New Report Forecasts Strong Virtual Reality Sector Growth for New Zealand
The NZVRARA (The New Zealand VR/AR Association Inc.) has today released the first of two studies commissioned on the New
Zealand VR/AR Ecosystem.
The report, titled ‘VIRTUAL GETS REAL: The Explosion of Cross Reality in New Zealand’ profiles a rapidly growing local
industry that will contribute to New Zealand’s Digital Nation with annual revenues of NZ$324M and employ 2,200 people in
2019.
Download the full 120-page report.
Cross Reality (XR) is increasingly being used to refer to the virtual-to-reality continuum of immersive technologies
including augmented and mixed reality.
Authored by Michael Gregg for the New Zealand VR/AR Association, VIRTUAL GETS REAL celebrates the wider VR sector and
highlights some of its domestic organisations, individuals and early achievements to date. It reports on data and
developments across the globe and locally, celebrates the broad activity across the main centres, Auckland, Wellington
and Christchurch and in local R and adoption by the architecture industry as an example of broader business benefit.
The report has calculated that over 1100 fulltime employees are currently working in the sector in New Zealand, and that
this is estimated to double within two years. NZVRARA members and industry participants have identified that filling
these roles is an important issue facing the VR community. The report recommends undertaking annual independent sector
surveys to collect headcount, revenue and other key metrics, so that actual and forecast growth can be measured and
appropriate actions taken to build a sustainable local industry.
A second report, GOING NEXT LEVEL, is already underway. It will include an independent assessment of the value of the
domestic cross reality sector and its benefit to New Zealand’s economy – both as a sector in its own right, and through
productivity gains from the adoption of these new immersive technologies within enterprises. In addition, the second
title will cover the use of VR/AR in games & entertainment, tourism, training & education, the role of VR in Enterprises. Offshore channels to market will be considered as well as the potential for
New Zealand to act as a global testbed.
The preparation of both reports is supported by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The first
report was also sponsored by Callaghan Innovation, Jasmax and ATEED, WREDA, and ChristchurchNZ (formally CDC).
Additional support was provided by Blackeye VR and NZTech.
VIRTUAL GETS REAL acknowledges the ‘gap of disappointment’ which has forced a downward revision of global analysts’
bullish predictions for virtual reality, and highlights the new technology releases and discounting that is fuelling a
second wave of growth.
Sector participants who provide production and content creation services are adamant that building scale amongst members
to provide an internationally competitive offshore offering is important. New Zealand has some service providers, such
as Auckland-based Staples VR, who is already expanding into other markets including Australia and the United Kingdom.
The report recognised New Zealand’s strong positions in some market segments such as holographic capture led by New
Zealand company 8i, local games development such as Weta Workshop’s partnership with Magic Leap, and augmented reality
through companies such as M Theory and Wingnut AR who delivered the AR showcase at Apple’s Worldwide Developers
Conference (WWDC) earlier this year.
New Zealand has researchers operating at the peak of the industry including Victoria University’s Taehyun Rhee who
chairs SIGGRAPH Asia’s VR programme and Christchurch’s HIT Lab NZ which is a global market leader in academic education
and research in AR and VR since its formation in 2002. In Auckland, the AR/VR Garage is a catalyst in driving
international R collaboration and in Wellington, PROJECTR® is supporting collaborative R between universities and that city’s startup community.
The report raises issues such as the pending skills shortage stating that building national capability in the use of VR
equipment and AR platforms and building expertise in immersive technologies requires assistance beyond the voluntary and
ad hoc activities of the sector such as the NZVRARA’s Student Chapter which is channelling tertiary students into
on-campus VR clubs and linking graduates to member companies for internships and employment to accelerate skills
development.
The report makes a number of other recommendations including that the cross reality and games development communities
will benefit from greater alignment; continued growth in immersive screen sector support will enhance New Zealand’s
strong leadership in story-telling and content creation; and that there is a need for tailored business education,
training and support for sector startups.
NZVRARA Executive Director, Courteney Lomas is excited about sharing the report. “VIRTUAL GETS REAL will help the
NZVRARA to promote our amazing new technologies and solutions to the rest of New Zealand and to prospective clients of
our member companies from around the world. It also sets out some challenges for us to work on collectively to make sure
we succeed as best as we can in this exciting new industry,” says Ms Lomas.
The NZVRARA was formed in September 2016 to champion, support and grow innovation in the virtual, augmented and mixed
reality sectors throughout New Zealand. Its objectives include promoting collaboration, education, R and economic development for the benefit of its 100+ sector members.