Daydream VR may land in a few weeks

Daydream VR is Google’s own upcoming virtual reality platform that the search engine giant has in store for Android users this Fall, but Google hasn’t given too many plans on when we can expect the platform to take off. Well, tech enthusiasts know that Google will debut Daydream VR before the year’s end, but we still don’t have an exact date.

Well, according to Bloomberg, Google is gearing up to launch Daydream VR “in the coming weeks,” the publication says (with yet and still no specific date). Bloomberg also says that Google has been trying to recruit YouTube stars for the effort, to influence consumers to give the upcoming virtual reality platform a chance. Justine Ezarik and the Dolan Twins will use their celebrity status toward endorsing the platform, among others.

Google has been putting the pieces in place to pull off Daydream VR when it lands; the best testimony of this has been the company’s release of Android Nougat this week for current Nexus devices such as the Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6, and Nexus Player (not to mention the Pixel-C laptop). The new major Android update is usually announced at around the time the next-generation Nexii (plural for “Nexus”) are announced, but Google’s decision to release Android Nougat this week, an update that makes Nexus devices “VR-ready,” shows that the company doesn’t intend to wait until the next Nexus devices are announced. Perhaps Google is trying to plant its feet firmly in VR at a time when Sony’s PlayStation VR (formerly Project Morpheus) and Samsung’s Gear VR and possible standalone Odyssey VR headset are making the rounds.

“The company is relying on apps, shorts and games to promote Daydream, a hybrid store and software service that Google hopes will be the dominant way people engage in virtual reality, much like Android is for smartphones…Google is spending high six figures on video games, and is offering from low five figures to low six figures for projects with filmmakers and online talent,” Bloomberg was told by those familiar with Google’s internal decisions. In other words, Google really wants Daydream VR to take off.

And yet, only time can tell if virtual reality is what consumers will want down the line. One thing’s for sure: Google is a large name in the business, with a pot of cash behind it and the ability to do anything it sets itself to. This is the company that has been willing to experiment (hence, Project Loon, drones, robots, driverless cars, etc.), but has also been willing to scrap projects that didn’t make enough money. Will Daydream VR be one of those soon-abandoned, soon-forgotten platforms? Time will tell.

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