Marvel Studios and ILM Immersive today announced a new interactive story coming exclusively to Apple Vision Pro, which is based on the popular Disney+ animated series What If…?.

Called What If…? – An Immersive Story, the developers call it an “immersive, narrative-driven and innovative story in mixed reality,” which is promised to be an hour-long experience.

It’s also said to use both augmented and virtual reality, letting users interact by using both their eyes and hands, also including both new and iconic Marvel Cinematic Universe locations.

Here’s how the developers describe it:

“What If…?” reimagines events from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in unexpected ways. Now, fans have been chosen to step into the leading role of an all-new immersive story that transforms the space around them as they traverse across realities. Throughout their journey, they will come face-to-face with Multiversal variants of their favorite characters, learn the mystic arts, and be tasked with harnessing the power of the Infinity Stones.

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Image courtesy Marvel Studios, ILM Immersive
Image courtesy Marvel Studios, ILM Immersive
Image courtesy Marvel Studios, ILM Immersive

“Together, these features will remind fans that time, space, and reality are more than a linear path,” the announcement teases.

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That’s about all we know for now, however the developers say we can expect more details about What If…? – An Immersive Story “soon,” so we’ll be tuned to ILM Immersive’s profile on X (formerly Twitter) for all of the latest developments.

Considering the $3,500 Vision Pro lacks a critical mass of native XR experiences and games, we’re not certain what to expect from what’s shaping up to a fairly big budget project. What is certain though is ILM Immersive (previously ILMxLAB) is the same team behind the Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, which for a long time was exclusive to Meta hardware, and stands as one of the best narrative-based VR series to date.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Andrew Jakobs

    Ugh, your surroundings for playing the story, no thanks. I don’t want AR for stories or even games.

  • Christian Schildwaechter

    We have established that Meta is losing a lot of money on XR, and willing to continue to lose money, as this is a strategic move. And despite the huge margin on AVP, Apple will see at most USD ~850mn in 2024 (after subtracting the component costs) if they sell every single AVP they can produce, to pay for service, expensive content partnerships, lots of demos in Apple stores and a decade of development. Apple is losing a lot of money on XR. With Meta selling hardware at cost, and Apple reusing their inhouse technology they payed billions to create, consumer XR is currently a game for companies with deep pockets. Which is why Google and Samsung now want to play, and why Disney, with their long term deep ties to Apple, will too.

    Disney’s market capitalization may be only 1/6th that of Meta, but that still a comfortable USD 192bn. So compared to more typical XR developers or content creators, they don’t really have to worry if their XR projects make any money. Pretty sure, they expect them to lose money, as this again is a strategic investment. Their partners in crime won’t be bothered either, as Disney bought Marvel for USD 4bn and (ILM as part of) Lucasfilm for USD ~6bn years ago, so both combined for less than what MRL burns through each year. And I’m pretty sure both Marvel and Lucasfilm actually make a lot of money, so they can now easily effort to play the Meta game and invest into XR for a future pole position, without really bothering whether they make the money back for several years.