Looking to the future of AR and VR in the year to come, Top Interactive Agencies (TIA) spoke to a innovators in the immersive industry. Nexus Studios’ Executive Creative Director, Alex Jenkins, was honoured to weigh in on these transformative tools that are now at our disposal. 

In the report, titled ‘Imagination Unleashed: AR/VR Collaborations in the Realm of Interactive Creativity Crafting Reality Beyond Limits’, TIA sought to assess VR and AR’s “integration in creative workflows, the challenges and opportunities they represent, and the future […] between imaginative storytelling and these cutting-edge technologies.”

Asked in what ways he believes the landscape of creative storytelling is changing due to VR/AR experiences, Alex points out that, although operating in different ways, both “make you directly part of the presented fiction.” This in combination with a lack of predetermined outcome, elevates the audience into the position of protagonist. 

Some of the most effective immersive storytelling allows space for the audience to influence the outcome with every action, every decision. For these reasons, Alex compares the immersive creator to a “conductor seeking to create a beautiful experiential symphony from a wide and varied orchestra, there is a shared composition, but with every piece added, there is an opportunity for variation.” He argues that creators should lean into these possibilities, pushing to give the audience more agency. 

Read the full report  to learn more on his views on location-based AR integration, Nexus Studios’ approach to technologies, and mentions of marquee projects, here.