The Development and Potential of VR and AR Technology in Indonesia

Slowly but surely, the presence of technology Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), up to Mixed Reality (MR) has provided a new option. Not only for the gaming industry but other general industries. Although the number of startup activists targeting VR, AR and MR technology is still relatively small, their presence in Indonesia is increasingly familiar and widely used by the general public.

In this #TuesdayStartup session, DailySocial Presenting Co-Founder Shinta VR Andes Rizky to thoroughly explore what VR and AR technology is and how Indonesia's position towards VR and AR technology is today.

Technological development

Since the 1960s, this technology has been developed by a handful of people. Although not yet commercial and mostly used for education, construction, and health, VR technology is quite familiar in the United States. In the 1980s VR technology was then back with more sophisticated products, but again not widely used by the general public.

"In 1987, through artificial VR products visual artist Jaron Lanier, VR technology has begun to be developed again. However, because the price is very expensive, only certain circles can enjoy this technology," Andes said.

Even though it doesn't have a good look yet seamless pattern like today, VR and AR technology in the 80s, have begun to use sensors to body movements to then be implemented into the technology.

In contrast to VR, which is widely used by the general public, AR technology is actually more widely used for military purposes to private institutions. Its ability to record all movements is also widely used by construction to assess the exact size of the need to build a building or house.

"If currently AR technology is actually much more familiar to use for commercial purposes, in the past AR technology was considered very exclusive and only certain circles could use it," said Andes.

Today, thanks to the popularity of the game Pokemon Go, AR technology is not only widely used by adults. Many children are getting familiar with this technology. Not only for games, but also for education and other entertainment.

The development of VR and AR technology then gave birth to a new technology which is a fusion of the two technologies, namely: Mixed Reality (MR). This relatively new technology is able to flexibly produce unique movements, derived from AR and VR intelligence.

"The bottom line is that VR is more personal than AR. VR itself is currently more dominated by games for the general public's entertainment," said Andes.

Indonesia's readiness

There are at least 13 technology companies that develop VR and AR technology in Indonesia. Each with its own uniqueness, offering products for corporations, startups, and e-commerce services.

Besides Shinta VR, companies that develop VR and AR technology in Indonesia are Festivo, DCIMAJI, Magnate, ARnCO, Octagon Studio, Primetech, Avergo, Omni VR, Invoya, INVR, DAV, Varcode. All of these companies are currently members of the Indonesian VR/AR Association (INVRA).

"Together with Bekraf, we have plans to provide education and training to developers to the general public who are interested in VR and AR technology," said Andes.

Although China is still dominated in terms of product distribution and technological device development, Indonesia has great potential to be able to develop VR and AR technology. With a choice of increasingly affordable product prices, Andes is optimistic that there will be more VR and AR developers in Indonesia.

"Shinta VR itself in the near future will launch a VR game that can be used by a large number of teams. Still focusing on the game, we will continue to the next stage. scale up with a game that is planned to be released next July," concluded Andes.