Did anybody back that stuff up? Oh wait.. How, exactly
Fans of virtual reality felt a punch to the gut this week as AltspaceVR announced it would hold its last social VR gathering on August 3 and then shut down.
AltspaceVR was a social space in VR where people could gather in environments that resembled virtual worlds. They could create their own avatars and chat with friends. As such, AltspaceVR was like a harbinger of what the world would look like as a virtual society. Facebook followed up with its own version of social VR chat, while others — such as Rec Room, Roblox, Linden Lab, and TheWave VR — have offered their own takes on social VR.
In a blog post, the company said it ran into “unforeseen financial difficulty” and couldn’t afford to “keep the virtual lights on anymore.” The post said the company tried to raise a new round of funding but a deal fell through and it ran out of time and money. It added: ” We’d love to see this technology, if not the company, live on in some way, and we’re working on that.”
Eric Romo, CEO of AltspaceVR, started the company in his home office in 2013. The company raised $10.3 million in 2015 from Comcast Ventures, Tencent, Dolby Family Ventures, Raine Ventures, Lux Capital, Western Technology Investments, Maven Ventures, Promus Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, and Rothenberg Ventures....
