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Not long ago, Wave VR announced that it would return to the VR field with a group of newly signed artists. After disappearing for several years, it suddenly decided to regroup and return to the VR circle? Is the virtual performance market getting better?

As an influential VR concert platform in the industry, Wave VR has also had its glory days.

In the three years since Wave VR left the VR field, too many changes have taken place in the VR field: The story of the "metaverse" becoming an overnight sensation is still fresh in memory. During the pandemic, various XR performance applications, virtual service platforms, VR social platforms, etc., have emerged. Online experiences have gradually become an important category of cultural consumption.

If you want to party, listen to music, and play games with friends in VR, there are many applications on the market that combine music enjoyment and social interaction. Users have no shortage of choices: such as "VRChat", "Rec Room", "Roblox", etc. Obviously, users have found a space to continue enjoying virtual performances without "Wave". How will Wave VR return to the virtual performance track this time?

'Ready Player One' had a profound impact on Wave VR

The Wave VR (the predecessor of Wave) was founded in 2016, focusing on VR social experiences, allowing people to experience concerts in a virtual world. In 2017, Wave VR released the PC VR application "Wave" (Beta version) on the Steam platform.

The Wave VR recreates scenes from 'Ready Player One'

On the eve of the official release of "Ready Player One" in 2018, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference held in the United States, Wave VR announced that it would collaborate with HTC Vive to create a VR music experience based on the world of "Ready Player One". It would recreate the dance club from the film and invited Tye Sheridan, the lead actor in Spielberg's film, to appear as a special live VR DJ on the platform.

SXSW 2024 Panel on Vision Pro

It is necessary to mention the 30-year-old SXSW Conference here. Originally, it was a pioneering and niche music festival. With the integration of music, film, and interactive creativity, tech enthusiasts, music stars, brand marketers, film and television producers, and others gathered here. It has now also become a gathering place for discussing cutting-edge topics such as XR interactive technology, XR film/narrative art, and the integration trends of XR and AI.

At the time, Adam Arrigo, co-founder and CEO of Wave VR, also stated: "This is an important moment for VR. 'Ready Player One' brings the VR performances and functions we have been providing to the community into the mainstream market. This is an important work that allows anyone to see the potential of VR. We were inspired by the visual effects of this scene and hope to allow people to experience this futuristic dance club firsthand. The technological platform we have been building has finally made this possible."

In "Wave", whether ordinary players or creators, they can wear a VR headset to enter a virtual room that truly restores the audio-visual playback room and enjoy an immersive concert.

In April 2018, Wave VR announced the completion of a $6 million Series A funding round led by RRE Ventures, bringing the company's total funding to $10 million after this round.

A year later, Wave VR updated its Wave Builder tool, allowing anyone to create their own VR spaces, parties, and performances. Using the ever-expanding content library of the Google Poly Application Programming Interface (API) and Wave VR's custom visualization tools, users can upload any 3D model of a scene or venue, act as a DJ in their own performance, and invite friends from the community to host parties, among other things.

Lindsey Stirling's virtual violin concert

Wave VR also launched a resident DJ program and held concerts regularly. It once collaborated with well-known artists such as Imogen Heap, Glitch Mob, Lindsey Stirling, and Galantis. The collaboration between Wave VR and violin performance artist Lindsey Stirling utilized full-body motion capture technology from the XSens 3D motion capture suit and Manus VR gloves to recreate live dance performances in a virtual setting. It is reported that this one-hour concert attracted 400,000 global viewers.

Virtual performances lacked an audience, so Wave VR chose to take a step back

Later, Wave VR gradually gained the attention of musicians, artists, and investors.

In June 2020, Wave VR received a $30 million Series B funding round led by consumer-facing venture capital firm Maveron, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Scooter Braun (agent for Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber), and retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

In November 2020, Wave VR reached a strategic cooperation with Tencent Music (TME), which also invested in it through equity. Related reading: "Nearly $30 million in funding, what does the VR music platform Wave VR rely on?"

However, the reality is harsh. The once popular Wave VR gradually faded away soon after.

Considering the low popularity of VR at the time, Wave VR realized that virtual performances could not yet reach the desired audience size. It began to shift its focus to broadcasting virtual works through channels other than VR (such as live streaming) so that more viewers could enjoy virtual performances.