29 July, 2017
The Altspace platform served as a testbed for how social interactions could and should work in the nascent virtual reality domain. The company said it last raised capital in 2015. AltspaceVR announced that it would be shuttering the AltspaceVR social VR platform. "It looked like we had a deal for our next round of funding, and it fell through", he said. "We've been out fundraising but have run out of time and money", the post detailed.
The company is also being sued for patent infringement by Texas-based Virtual Immersion Technologies, which filed several similar lawsuits against the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Sliver.tv, Reuters reported in June.
In a blog post titled "A Very Sad Goodbye", the company detailed that the social VR community will be shutting down next week in a move that it described as "surprising, disappointing, and frustrating". "We'd love to see this technology, if not the company, live on in some way, and we're working on that", a statement said.
AltspaceVR's story is indicative of both how far VR has come, and how far it still has to go.
After launching the social virtual reality platform AltspaceVR just over a year ago, the startup of the same name is discontinuing the virtual social space and laying off its staff of 40 following unexpected financial woes. The VR headset-wearing participants appeared as avatars, but were heard in their own voices. The app was one of the first VR social experiences to gain traction and was available across a variety of platforms. But we're not there yet.
AltspaceVR said that more than 35,000 people log in to the service every month, and the average user sticks around for at least 30 minutes. What's more, the real-time nature of social VR represented a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem for AltspaceVR, forcing it to rely on the growth of a medium that is still in its infancy. The company encouraged anyone who made friends on the platform to meet up with them this week to exchange an alternate means of keeping in touch. Please join us for a final farewell party on 8/3. The company's CEO, Eric Romo, and its other founders are exploring new opportunities for the AltspaceVR team, a representative told CNET.
AltspaceVR, the virtual reality social network that has hosted everything from stand-up comedy to presidential debate-watching parties, is shutting down next week.
Jeff Engel is a senior editor at Xconomy.
