As a company, what made you decide that Virtual Reality would be the next step for Adult Entertainment? When was this decision to incorporate VR made? Was it something that came about when VR headsets first started becoming public, with the oculus rift and the HTC vive, or was it before that?

We’re a technology company first, so whenever new tech gear hits the market, we buy it. Parenthetically, if you need a pair of Google Glass we’ve a half-dozen collecting dust somewhere. So, we naturally ordered a couple of pairs of Google Cardboard. When we dropped a smartphone inside, and peered through those duo-convex lenses, we were amazed. This was 2014, and what we saw was by no means perfect—heck, 2 years later, with all the hype, VR is still, broadly, very much in a 1.0 phase no matter the device—but the signal was there. So we thought, this could be the biggest revolution in mass-communication in a quarter-century. Not this year. Not next year. Not even this decade. But it could very well be What’s Next. So we resolved to start working toward launching a Virtual Reality porn site. That was the moment. It was all because of the Cardboard. We spent the first half of 2015 on R&D, learning how to produce the content, developing the necessary player software in order that all users—whether on Smartphone or desktop—would be supported, and we launched in July, 2015.

Tori Black in pink nightie posing for BaDoinkVR movie

What costs are associated with making Virtual Reality adult entertainment, as opposed to making traditional adult entertainment? Is the cost higher?

The camera tech is not prohibitive from a cost perspective. Costs are higher—more or less, double—because of the post-production process, which is more protracted than it is for ‘normal’ porn.

I noticed on your website a free pair of VR goggles are included with every subscription to your VR service. What made you decide to give these out?

Being able to say, “Includes Free VR Goggles,” from a marketing perspective, is a terrific loss leader. From a practical standpoint, it’s an efficient way of introducing the masses to virtual reality. It helps raise all the ships. The challenge for everyone in VR—adult, gaming, everything—is to divine as many strategies as possible to get people to experience it for the first time, because it has to be experienced. Words don’t do it justice. It’s like trying to explain how delicious a calzone is to someone who’s never tasted mozzarella cheese. That’s a problem because shopping has changed so radically. Take HD. How did people experience HD for the first time? Sure. Some of us had friends who were early adopters, but most of us got our first taste in brick & mortar stores like Best Buy, Radio Shack and Circuit City. Those electronic stores were the showrooms for new consumer-oriented tech. Not so any longer. Only one of those standard bearers is still standing, and it is not standing strong. Now that showroom is online, on our phones, laptops and tablets. Unfortunately, you can’t experience VR on any of the above without headgear, and convincing someone to A. pay to join a porn site and B. order VR goggles independently and wait for them to arrive, so they can take advantage of that porn site…it’s a lot to ask of the consumer.

What’s the process of making VR adult entertainment, could you explain in detail for me?

Not really certain how to answer this question. There’s a lot to it, and a fair amount of it would require me to disclose information that I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with the public—and more specifically, potential competitors.

Virtual Reality is still a new medium in terms of technology, which means many potential customers don’t have access to it yet, or can’t afford it. What kind of obstacles does this create for you as a company?

You have to educate the consumers. This doesn’t apply to people who own Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. They’re going to find us. They’re early adopters. They already ‘get it.’ With everyone else, you’ve got to make a convincing case, and since you’re doing it online, you’ve got to grab them pretty quick. In spite of all the fanfare, publicity, and venture capital being poured into the VR space, there’s still a huge number of people who don’t even know what VR stands for. So you have to assume that most are coming to your value proposition fresh, with little or no understanding of the tech. Simply put: You can’t flash a banner that says, Click Here for VR Porn and expect it to work.

I’ve read that you currently have a partnership with Kiiroo, could you explain how that partnership came to be, and why it might be important for creating a VR experience? Can you explain how Kiiroo’s devices work with the Virtual Reality videos your company produces?

 Kiiroo is a trailblazer in teledildonics, so we’ve been following their innovations for a few years now. We’ve even been on Sex Tech-themed panels together. It’s important to remember that the aim with VR, all of it, is presence. With our videos, no matter how immersive, we’re only hitting two of five senses. Kiiroo, with their Onyx device, adds another sense to the equation, the sense of touch, which pushes one past the half-way point. Kiiroo, for their part, takes the VR video, analyzes the content and embeds instructions in the video that tell the Onyx when to turn on and off, when to expand and contract, and by what degree. It’s all programmed to match the action in the video, and thereby creates an even more immersive experience for the end user when he slips the Onyx on his penis, and HMD on his head, and starts watching a VR video.

You also have made recent partnerships with Pornhub to offer a channel with completely free VR Adult Entertainment. How did this partnership come to be and what made you decide to offer the free content?

They approached us toward the end of 2015, and asked for help creating a VR category in PornHub, the goal of launching it in Q1 of 2016. We were the natural choice for them because, in addition to having plenty of VR content, we had the player tech needed to watch VR content. We were keen to work with them because they are a huge distribution channel. So much so, if you go to Google Trends today, and enter VR PORN and VIRTUAL REALITY you can clearly see a spike on the day in March when this new category launched. It’s important to point out that what studios like ours are giving away for free on PornHub are not complete scenes. They’re trailers that serve to whet the consumer’s appetite, and ideally, convince them to subscribe to our respective sites to watch the full videos.

What have your customers been saying about the VR experiences you currently offer? Do they generally feel that they are amazing, or is there some room for improvement?

They express both opinions readily and often. Because FACT: They are amazing. And FACT: VR tech is so nascent, there is plenty of room for improvement. We’ve a very active feedback forum behind the paywall, and our members tend to be very passionate and vocal about their likes and dislikes. And yes, there is no shortage of opinions like, “More blondes please,” but there is also plenty of valuable insight. But they also talk about headier subjects like frame rate, field of view, scaling, and their collective input has played a huge role in the evolution of our content.

How does your company feel about their current VR service? Is there anyway that the experience can be improved? If so how?

Improvements and innovations are constant. One of the limitations we deal with is the camera technology. There is simply no camera out there that is GREAT at producing VR porn content. The challenge: you need cameras with a form factor small enough that the lenses can be positioned no further apart from one another than your eyes are from one another. And you want the tech squeezed into that infinitesimal form factor to shoot 4k, at a minimum of 60fps with Gen-Lock, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Do you feel that Virtual Reality is a fad? Or is it something that will be sticking around?

This is a question that comes up a lot; often because VR is, by nature, stereoscopic 3D content, and 3D, not long ago, was thought to be an inevitable addition to everyone’s home TV experience. That didn’t happen, and serves as a cautionary tale to many. The thing is: VR and 3D are absolutely different on so many levels. VR breaks the 4th wall. 3D doesn’t. VR is immersive. 3D isn’t. And 3D always seemed like a ploy, hatched by the entertainment industry, to find a way to recover lost box office receipts and DVD sales. VR, on the other hand, has caught the imagination of industries from health to travel & tourism to sports and beyond. There is so much money being invested in VR/AR tech right now—and it’s coming from so many disparate sources and industries—it’s hard to imagine that it’s a fad.

Where do you see Virtual Reality in 10 years? Do you feel that it’s going to be the same as it is now with just better head mounted displays? Or do you feel it will become more involved and more immersive?

It will become much more immersive, and the cost to consumers will drop dramatically. Haptics will evolve, and you’ll see some pretty compelling solutions that hit those other two senses—taste and smell. Will VR-boosted contact lenses be available in 10 years? Not sure. Will we be on the threshold of a Ready Player One world? Doubtful. However, we’ll be closer than we are now. And the content will have evolved dramatically. Right now, one of the biggest complaints about VR is that everything, with the exception of VR porn, feels like a demo. That will change.

Do you think Virtual Reality has a place besides just adult entertainment?

Certainly. Right now porn is the torchbearer for virtual reality. That’s because it does the best job of showing the difference between VR content and non-VR content. If you compare VR porn to non-VR porn, the difference is so stark, so visceral, so riveting, you can’t help but feel and see the raw potential of VR. It’s awe inspiring. Gaming, to use one example, is not there yet. The best VR game in the world is not as good as Call of Duty, or Grand Theft Auto. That, however, will change in the next few years, and gaming will overtake us as the trailblazers for this exciting new tech. As well, as stated above, its uses outside entertainment are limitless. Consider education, as just one other example. Consider what you can achieve. People talk much about phenomenon-based learning, and it’s purported to be a compelling, engrossing way to educate students about the world, about history. With VR you can do more than talk about the hell that was The Great War. You can put them on the front, and give them a taste of what trench warfare was like.

What do you think is the next big technology in adult entertainment?

Outside of VR, you’ll begin to see AR experiences relatively soon.

Is there anything else you would like to add about either Virtual Reality or how it’s being used for adult entertainment?

It’s important to note that live VR cam sites like AliceX are already out there, and in the months and years ahead, you’ll see many more of them.