Google has just made it possible for anyone to experience VR content through the company’s Chrome browser. The Mountain View giant has achieved this by adding WebVR support to Chrome. That is, expanding what was already available to the beta version of Chrome to all versions of Chrome. Essentially, making it possible for anyone to experience VR content through the browser. At the moment, it does seem that the service is mainly only accessible to those who own a Daydream-ready smartphone and a Daydream View headset.
For those who do not own a Daydream View headset though, they can still check out VR content on their smartphone or desktop computer and make use of finger or mouse controls to interact with the content. Google has added that their mission is to make it possible for everyone to use VR in due course and on any device. As a result, the company is expected to be adding support for more headsets in the coming months, including the likes of Google Cardboard. If you’re interested in checking out some VR content through Chrome, there are quite a few materials already available, though the company said that more VR-enabled sites will pop up soon enough. Those interested in wildlife can check out the Bear 71 interactive documentary. While Matterport’s library allows the viewer to tour more than 300,000 celebrity homes, museums canyons, iconic architecture, and more. Over two dozen VR films from Within are also available, from gripping tales set in various imaginary worlds to some interesting documentaries. Sketchfab offers more than one million interesting 3D scenes that you can check out, ranging from various anime and video game characters, to famous art, and so on. If playing around in a virtual environment is more to your liking, you can always try playing in the WebVR Lab from PlayCanvas.
As a result, there is a fairly decent amount of VR content now available and all of it is available through the Chrome browser on Android. A move which will likely not only increase interest in virtual reality, but hopefully will also increase adoption of the platform as well.