Why Is VR Becoming the Go-To for Authentic Storytelling?

Sometimes you need to have things simmer longer instead of going out with a full-blown splash.

Exactly two years ago, the metaverse was all the rage. Those “virtual worlds in which users represented by avatars interact, usually in 3D” (Wikipedia).

At times it felt like that virtual living would encompass every aspect of our lives as first envisioned in Neal Stephenson’s novel Snow Crush.

If you recall, I heavily covered this trend and visual storytelling implications for brands.

Here are two examples of the many stories and interviews with experts I did:

At least, for now.

That said, the VR industry has grown just fine.

According to Statista, the global VR market size is projected to increase from less than 12 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 to more than 22 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.

These days brands use VR for more pragmatic use cases; from therapy, business collaborations, training, special events, art tours, and touristic voyages – to healthcare.

It made me wonder how brands can tell authentic stories using VR. Can VR and authentic storytelling live under one roof?

I hear you, it may sound like an oxymoron, but you’ll be surprised.

To help me unpack this exciting topic, in the latest Visual Storytelling Today podcast, I chat with Dror Goldberg, General Manager, of Foretell Reality, and his colleague, Jordan Gutt, Director of Operations.

We talked about why VR is becoming the go-to for authentic storytelling experiences, key use cases, a fun immersive tour Jordan took me to explore Foretell’s rich VR environments, the process for developing meaningful VR experiences for clients, their top 3 tips for brands that want to use VR to tell more authentic stories for internal or external audiences – and much more.

It’s all in the latest episode of the Visual Storytelling Today podcast.

Watch the full video recording of this interview, including illustrative examples during my VR tour in Foretell’s immersive environments: