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The world’s largest VR centre will be built in the Northern Territory and is being touted as the world-first venue for virtual reality.
The facility is being developed by Australian firm Vivid Interactive, which has offices in Dubai, New York and Sydney.
Vivid’s facility is expected to cost more than $1 billion and is expected be ready by 2020.
“The VR space is the next frontier in entertainment, not just in entertainment but in gaming, healthcare and manufacturing,” said Vivid CEO David Whelan.
“We’re looking to build this world-class VR venue in the northern Territory that is a world-leading destination for the VR industry.”
Virtual reality is expected by 2020 to be the biggest new market in the world.
The venue will feature a cinema, a virtual theatre, a conference centre and an office building.
Mr Whelans said the centre would have a full-time staff of 150.
It is expected that there will be about 30 VR-related businesses in the area by the end of the decade.
VIVID is developing a VR platform that allows people to interact with their environment, but Mr Whamen said the project was in its early stages and it was not yet ready to offer full VR support.
“It will be the first of its kind in the country,” he said.
“This will be a very, very high-end facility.”
He said that VR-focused companies had already found success in the US, but added that it was difficult to find companies in the NT that could meet their requirements.
“I think that we’re going to see a lot of great companies that are very much in the VR space,” Mr Wlamann said.