What a year it has been for the XR industry, with both highs and lows felt across the board as companies deal with remote working conditions, lockdown restrictions and much more. So in October VRFocus decided to launch its very first awards showcase, celebrating the best of what the industry has to offer; all with a little twist, public voting. So now it’s time to reveal who the lucky winners are.
Dubbed The Better-Than-Reality Awards, there were eight categories up for grabs, ranging from the consumer-focused ‘Best VR Game of 2020’ to business solutions and rising stars in the XR space.
Whilst some categories were almost dead certs having redefined AAA VR gaming, there were still a few surprises considering all the winners were chosen by the public.
VRFocus’ The Better-Than-Reality Award winners:
Time for a few words from our award winners:
“For us, building a Half-Life game from the ground up for Alyx was always about bringing that universe back in an exciting way, and to do that through VR was a rewarding process. But the positive feedback from fans of Half-Life is truly the most rewarding part, and we are just super grateful for the community support,” said Robin Walker, Programmer / Designer at Valve Software.
“We are extremely honoured that STYLY received the Best AR App award, and we are incredibly grateful for this recognition from VR Focus and the AR community. STYLY continues to move forward, taking on new challenges in XR. We are very proud to be designing and building a new XR world in Tokyo, Japan, with incredible XR artists and content creators from around the World,” said Ryohei Watanabe, CMO of Psychic VR Lab Co., Ltd. “It is an ambitious goal, but we are incredibly excited to bring VR, AR, and MR content together in a spectacular showcase in the heart of Tokyo. We hope that everyone can come to Japan to enjoy this XR world. Once again, we are honored and grateful for receiving this award, and thank you to everyone who helped make STYLY the Best AR App!”
“We are thrilled that VRFocus’ readers named Transformers: VR Battle Arena as their favourite location-based VR experience in a category filled with such worthy competition,” noted Vander Caballero, CEO of Minority Media. “This just goes to show the power of a great brand and social gameplay in attracting players, even in these challenging times.”
“I’m truly honoured to receive the Top XR Influencer 2020 award! Thank you! My mission with MRTV though is not to “influence” my viewers but rather to give them all the information they need so they can make their own educated purchasing decisions!,” said MRTV’s Sebastian Ang. “Therefore I’d rather call myself an XR Content Creator! This award shows me that the community appreciates independent XR content on YouTube! Thanks again to everyone who voted for MRTV!”
“It’s a huge honour to take home the award of Favourite VR headset for Oculus Quest 2. We’ve seen an incredible response from the VR community since launch in October, and to know this award was voted for by the public means a lot. We’re looking forward to delivering more incredible Quest 2 content in 2021 for people to experience,” said Rangaprabhu Parthasarathy, Product Manager, Oculus Quest 2.
“We’re extremely excited that FitXR has been announced as the winner of the Most Promising XR Startup award, as given by VRFocus. This is a great win for us so thanks to everyone for their votes and continual support for FitXR,” said Sam Cole, CEO & co-founder, FitXR. “We’re focused on continuing our mission of creating a virtual reality exercise experience that remains fun and effective at its core and have lots of exciting updates in store for the FitXR platform in 2021. Next year is going to be huge so keep your eyes peeled!
Congratulations to all of VRFocus’ The Better-Than-Reality Awards winners and their contribution to the industry. Best of luck to everyone for 2021!
