The award-winning natural history series Blue Planet II was the UK’s most-watched programme of 2017 and is currently stunning audiences internationally. The series has also inspired a surge of interest in the current state and the future of oceanic life.
Now BBC Worldwide and Google have teamed up to bring fans of the BBC’s natural history programmes an innovative and immersive virtual reality experience inspired by series like Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II.
BBC Earth: Life in VR allows the user to enter a real-time world and witness first hand the creature behaviours and relationships which sustain the ocean’s rich and diverse ecosystems. It moves the user from a passive viewer to an active participant and provides VR-only moments which have never before been experienced by audiences.
The journey begins on the Californian Pacific Coast, following a mother sea otter as she forages in the coastal waters. After exploring kelp forests the player can plunge into the depths of an oceanic trench, experiencing this unique environment and behavior of the animals who live there. Along the way they meet and can interact with a range of animals from microscopic plankton to giant squid and a gargantuan sperm whale.
Created by BAFTA-winning game studio Preloaded in collaboration with BBC Earth Productions and BBC Studio’s VR team, the game is available now from Google Play as a free downloadable app. Users will need a Daydream ready smartphone and Daydream View headset to operate the experience.
Bradley Crooks, Head of Digital Entertainment & Games, BBC Worldwide said, “We are really excited to be working with Google to bring BBC nature content to Daydream. VR allows us to provide our audiences a new level of immersion unparalleled by other mediums and tell stories of the natural world in a new and exhilarating way.”
Kellee Santiago, Sr. Producer for Daydream Apps said, “BBC Earth’s experience on Daydream makes exploring the wonders of our world more immersive and accessible than ever before. It allows audiences to guide themselves, based on whatever takes their interest. The experience truly showcases the unique capabilities of the interactive and immersive format of Daydream to provide a platform for deeper understandings of our world.”
BBC Earth: Life In VR presents an innovative new way to experience stories from the natural world. Available to download now from Google Play
