VR Education steps up marketing game after release of 'Titanic VR'

Education-focussed virtual reality technology company VR Education updated the market on its trading for the year ended 31 December on Wednesday, reporting that revenue was expected to be around €0.7m following the release of the ‘Titanic VR’ title on the Sony PlayStation platform on 22 November.

The AIM-traded firm said that in December, Titanic VR generated revenue of €0.1m which, together with revenues from other “showcase experiences” and ‘ENGAGE’, delivered a record monthly revenue.

It said that, since the full commercial release of its online virtual learning and corporate training platform, ENGAGE, it had progressed with the onboarding of Shenandoah University and released additional learning content from Oxford University.

In addition, ENGAGE users had held multiple ‘live CPD events’ using the platform, one of which was part of the event known as 'MIT Hackathon Week', hosted by MIT.

As it stated in its admission document at the time of its initial public offering, the directors of VR Education said they believed that a “key feature” of ENGAGE was the ability for educators and trainers to use the software to create their own VR lessons and presentations using VR tools provided by the group or third parties.

VR Education said it was now actively marketing the ENGAGE platform, and was attending the BETT Show in London this week.

The BETT conference represented the “kick-off event” for the group's marketing team, following the successful launch of ENGAGE version 1.0 in December.

VR Education said it would also be attending key events in Dubai and the US in coming months, demonstrating the platform to industry leaders and professional educators.

Demand for the group's VR showcase experiences, comprising Apollo 11 VR and Titanic VR, remained in line with management expectations, with new experiences - including the ‘Raid on the Ruhr’ Dambusters experience expected to launch in the first half of 2019, and ‘Space Shuttle Commander’ expected in the second half.

“With the release of our ENGAGE platform in December we are very excited for 2019 and beyond,” said chief executive officer David Whelan.

“ENGAGE represents the long-term vision of the group, providing a platform for people globally to build content and share ideas with others.

“Top quality education is fast becoming the pursuit of the wealthy and we intend to address this with affordable, quality education that is open to all.”

Whelan said the firm was also stepping up “everything” from production to marketing, and attending key education technology events worldwide, giving demonstrations and talking about the platform.

“This year will also see the release of two new showcase experience titles.

“The first to be released is based on the famous Dambusters mission and the other allows users to take control of the Space Shuttle for some of its most important missions.

“Our showcase experiences to date have been an important recruitment tool and revenue generator and we will continue to build titles with small internal teams as we grow ENGAGE into a world leading platform.”