Seeking a virtual reality breakthrough

People leave notes about their feeling after playing virtual reality games at The Choice's VR experience center at U-Town shopping mall in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

In a report published in early 2016, Goldman Sachs predicts that the total addressable market for virtual reality and augmented reality (which overlay digital information onto the physical world) will be $80 billion in 2025, with $11.6 billion and more than 200 million users in the segment of games alone.

Tons of venture capital has poured in, and numerous startups like Tan's company mushroomed in the first half of last year.

"A majority of VR games are first-person shooters," says Tan. "But we think VR is not just about killing, it's to create different worlds."

Just as its name hints, Tan says The 18th Floor is an ongoing project and will immerse player in 18 different scenes, each having its unique features.

"We started with something people are familiar with, like the workshop you were in, then to something one could only imagine in their childhood dreams - the train running on the sea was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's animation Spirited Away - and now we realize them through virtual reality."

This is a game that Zhang Wen would be interested in.