Japan’s first VR incubator reveals its first 5 teams

Cruising around Japan’s World Heritage Sites.

Whacking zombies with a giant sword, I felt the breeze on my face as I drove my Harley to Tokyo VR Startups’ demo day last week. Within 45 more minutes I had toured Japan’s world heritage sites and flew through the city on a gravity defying, endless rollercoaster.

“Just like the matrix, no one can tell you about VR, you have to try it yourself,” says Tipatat Chennavasin of Venture Reality Fund, a US$50 million fund that specializes in backing virtual reality startups.

Tokyo VR Startups is Japan’s first virtual reality focused incubator and a subsidiary of gaming company Gumi. Gumi founder and CEO Hironao Kunimitsu sees VR as the next big platform and a huge business opportunity. Hironao put his money where his mouth is with Venture Reality Fund in which he and Tipatat are general partners and Gumi is a limited partner.

The six-month program ended last week. These are the five graduates.

Yomuneko

Image credit: Yomuneko.

Yomuneko’s game had me fist bumping my teammate and smashing glass spheres with hammers in a Portal-like escape puzzle game.

The game is compatible with the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive but designed with the Oculus Touch controller in mind. The grip controller allows users to see their hands, making the hammers feel real. As a joke I walked over to my teammate’s avatar to virtually bump fists and was pleasantly surprised when the controller vibrated for feedback. That small gesture had me smiling the entire time – and it became our ritual after completing each stage.

People wandering around with Yomuneko.

Having another person involved shows the true potential and social interactions possible with VR. Although still a prototype, Yomuneko’s game felt the most complete of the startups and is scheduled for release in November.

Okaichimon

Okaichimon creates time-stop puzzle games that Rube Goldberg would love.

Its latest Resident Evil-like game ChaineMan had me running around whacking zombies with whatever I could find. Most objects disappear after one use so players have to plan their attack and escape routes to survive.

Hashilus

Icarus

Candlify VR

Everything changes