Meta "Courting" Disney & A24 To Make Immersive Video For Horizon OS

Meta is hoping to convince Hollywood to produce immersive video content, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Mark Zuckerberg's company is offering firms including Disney and A24 "millions of dollars" to provide "episodic and stand-alone immersive video based on well-known intellectual property", according to the report.

The same report carries the claim that the ultralight headset with a tethered puck that UploadVR recently reported Meta is prioritizing shipping next year will cost "less than $1000".

Meta’s Ultralight Headset With Puck Could Be Around $1000

The ultralight headset with a tethered puck that Meta plans to launch next year will cost “less than $1000”, The Wall Street Journal reports.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

While The Wall Street Journal suggests that Meta's purpose for bringing in the exclusive immersive video content is to attract people to next year's headset, and this is almost certainly true, a source tells UploadVR that it will also be watchable on existing Quest headsets, as Puffin's puck runs the same Horizon OS.

This immersive video content would be exclusive to Meta, the report says, producers "could sell the shows or movies to other platforms" after a certain period of exclusivity.

Meta & James Cameron Partner To Help Bring 3D Video Content To Quest

James Cameron announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with Meta to help bring significantly more 3D video content to Quest headsets.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

The report comes six months after Meta and James Cameron announced an exclusive multi-year partnership to help bring significantly more 3D video content to Quest headsets. That partnership comes through Cameron's company Lightstorm Vision, which has the goal of "making stereoscopic technology ubiquitous for all visual media by enabling stereoscopic 3D content creation in as seamless a manner as traditional 2D". Specifically, Lightstorm Vision is building tools it hopes will enable traditional entertainment productions to film and distribute in 3D easily and at low cost.

At the time, Meta said that partnership will bring "world-class 3D entertainment experiences spanning live sports and concerts, feature films, and TV series featuring big-name IP" to Horizon OS.

The First Feature-Length Apple Immersive Video, A Bono Documentary, Is Out Now

However, not all of its scenes are actually immersive, with many presented in regular rectangular 2D.

UploadVRDavid Heaney

Immersive video has been a major focus of Apple Vision Pro. As well as a 16-minute Submerged scripted short film in October, the platform saw its first Apple Immersive music video from The Weeknd released in November, a "concert for one" from Raye, and the extremely well-received Metallica concert experience in March.

Last week even saw its first-ever feature-length Apple Immersive Video, the 1 hour 26 minute Bono: Stories of Surrender, though not all of its scenes are actually immersive, with many presented in regular rectangular 2D.