CharacterBank's goal to create 'VR's Mario'

29.08.2023 - 12:21 / gamesindustry.biz / Mario

It's often hard to track the success of VR in part because it straddles the line between ubiquity and obsolescence. You'll find VR experiences in shopping centers and event spaces around the world, yet the market beyond one-off experiences showcasing the worth of the tech as a viable medium for long-form experience and interaction remains low.

Internal Meta figures place sales of the device at 20 million across all SKUs since 2019, with the original PSVR sales topping at five million units as of 2020 alongside the estimated 600,000 units sold to date as of May for PSVR 2.

These aren't bad numbers, yet it should also be noted that this places VR's market penetration far below that of the broader games industry, with just 1.3% market penetration in 2023 versus 45% for the broader industry, expected to rise just 0.4% in the next four years.

Still, this is a passionate and dedicated community of players, and many would argue that all the industry is missing is that so-called 'system seller', the unique project that sells the potential of the medium to the masses. Experiences like Beat Saber and Half Life Alyx are good, sure, but their appeal hasn't yet expanded beyond an audience of the already-converted.

There are a lot of companies vying to be the one who creates that medium-defining experience, and one Japanese company hoping to elevate VR by this metric is the Kyoto-based CharacterBank.

There's a few reasons why Japan seems like the perfect market to develop and perfect VR experiences for mass-market appeal. Particularly in Tokyo, the presence of VR centers from pop-up Evangelion simulators to spaces like Red Tokyo Tower are not only noticeably common, but popular with locals and tourists alike. Even at world-leading theme parks like Universal Studios Japan can VR-enhanced attractions be found, where a Monster Hunter full-body VR experience is not only one of numerous such experiences at the park, but its sheer popularity has seen it extended for multiple years beyond its initial limited run.

While VR’s popularity in the country could be hindered by the limited space in Japanese homes, such receptivity to VR experiences showcases the appeal. And it's something that Shuto Mikami, founder of CharacterBank, as well as head of marketing Will Loubier, hope the studio can achieve.

"When talking to some people, they believe that we're very much in the NES era [for VR]," explains Loubier. "We're still waiting for the Mario of the Famicom to come to VR and push players and become something of a sensation. That's what a lot of developers are aiming for, including us."

CharacterBank was founded in 2019, almost as an experiment for Mikami. Rather than coming from a games development background, their career