In this interview hosted by Richard Cotton, guests Irena Cronin and Cathy Hackl explore how spatial computing is reshaping gaming and broader entertainment. They explain that modern gaming already relies on computer‑vision‑driven spatial awareness—used by companies like Niantic—but the term is gaining traction as the underlying technology matures. The conversation highlights the convergence of generative AI with spatial computing, enabling players to create their own visual assets within immersive environments. They discuss concrete examples such as Resolution Games’ upcoming title DeMeo for the Apple Vision Pro, illustrating early spatial‑gaming experiences on head‑mounted displays. The guests also note that major Hollywood IPs, notably Marvel and Disney, are launching immersive storytelling formats that blend spatial video, depth‑rich content, and interactive narratives, signaling a shift from passive consumption to active participation. Overall, the dialogue paints an optimistic picture of new interaction paradigms, emerging media types like spatial video, and the design challenges the industry must address to fully exploit these capabilities.
Chapters
I suppose gaming has maybe been hyped as, like, one of the big use cases, so we'll perhaps cover that first. And when I think of, like, spatial computing games, I'm thinking fancier Pokemon Go, but this is probably just scratching the surface. So can you tell me, like, what would spatial computing bring to gaming?
Well, a lot. Okay. So basically the gaming that has existed up until now has used a lot of the time spatial computing, because it uses computer vision and. And you need computer vision to do spatial computing. So computer vision allows technology to be able to see in front of it and be able to gauge what's in front of it, the environment, and if you're moving, where are you moving and that kind of thing, location. So Niantic has always used spatial computing. There are other games that, let's say meta, that use less spatial computing. So it's a matter of degree. And that's why it's really interesting that this term is now becoming, hopefully, I think it's going to be broadly used, but in actuality, the technology has always been there, so it's nothing really new in terms of gaming. The new thing that might blow everything apart is generative AI, which allows people to create their own images and videos. And if you pair that along with spatial computing and also make a game with that, that really makes it fantastic.
Yeah. So I think spatial comp. Sorry, computer vision was sort of. It was kind of, okay, maybe like mid 2010s, and now it's getting the point where you can reliably do object detection on an awful lot of things.
Definitely. Yeah.
Yeah. It just seemed like that technology is maturing.
Yeah.
Richie. I think it's about creating that spatial awareness that Irina is mentioning and, you know, and like, AI now understanding the physics of the space and the physical world. So these digital elements have, you know, have spatial awareness. I think that that's kind of where it starts to become really interesting. And from a gaming perspective, if you look at everything that's happening in that space. For example, very recently Resolution Games launched demeo, which is kind of really going to be a big title coming to the Apple Vision Pro. So I'm hoping to see kind of how more people start to game in the device. And granted, it's a device that not that many people have, but as a proud owner of one, I. I'm looking forward to doing some more gaming with it. And DeMeo is one of those titles that is kind of the first to arrive that is truly kind of in the kind of spatial computing gaming space.
Okay.
So it sounds like maybe the gaming industry has a bit of work to do just to figure out, well, what sort of games do you need to make in this medium?
Yeah, and also Marvel, for example, Disney and Marvel on May 30 are going to be launching, or will have launched depending on when this airs, kind of new immersive experiences and new storytelling formats for their Marvel universe. So I think we're going to continue to see not only gaming, but big Hollywood IP embrace spatial computing very early on, but changing, I think the way people engage that human computer interaction in the sense that we've been really passive recipients or passive users of technology in some ways. Us adapting to technology, I think technology is going to start adapting to the physical world. So that's where these new content formats, whether it's the mail as a game in spatial computing or what Marvel's going to bring us, is going to start to make us a bit more of an active part of what is happening in these stories.
That's really interesting, the Marvel angle. So does this mean we're going to expect new forms of TV shows and other entertainment media?
I think so.
I think it's giving way to spatial video throws 3D centric depth. Content beyond 3D, beyond just 3D TV. Right. I want people to understand we're not talking about the old type of 3D TV where you wore these cookie glasses. It's more, you know, once. Once this virtual content is spatially aware, you can start to engage with it in different ways because it's going to understand the physical world around you. So I definitely think we're going to see new content types. Spatial video. Definitely. From everything I'm hearing, people are getting more and more interested in spatial video, which is video that has depth. So right now, with like my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I can shoot spatial video. Video that has depth. Video, the video that I can see in 3D, that feels a lot more. More volumetric. It feels more like, like what I live in a daily basis. So I can shoot it with my phone, but then I can watch it back in my vision Pro. So you're going to start to think, you know, sports, entertainment, all these sorts of new formats, new, new. All the sort of these new industries embracing these new formats to start to experiment with my. What might come next. But I mean, I don't know if you want to add something regarding kind of like the depth element of video and what's coming.
Well, I mean, Apple has really played up the entertainment angle and I mean it makes a lot of sense they've got Apple TV plus to be able to put on their own shows. So I'm looking forward to see what they produce. And I know it's going to be quite a bit. I mean, right now they do have some sports on there. They have soccer and basketball and stuff like that. So they really wanted to play up the sports angle in 3D, and they tried to get the NFL to join, but they weren't able to do the contract, unfortunately. So, yeah, I just want to add that it's kind of. There are new forms that people might think would be needed for spatial computing, but I think that the Apple Vision Pro is just pushing forward in better quality what has come before.
