The third annual VR Awards ceremony was held in central London on Monday night, with some of the biggest names in the industry gathering to celebrate and recognize a massive year for virtual reality.
Jamie and Zeena were in attendance on the night, and will bring you a special look at the ceremony in an upcoming episode of The VR Culture Show.
In the meantime, we’ve summed up the VR Awards winners for each of the categories presented on the night.
It’s no huge surprise that the Oculus Quest and Vader Immortal were winners in their VR Awards categories, but there’s a few interesting winners in the more obscure categories, too.
The winners for each VR Awards category are highlighted in bold, accompanied by any relevant further reading at the bottom of each category.
Accenture VR Lifetime Achievement Award
John Carmack – CTO of Oculus VR
More info: This award was not a category announced ahead of time with finalists, but a special award given to Carmack to recognize his lifetime achievements in the field of VR.
Carmack was not at the ceremony to accept the award in-person, but gave a video acceptance speech which you can watch here.
VR Hardware of the Year:
Oculus – Quest
VRgineers – XTAL 5K HMD
Oculus – Rift S
HTC – Vive Pro Eye
VR Electronics – Teslasuit
HP – Reverb VR Headset
More info: It’s been a breakout year for Oculus’ standalone VR headset, so it’s no surprise it took home the Hardware of the Year award. You can read our full review of the Quest here, along with our 25 best Quest games and experiences.
VR Game of the Year:
SIEE & ASOBI Team – ASTRO BOT Rescue Mission
Ninja Theory – Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice VR Edition
Coatsink – Shadow Point
Sony London Studio – Blood & Truth
Owlchemy Labs – Vacation Simulator
Outerloop Games – Falcon Age
Secret Location – Transpose
First Contact Entertainment – Firewall Zero Hour
Survios – CREED: Rise to Glory™
Archiact – FREEDIVER: Triton Down
Resolution Games – Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs
Innerspace VR & ARTE France – A Fisherman’s Tale
SignSine – PROZE: Enlightenment
More info: You can read our review of A Fisherman’s Tale here.
VR Experience of the Year:
ILMxLAB & Oculus Studios – Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series – Episode I
NBC Universal & Digital Domain – Eleven Eleven
Start VR – Awake
REWIND & SkyVR – Curfew: Join The Race
Lucas Rizzotto – Where Thoughts Go
Cinétévé Experience & Backlight Studio – The Scream VR
More info: We were big fans of Episode I of Vader Immortal. Episode II wasn’t quite as successful, but we’re looking forward to the trilogy being rounded out by Episode III later this month.
VR Film of the Year:
Fable Studio, Third Rail Projects & Oculus Story Studio – Wolves in the Walls: It’s All Over
Axis Studios – the bOnd
Baobab Studios – Crow: The Legend
Walt Disney Animation Studios – Cycles
Secret Location & Electric Shepherd Productions – The Great C
Breaking Fourth Limited – Lucid
Felix & Paul Studios – Traveling While Black
Simpals Studio – Aripi
Parable, Channel 4 & 59 Productions – Grenfell: Our Home
More info: You can check out David’s review of Wolves in the Walls: It’s All Over here. While you’re at it, check out his thoughts on the recently-released third and final chapter as well.
VR Marketing of the Year:
Backlight, Orangina Suntory & Marcel – Oasis Pocket Adventure: The Infrunite Slide
UDG Ludwigsburg, Nerdindustries & Porsche – Porsche “Hall of Legends” VR Experience
Qualcomm Technologies – Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2018 Invitations
NUMENA & BMW – S 1000 RR VR
Proektmarketing +1 & Ledvizor – Ledvizor VR-presentation space
LR Studio & Cartier – VR experience for Santos de Cartier launch
Ready At Dawn – Lone Echo II: Trailer Experience
Happy Finish, H+K Strategies & Ford – Ford ‘WheelSwap’ VR
Rising VR Company of the Year:
KageNova
Immotion
HOLOGATE
Maze Theory
Fable Studio
PeriscapeVR
Lume
Enduvo
AtlasV
Innovative VR Company of the Year:
Make Real
Fundamental Surgery
Amaze VR
BackLight
Spinview UK
Emblematic group
Ballast Technologies
Avantis Systems
VR Education & Training of the Year:
Filament Games – Breaking Boundaries in Science
Vodafone & Make Real – Working at Height
Isbank – IsReality (Isbank)
Orka Informatics – Virtual Training Ship Simulation (VTS)
Nanopixel & Eandis – Training: Replace low voltage fuses without life-threatening risks
Somewhere Else – BODYSWAPS®
Avantis Systems – ClassVR
Immerse & DHL – DHL: Gamification of the Cargo Loading VR Training Process
Engine House VFX – Exoplanet Explorers 2
MOYOSA Media – Mighty Masters
VR Healthcare of the Year:
Immerse – GE Healthcare: Increasing training opportunities for radiographers through VR
Oxford Medical Simulation – Oxford Medical Simulation
Fundamental Surgery – Fundamental Surgery (FS)
Precision OS Technology – Augmented Baseplate Shoulder Simulation & Patient Specific Planning
Oxford VR – Fear of Heights (clinical acrophobia).
Virtualware & King’s College London – VR for Psychosis Research and Treatment
More info: We wrote a bit about Fundamental Surgery last month, and also got to try it out earlier this year too.
Out of Home VR Entertainment of the Year:
ILMxLAB & The VOID – Ralph Breaks VR
Ballast Technologies & Wiegand.Maelzer – VRSlide
DIVR – Golem VR
MWM Immersive – Chained: A Victorian Nightmare
Dreamscape Immersive – Curse of the Lost Pearl: A Magic Projector Adventure
Holocafe – FaBIOS Fantastic Fun Factory
Zero Latency – Sol Raiders
Vertigo Games & Jaywalkers Interactive – Arizona Sunshine LBVR
Ymagis & Backlight Studio – TOYLAND : CRAZY MONKEY
Ubisoft Blue Byte – Beyond Medusa’s Gate
EXIT Adventures – HUXLEY 2 – THE ADVENTURE BEGINS
MWM Immersive & Flight School Studio – War Remains
VR Social Impact Award:
BBDO DUBLIN – RSA CONSEQUENCES
Vulcan Productions – X-Ray Fashion
Force Field Entertainment – Anne Frank House VR
Galactig – Dementia Yn Fy Nwylo I / First Hand
VILD Studio – CHILDREN DO NOT PLAY WAR
Springbok Entertainment – The 100% – Maggie’s Story
Vulcan Productions – Ghost Fleet VR
East City Films – Common Ground
Artie – Mercy
Visualise, Don’t Panic & ICRC – The Right Choice – ICRC
VR Enterprise Solution of the Year:
Make Real & Lloyds Banking Group – Lloyds Resilience & Vitality
VBlueprint Reality – MixCast VR Marketing System
Autodesk – Autodesk VRED – VR Collaboration
Goodpatch – Athena
Virtualware – VIROO: Virtualware Immersive Room
Elara Systems – VR Command Center
Stay tuned for a closer look at this year’s VR Awards in an upcoming episode of The VR Culture Show.
