Lifeliqe is a pretty big name in modern education. They are responsible for creating over 100,000 K-12 level resources using modern technology, such as dinosaur experiences and checking out the Hubble Telescope, that leverage the best tech available to enhance learning by putting students into the situations they’re learning about and giving them memories and a practical basis for the curriculum. It would only be natural for Lifeliqe to make the jump to VR, but apparently they’re going to be doing it in style. Rather than creating one-size-fits-all VR content, Lifeliqe is partnering up with HTC to create specifically catered content for the Vive. The plan is to take full advantage of the Vive’s horsepower, as one of the most powerful VR systems out there, and work hand in hand with HTC to optimize everything.
HTC’s VR President, Joel Breton, spoke highly of the deal, saying that he is quite proud to see the Vive attracting a developer like Lifeliqe to bring “room-scale educational experiences” to the platform. He went on to call Lifeliqe’s approach to next-generation educational content “truly innovative”. The quality, scale and of course quantity of the content promises to be impressive, with such an experienced firm working hand in hand with the hardware designer, giving students access to previously unheard of immersive experiences that will leave a lasting impact and really give them something to remember the curriculum by. Diving into a shark in the middle of the ocean to study its organs, for example, is likely to be much more memorable than looking at an anatomy chart.
While the deal promises highly optimized content, it also locks other ecosystems out of that content, including Oculus and Google’s upcoming Daydream platform, both of which are set to be fairly big parts of the total VR market. While HTC themselves have said that exclusive content is not good for the VR ecosystem at large, they seem to be willing to make an exception when it comes to creating content of the utmost quality for scholastic use. Oculus’ stance is similar, saying that quality content can bolster the VR development scene, as long as it hits other systems later.