HTC sets up virtual reality fund of 89 million euros for developers

HTC is setting up a fund of 89 million euros to encourage developers to get started with virtual reality. The company will support them with things such as investments, training, advice and technical support in exchange for a share in the participating companies.

The pilot of the program, called Vive X, will start in May in Beijing, where Asian developers can then apply. In the future, the program will expand to the Taiwanese city of Taipei and San Francisco. In addition, HTC says that more locations will follow in the future, but which ones and whether Europe will become part of them is currently unknown.

With the fund, the company is betting on the expected future popularity of virtual reality. In addition to the well-known applications in the field of games, this can also be used by the business community. Recently, for example, it turned out that Ikea sees applications for virtual reality. HTC itself has also recently partnered with France’s Dassault Systèmes to develop enterprise applications for VR. Vive X is therefore open to virtual reality developers, whether they want to invest in games or on other applications for the new technology. The company’s virtual reality headset, the HTC Vive, was released this month and costs 899 euros.