The VOID, a company specializing in bespoke VR experiences that go beyond what you can achieve with in-home VR hardware, previously announced the development of the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR experience in collaboration with Disney, Lucasfilm, and ILM’s xLab. The Disney Springs location opened December 16th, while the Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort location opens today.
Update (01/05/18): The VOID co-founder James Jensen recently tweeted out news that the Downtown Disney Location is opening today.
Original Article (08/03/17): The VOID today announced that they’re applying VR attraction expertise to a new “hyper-reality” experience dubbed Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. Due to debut at two new VOID venues in Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort & Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort beginning this holiday season, the announcement is a big win for the company thanks to the involvement of the massively important Star Wars intellectual property, and collaboration with Disney, Lucasfilm, and ILM’s xLab.
Using specialized equipment like customized VR headsets, VR backpack PC’s, and commercial tracking technology, The VOID calls the VR experiences they deliver, “hyper-reality,” to signify that it goes above and beyond the sort of room-scale VR experience you can have at home with high-end consumer equipment.
“At The VOID, we combine the magic of illusions, advanced technology and virtual reality to create fully immersive social experiences that take guests to new worlds,” said Curtis Hickman, co-founder and chief creative officer at The VOID. “A truly transformative experience is so much more than what you see with your eyes; it’s what you hear, feel, touch, and even smell. Through the power of The VOID, guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story.”
More specifically, The VOID allows multiple players to roam around large, physical, movie set-like environments which are overlaid with matching virtual reality scenes. We stepped inside the company’s Ghostbusters: Dimensions experience in New York City; this trailer gives an idea of the kind of experience The VOID delivers:
So far there’s little detail about what the Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire experience will entail, but if The VOID’s prior work is anything to go by, we’ll be expecting something polished and highly immersive.
Update (1/8/18): A prior version of this article indicated that The VOID’s Disney Springs location opened on December 22nd, this was corrected to December 16th.
