Having their first released virtual reality experience accumulate over 26 million views, Curiscope
has released their second project with an equally aquatic themed interactive game, Business Insider reported. The 10-person virtual reality startup, based out of Brighton, has partnered with HTC Vive studios to create the game, with a similar base concept to their first video, as inspired by the news in January 2016 regarding a great white shark’s struggle to death in an aquarium. Ocean Research was also involved in the research and conservation aspects.

Curiscope’s Executive Director Ed Barton told Business Insider the company wanted to provide education about the issue without hurting a great white shark. As a result came the company’s first project, the YouTube video, “Great White Shark.” The video provides viewers with 360-degree shots of great white sharks moving around in their habitat. The second project from the company, “Operation Apex” involved players using controllers to interactively search for the animal, bringing in the original concept from the company’s famous video. Barton said the game was meant to be informative as well as entertaining.

“When we launched on YouTube two years ago, we wanted to do something like ‘Operation Apex’,” Barton said. With Sony having sold 2 million PlayStation VR headsets back in November, it seems that virtual reality may have a growing presence. “It might not be mobile-level in scale, I think it’s something completely different,” Barton said. “It’s people willing to spend more money on creative they like, you can do new and different stuff. You’re not in this hugely saturated, highly strung environment.” HTC became aware of the company after the first video received major publicity, being shared at Google’s 2016 I/O Conference. The startup received seed funding of $1 million from LocalGlobe in October.

(Picture courtesy: Unimersiv)