Winners of ‘VR and Beyond’ declared

Jamil Khan, Senior Reporter

Developers from around the world have flocked to Dubai to show off the latest Virtual Reality (VR) experiences built as part of the recent VR & Beyond competition, established by Burj Khalifa together with HTC Vive and Dubai Future Accelerators—an initiative of Dubai Future Foundation.

The competition was initially launched in November 2018 to further business opportunities within the VR ecosystem across the Middle East and Africa. Hundreds of developers across the region and internationally have since gotten involved in the competition to build world-class VR content that provides an experience themed around the Burj Khalifa, the global icon.

The first-place prize was awarded to the team at Game Cooks based in the United States for their experience titled “Dubai – A Rising Falcon” and took home a cash prize of Dhs500,000 while also getting the VR experience uploaded onto VIVEPORT- the leading app store for Virtual Reality content powered by HTC Vive. In the experience —which will be open to visitors to At The Top—participants start off on a helicopter ride from the to-be-built Dubai Creek Tower going to the Burj Khalifa. They then get transformed into a virtual falcon diving off the top of the Burj Khalifa and can “fly” around the tower, with a special 4D element of the game in which wind blows on the participant in tandem with the speed of their flight.

The second-place prize went to the team at EStudioFuture from Spain for their title “Dubai’s Jewels”. It is also going to be retailed on VIVEPORT and featured in VR Park Dubai—the city’s premier VR theme park.

Saeed Al Falasi, Executive Director at the Dubai Future Foundation said, “In line with our ongoing efforts at the Dubai Future Foundation to support, encourage and welcome innovators and creative thinkers, we are pleased to have hosted such global challenge, in collaboration with HTC Vive and Burj Khalifa, that have intrigued the creative minds of developers and pushed them to showcase their best in producing cutting-edge VR experiences. We cannot be more pleased with the results we have seen, as they confirm once again that Dubai has and will always be a global hub for innovation and a destination that attracts innovators to co-create the future.” Graham Wheeler, General Manager of Europe, Middle East & Africa at HTC Vive, commented: “This collaboration with Burj Khalifa and Dubai Future Accelerators furthers our commitment to expanding the VR market for both businesses and consumers in the Middle East.”