Interesting xbiz interview with Todd Gilder, CEO of one of the first virtual reality porn sites (BaDoinkVR) and one of the most forward looking individuals in the industry. A good choice to discuss vr porn and the future of porn in general with.
XBIZ: Which do you believe holds the most revenue potential when it comes to VR, recorded content, live/interactive or 3D-rendered worlds?
Glider: This is a difficult question to answer because it comes down to innovation and consumer uptake, things that take time and have heavy costs associated with them. VR in the land of the live cam? Sounds like a slam-dunk, and if consumers buy VR headsets in mass numbers, it will be a slam-dunk. But the if statement is key; there are lots of ifs. A lot needs to happen, from an innovation standpoint, before it is practical for the cam model in Brno [Czech Republic] to connect with the Oculus user in Valencia.
XBIZ: How long before VR headsets reach critical mass in terms of supplanting computer screens?
Glider: Supplanting? It’s going to take a while. By the time that happens, I’ll be a jabbering old fool. But if it does happen, AR [augmented reality] will be the driver. That’s where the biggest investments are being made right now, which makes sense since. That’s where you see the most immediate and obvious commercial advertising upside; and the bigger the advertising upside; the more likely it is that the HMD becomes a pervasive household item. Something I call the ‘Blade Runner’ effect. It’s pretty reductive, but I like it.
Remember ‘Blade Runner’ — a fantastic dystopian society? Thirty years on, nothing in this world, in our world, matches the technological achievements represented in ‘Blade Runner.’ Nothing, that is, other than billboard advertising. Our billboard advertisements today are not only as good as those in ‘Blade Runner,’ they’re much better.
So, in short, to reach a real critical mass, it’s going to take time, and AR’s going to have to carry the torch.
XBIZ: Do you expect there will be an increase in VR porn production across the board?
Glider: There will definitely be an increase. The degree to which it will increase, that’s up to the innovators pushing the envelope already: companies like mine, giving away free Cardboard; companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, continuing to invest money and energy in the sector.
That’s one of the reasons we’ve been giving away Cardboard; it exposes more people to virtual reality, which is really, really difficult to explain, or even represent visually, without experiencing it.
XBIZ: What can you tell us about your upcoming plans for BaDoinkVR?
Glider: My upcoming plans are to be the first and best at everything.
XBIZ: Do you believe VR will completely disrupt the porn industry as we know it?
Glider: I do not. Not today or tomorrow.
First off, I see VR porn through a generational lens. If you were born before 1982, if you’re somebody who grew up at a time when porn was not in such abundance, when porn was a scarce commodity, VR porn is not for you. If you grew up at a time when happening upon a Penthouse magazine was cause for celebration, VR porn is not for you.
Because if you’re one of those people — I’m one — you’ve already been given the greatest gift of porn imaginable: the Internet. The porn dreams of your youth have become a reality, and they’ve exceeded those dreams 1,000 times over. You are satisfied. You don’t pine for the quantum leap in innovation that VR porn dangles in front of your eyes.
No, VR porn is for people who were born into Internet porn, people who never knew scarcity. VR porn is their porn. If VR porn takes off, they’re going to be the ones who make it happen, who demand it, who seek it out.
Gartner projects sales of 25 million VR headsets to users by the end of 2018. Others project sales of 11 million by the end of 2016, with 100 percent growth per-year thereafter. That’s impressive, optimistic, and maybe realistic. But consider that 1.2 billion smartphones shipped last year. The Economist predicts that 80 percent of the world’s adult population will have a smartphone by 2020. That’s a lot of people. It goes against the notion of ‘Total Disruption.’
Read the entire interview at xbiz
