Marvel’s upcoming What If…? – An Immersive Experience is due to launch on May 30th, a new trailer reveals. Coming exclusively to Vision Pro, the hour-long experience will take players between AR and full VR.
Just a few months after launch, Vision Pro has a handful of interesting native apps, but the upcoming What If…? is set to easily be the headset’s biggest production yet. The new gameplay trailer shows a full blown experience with high quality voice acting and hand-tracking gameplay, and confirms a May 30th release date for What If…? – An Immersive Experience.
We can’t say we’re surprised at the polished production; it’s being developed by ILM Immersive (the immersive narrative division of Industrial Light & Magic, and the same studio that built the very impressive Star Wars: Vader Immortal trilogy) with direction by Marvel Studios.
While the Vader Immortal trilogy eventually launched on several platforms, we know for certain that What If…? will be exclusive to Vision Pro out of the gate. And considering the differences between Apple’s headset and the rest, it seems unlikely the experience will ever reach other platforms like Quest, PSVR 2, or PC VR. We’ll keep our fingers crossed though, because it’s always a shame to have well produced XR content locked to one platform… especially one with a $3,500 entrance fee! At least it’ll be waiting for people when Apple eventually launches a less expensive headset.
As for gameplay, the What If… – An Immersive Experience trailer reveals the experience will take place partly in AR but also jump into full VR during certain scenes, apparently using portals to connect the two realms. Hand-tracking is shown being used both offensively and defensively. It will be interesting to see how the experience handles input in the context of action, because pinching just doesn’t have as much punch as pulling a trigger.