Last summer we reported on a new experience from Vancouver-based XR Immersive Tech coming to the largest ticketed event in British Columbia.
“Uncontained,” a hyper-immersive attraction contained inside a sea shipment container, went live at the PNE in Vancouver following a “successful installation and launch,” as well as onsite training of staff.
“From the very beginning of our pre-production phase we had a singular goal in mind: elevate virtual reality from where it is today to something that will inspire, engage, and amaze every person who tries it,” stated an XR Immersive Tech executive at the time, who noted a 100% customer satisfaction rate among those who tried Uncontained during the first day.
Uncontained’s immersion hailed from a combination of factors, including advanced spatial audio, powerful computing and graphics processing chips, and 200 physical and environmental effects such as hands-on physical controls, hot and cold effects, rumbling floors, air blasts, differing scent, and audio effects.
The team described the event as a “huge milestone for the company.” Unfortunately, it would be a checkpoint toward a dead end.
Over the last several months, XR wound down its Uncontained business with the final project concluding in June. Moving forward, XR’s “primary focus” is Synthesis VR, a business acquired in 2022.
Synthesis VR was founded in California 2015 to serve the emerging market of “location-based virtual reality,” which resulted in one of the world’s first VR arcades.
Building on a Los Angeles arcade launched in 2017, the business now provides more than 400 games and experiences across 450 entertainment centres throughout Europe, America, India, and Asia.
Shabeer Sinnalebbe, who served as CEO of Synthesis VR, is now chief executive of XR.
“We’ve continued to improve the SVR Platform, built proprietary content, established a publishing arm, integrated AI applications for SVR and our partners and grown our VR Education, Training and R&D Library,” stated Sinnalebbe. “We now have over 450 VR arcades globally and a market of over 400 VR games.”
In a recent financial report, XR posted reduced year-over-year revenue “due to the cessation of legacy operations of the company,” but still ran a profit. Shares in the public tech company are down 50% over the past year.
“We’ve spent the last 12 months stabilizing revenues, cutting unnecessary costs, and improving the company’s overall margins,” said Sinnalebbe. “Our goal is to continue to build XRI into a leading software platform in the fast-growing $140 Billion VR/AR market.”
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