVE
PRODUCER