Having founded Oculus in 2012 and been an important face for the company throughout its growth from fledgling startup to $2 billion acquisition by Facebook and beyond, it was a shock to see Palmer Luckey leave the company just two months ago. Having shied away from the public eye since September 2016 after the ousting of a polarizing political position, Luckey has gone on record in an interview for the first time since leaving the company. [caption id="attachment_2113" align="alignright" width="325"] Palmer Luckey, circa 2012 | Photo courtesy Oculus[/caption] Speaking with MoguraVR during a trip to Tokushima, Japan to attend the anime event Machi Asobi, Luckey opened up in Part 1 about his personal hobby of cosplay—a freedom he didn’t have while at Facebook—the Japanese VR market, and the future of VR headsets. In Part 2, he talked about virtual relationships, an obsession with Pokémon Go, and he teases what he's working on next. Now in the third and final part of the interview, Luckey talks about the far future of VR with neural links & brain-computer interfaces, recorded memories, and his aim to revolutionize VR once again. Half-Life 2: VR dev Marulu translated the article, which was originally published in Japanese, for Road to VR. VR's Mid to Long Term Form Factors & Interfaces MoguraVR: Palmer what do you think will be the final form of VR? Palmer Luckey: The final form will be a direct neural link. But that is still off in the very far future. I don't know if it will become reality in our lifetime. It’s not that it is just hard on a technological level; we don’t know if it is possible at all. While technology might not yet be on that level there are some interesting research findings… it is a rather complicated to interface machines and consciousness using the brain. MoguraVR: If a neural link is the final form but still is very far away, what do you think VR will be like in a few decades? Palmer Luckey: What we will be able to realize is a combination of head mounted display and implant technology. By integrating sensors that can analyze muscle data at the arm and ears in combination with a extremely high quality VR HMD, an experience extremely close to reality should be possible. (It for example would become possible to feel the impact of a punch.) With this there would be no need to directly connect to the brain, and it would be safer. [caption id="attachment_62198" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Oculus Chief Scientist Michael Abrash on stage at Facebook's F8 conference pointing to glasses as the ideal form factor for AR devices[/caption] MoguraVR: Is the perfect form factor for VR HMDs sunglasses as Michael Abrash from Oculus always likes to say? Palmer Luckey: I also think so. Some people are thinking about contact lenses, but I don’t think that’s it. Even if there were a contact lens version it is obvious that the sunglasses would offer a better experience. Sunglasses would have the advantage in performance, display resolution and battery life. [irp posts="62174" name="Oculus Chief Scientist: How and When Augmented Reality Will Transform Our Lives"] Convergence of AR and VR Functionality MoguraVR: Let’s talk about the functions next. Lately several concepts besides VR have been presented such as AR, MR and Augmented VR. What do you think about this? Palmer Luckey: I don't really care how people call it. In the end it will always just be VR or AR glasses, and I think at some point both will be in the same device. You will be able to go from the real world to the virtual world and you will also be able to experience a mix of the virtual and real world. The name for that might be MR, XR, AR or VR, the name varies from person to person [laughs]. MoguraVR: Eventually it will all become the same thing. Palmer Luckey: The best portrayal of AR can be found in [the movie] Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale. At the moment most AR devices are just about displaying HUD. On the other hand, the AR technology that appears in the theatrical version of SAO is closer to MR, and builds a virtual world based on reality. 'Augma' is a AR device in the literal sense. [Spoiler Alert] My favorite scene was the last. You can see that the 'full dive' system is secretly built into Augma. That’s exactly like how it will be in the future. Augma is VR, AR, and something in between. With only one device one can play AR games like 'Ordinal Scale' and VR games such 'Sword Art Online' and 'Gungale Online' and several others [the games within SAO's fictional universe]. Augma was not only portrayed as a gaming device but also as useful for everyday activities, like going shopping or for going on a walk. I think that at some point VR and AR will lead up to a device like Augma. MoguraVR: A lot of things are going to become possible with AR and VR. And the combination of HMD and implants might take over 20 years. Palmer Luckey: It is hard to predict the future. If you step too far out with your predictions people will say 'He didn't know anything' [laughs]. I know how an implant would work, and that’s why it will be possible in the future… it will take some time until ordinary people will become able to do it. The least I can say is that I am sure that it will be at least another five years until everyone will want to get an implant. Continued on Page 2: VR in the Next Five Years » VR in the Next Five Years MoguraVR: So what do you think will the future of VR look like in five years time? Palmer Luckey: The form factor of the devices will improve; they will become lighter, thinner, and more compact. The resolution, colors, and brightness will all improve and they will have variable focus. In five years we might already see the first devices that will be controlled by your brain. MoguraVR: Like the technology that was announced at Facebooks F8? Palmer Luckey: That’s just one example of it. Competition is about to start with this technology. A lot of people will compete to make a BCI [Brain-Computer Interface] that will allow people to move virtual objects with just your brain. BCI devices that currently are available to consumers are not in a usable state. The BCI devices in laboratories are very different. If someone could make a general BCI device they could sell… the world would change. By the way, BCI is a technology to control things just by thinking using your brain, technology like SAOs 'Nervegear' which sends data to your brain, exists but the technology is a lot more difficult. What I think we will see in five years is the previous of the two, technology that can output data from your brain. [irp posts="62165" name="Facebook is Researching Brain-Computer Interfaces, Just the Kind of Interface AR Needs""] VR in the Next Year MoguraVR: How about next year? Of course I know that there are a lot of things you cannot talk about [laughs]. Palmer Luckey: Of course [laughs]. I will talk just in general terms. There will be no big movements in [the next 12 months*]. The hardware will not change. Of course there might be hardware from new companies entering the market, but the hardware of the major players in the market will stay the same. In that way the next 12 months will be rather uninteresting for VR users that are just waiting for the next hardware generation. It is going to be the time of content and applications. But for VR developers and enthusiasts it will still be a very exciting 12 months. I think there also will be some announcements and new prototypes. *Update: After publishing, Palmer clarified that he intended this section to mean "in the next 12 months." The original article stated "There will be no big movements in 2018." MoguraVR: Will there be a all-in-one integrated model? Palmer Luckey: Maybe, I can't say anything [laughs]. Recorded Memories with 360-degree Depth Capture MoguraVR: How about the evolution of content? Are there any interesting developments when it comes to pictures or CG? Palmer Luckey: 360-degree movies are interesting. But if you truly want to 'capture reality' you need to record depth information. In doing so you will be able to actually move through the recording. Live streaming 360-degree video with depth is going to be revolutionary. It will radically change VR content. There are several companies developing this technology. Once this technology exists it will be like recording 'memories'. Eventually VR HMDs themselves will surely have such a camera built in. Once you have an all-in-one unit like that you will be able to experience the memories from other people from all over the world. It is going to be amazing. I think this technology will be commercialized within the next five years. But I don’t think it will be available to the general consumer. I think at first the technology will be aimed at professional creators with special hardware. Ultimately, these cameras will be installed in VR/AR sunglasses that everyone will wear and always will use it to perform scans. Surely this data will be shared and will lead to a situation in which a gigantic world map will be created. I think it surely will take longer than five years for this to happen, but I think in five years you will be able to scan your own living room. It then will become possible for anyone in the world to visit your living room. Maybe a cute girl will visit your room. MoguraVR: You might be visited by a virtual girl. Palmer Luckey: Of course! MoguraVR: In Japan something called 'Gatebox' exists… [We showed Palmer the Gatebox in action, it's a holographic assistant for your home, like Alexa or Siri.] Palmer Luckey: Yes! This is it!!! It costs around $3,000 USD doesn’t it? I love this idea. It is very useful to have a AI powered virtual assistant that will tell you what to do. Looking at it another way it also is dangerous. I previously talked about the sci-fi story I am thinking about [in Part 2 of the interview], everything is being left to the computer to do for us, I think it is frightening to think about what might happen when the entirety of society does this. But I still want to use an AI waifu assistant. Though it still worries me if everybody uses it and everything will be managed by a computer system, this could become a serious situation for society. This really torments me [laughs]. MoguraVR: Should we return to the topic of depth live streaming [laughs]? The previously mentioned living room scanning and depth life streaming is related isn’t it? Palmer Luckey: That’s right. Room scanning is not in real-time, it just is a recorded part. It is less complicated and will be faster to make practical use. It might even arrive as soon as next year. Real-time depth live streaming is in real-time and the technological barrier is a lot higher. Continued on Page 3: A Tease of Palmer's Next Project » A Tease of Palmer's Next Project MoguraVR: Palmer, what is the technology you currently are the most paying attention to? Palmer Luckey: Of course its VR! MoguraVR: I thought so [laughs]. Within it is there any branch you specifically pay more attention to? Palmer Luckey: [After worrying for a while] I can't say anything at the moment. The only thing I can say is that I am trying to once more change VR. [irp posts="12544" name="Palmer Luckey on Why Building the Virtual Reality Metaverse is a Moral Imperative (video)"] MoguraVR: That sounds very impressive. I am looking forward to finding out what exactly it is. For the last question, are you going to visit [the anime festival] Machi Asobi again? And when are you going to come to Japan again? Palmer Luckey: If I can connect it with Unite [Unity's developer conference] and other events I definitely will go to Machi Asobi again next year. The next time I will be in Japan will most likely be around the time of the Tokyo Game Show. I think I want to visit Japan more often, as I said in the beginning of this interview; I am devoted to my work. Coming to Japan primarily is for me to have fun… I said I want to increase the frequency of my visits, but I won’t be able work much, it is a shame that this conflict exists within me. I have thought about living in Japan and supporting the Japanese VR community full time. Although I could not do it due to various circumstances, I still am thinking about supporting the Japanese VR developer community in some way. https://twitter.com/yasei_no_otoko/status/865153443899490305 - - — - - More From ‘Palmer's Post-Oculus Interview’ Series: Part 1: VR’s Mobile Future, Facebook, and Cosplay Part 2: Virtual Relationships, Sleeping Under a Bridge, & His Next Project This article comes from MoguraVR, the exclusive Japan regional partner of Road to VR.