BSocial, a digital marketing services company and the developer of the virtual reality application “Experience Mecca”, plans to release “Experience Quran”, a full suite of virtual experiences, including the Elephant Companions story.
The new application will significantly differ from its predecessor, as it renders the experience into a 360-video instead of a free roam for an optimum modelling and imaging quality, which was a highly common user-demand since the release of the first chapter.
Experience Mecca emerged as a virtual reality application for creative learning. With its characteristics, the application aims to consolidate religious values and help the user emulate reality.
Ehab Fares, founder and CEO of BSocial, said that the Egyptian developers are taking steady steps to keep up with international tech standards. He added that with communications becoming easier, Egyptian tech entrepreneurs managed to reach out and collaborate internationally to design, develop, and distribute innovative technologies and services.
Experience Mecca had to demonstrate how virtual reality experiences can be enjoyable and entertaining to the users regardless of their backgrounds. Its success started with surpassing the set objective: to be gold-plated with Oculus’ verification. Before launching Experience Mecca, BSocial conducted an extensive search of over 1,000+ applications in the store, to make sure none of them originated from the Middle East.
Fares also stated that modernising a subject that holds such a high degree of spiritual value and appreciation among the target audience presented many challenges on the technical level. He added that conveying all the spiritual vibes and achieving that instant awe that takes place in real life when visiting Mecca was crucial to the success of the experience. “Accordingly, to be able to develop the dimensions and textures of the main landmarks closely to their real-life counterparts required meticulous research and studies, so as to reach the best quality possible, while avoiding any technical issues that might occur while rendering,” he noted.
Moreover, he said that the reception on the Oculus store was overwhelming. The major key performance indicator (KPI) was to get 10,000 subscribers in the first year, yet there were 165,000+ subscribers in only one year, spending 32,270 minutes experiencing Mecca.
Additionally, the interaction on Facebook increased significantly, with users from all over the world giving their feedback. It received several acknowledgements from a number of tech-related websites, such as VR Gamer and Reddit.
BSocial is also planning to introduce experiences related to Egyptian history, which aims to support the tourism sector of the country.
