It might be that time of the week where CES starts to dismantle itself, ready for another year, but there’s plenty of news still coming out of the woodwork. GoPro, the company that’s made a name for themselves producing portable cameras that are rugged and capable of recording anywhere has made an interesting announcement. Taking to the stage during one of the final days of CES 2016, YouTube and GoPro execs took to the stage to discuss virtual reality, the success of YouTube and the future of video. We already took a look at the fairly complicated contraption GoPro offer VR producers (pictured above) but it looks like they have some more useable projects in the pipeline.
YouTube’s Robert Kyncl, the Chief Business Officer who spent 7 years at Netflix, invited GoPro’s Nick Woodman to the stage. The pair of them talked about plans for GoPro and YouTube partnering together where VR is concerned, including the new Odyssey camera that will be worked on by both of them. Furthering this, Woodman said that GoPro has plans for a more “casual” GoPro camera that will record VR footage. This isn’t a new idea, and during CES 2016 we also saw the VUZE camera launch as well, a compact point-and-shoot style machine that aims to produce VR content for everyone, including the software side of things. However, should YouTube and GoPro go in together on a consumer-grade VR camera that’s easy to use, it could revolutionize the industry. YouTube has made it easier than anyone else to make and edit a video, all from the browser, and if YouTube can somehow leverage Google’s infrastructure for stitching and editing VR videos in a snap, it could be a big deal indeed.
Virtual Reality has certainly been a theme during CES 2016, with the Oculus Rift finally going on sale, albeit as a pre-order, and countless other firms introducing VR headsets and recording platforms. 2016 could very well be the year of VR, but we’ve only just gotten started, and there’s a long road many of these options need to take before they hit the market.