Amazon looks to add VR to Amazon Video

Amazon is working to add a “Virtual Reality experience within Amazon Video”, according to a job ad posted to US recruitment site Glassdoor.

The web giant is looking for a senior software development manager to lead its Virtual Reality (VR) team, according to the advert for the California-based post.

“Entertainment is evolving rapidly. The future will not be limited to passive 2D experiences,” said Amazon.

“The Virtual Reality team will explore and create the platform and interface for immersive storytelling. This will include an ingestion and playback platform for Virtual Reality experiences.”

The news, which was reported first by VR news site UploadVR, comes less than a month after Facebook said it is setting up a dedicated social VR team and announced plans to launch its 360-degree video streaming technology on Samsung Gear VR headsets.

Google is also developing an “all-in-one virtual reality headset” that runs independent of a smartphone, games console or computer, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report, and has reportedly set up a dedicated Virtual Reality (VR) division and appointed company executive Clay Bavor to run the unit.

Virtual Reality will celebrate its first billion-dollar year in 2016, driven by approximately US$700 million (€645 million) in global hardware sales, according to Deloitte. The professional services firm’s ‘Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions 2016’ report claims that approximately 2.5 million VR headsets and 10 million games will be sold this year.