Welcome to the interview with Ondřej Dobruský, the CEO of Victoria VR.
Hi Ondřej! Thank you for your time. Please introduce yourself and tell us how Victoria VR came into being.
Hi! I am Ondřej Dobruský, the CEO and co-founder of Victoria VR. Thank you for having me on board.
I’ve been a coding and gaming enthusiast for as long as I can remember. I started coding at the age of six and built my first game at the age of eight. Then, growing up, I honed my skills as a coder and game developer, and I have over 16 years of experience building new technologies, solutions, and applications. I remember coming across the world of virtual reality in 2010 and immediately took to learning and developing the technology. Then, since 2018, I’ve been a full-fledged gaming architect.
Now, speaking of Victoria VR, its co-founder Adam and I always wanted to build a game that is not just a game but a whole new world. We wanted to build a metaverse—an immersive virtual world—by combining blockchain technology and virtual reality in a way that no one has done before. So, we started developing the project to bring our vision to life, and today, we are a team of eighty game developers.
Nice. Speaking of blockchain-based gaming, it gained significant popularity recently. What do you think brings this kind of appeal to blockchain games? And how will using blockchain transform the global gaming industry?
We still look at blockchain-based gaming and regular gaming as two separate sectors. But they are rapidly merging to become one. The global gaming industry is undoubtedly one of the most booming industries, but blockchain gaming overcomes many shortcomings to give gamers a better value for their time. It also enhances the overall gaming experience.
That’s a great insight. So, your website says that Victoria VR is the world’s first realistic metaverse. Please walk us through the world of Victoria VR and tell us how it differs from existing metaverse projects. What new experiences can users expect in this new virtual world?
Victoria VR is the world’s first blockchain and VR-powered metaverse. Our vision is to create a fully immersive virtual world that is fun, engaging, and practical. We want people to have a world where they can overcome the shortcomings of their physical reality and be anything they want to be. In this virtual world, anyone can interact, play games, go to work, rest, travel, and also learn.
We’ve built this world with Unreal Engine to achieve high-quality, realistic graphics. Plus, the underlying blockchain-based architecture enables the users’ community to own and manage this virtual world. Victoria VR thus offers a much more immersive and user-centric experience than other existing metaverse projects.
While most metaverses focus merely on passive income generation, we emphasize enriching the user’s virtual experience. Victoria VR is designed to be a universal platform where games, decentralized applications, protocols, and a myriad of virtual worlds can co-exist.
Citizens of this virtual world can explore various adventures, visit the moon with their friends, enjoy a day on the beach, go shopping, or attend conferences. They can also build, create, and trade NFTs, creating an economy of their own. Overall, I believe Victoria VR is a metaverse in the truest sense of the word.
It’s highly exciting indeed. So, you mentioned Unreal Engine. Can you explain what it is in simple terms and how it amplifies the user experience?
Sure. Unreal Engine is the world’s most advanced 3D creation tool for immersive experiences. It’s the best gaming engine available today.
Most AAA titles that gamers love are built using Unreal Engine, primarily because it unlocks the best gaming experience. From high-quality graphics and physical simulations to visual effects, it gives developers everything they need to create immersive game worlds.
The engine helps overcome graphical limitations that plague VR metaverses and significantly improves user experiences. The best part is that the engine is fully upgradeable. So, games built with Unreal can consistently adapt to the ever-changing patterns, styles, and demands of the gaming industry.
Well. But despite everything, blockchain networks currently face severe scalability issues. Do you think these platforms have what it takes to run such an ambitious MMORPG environment as Victoria VR? Can they serve billions of gamers, globally, without breaking down?
Right. That’s a valid concern. But we must realize that blockchain technology has come a long way since its inception in 2009. Although scalability shortcomings and network congestion on popular blockchains inconvenience developers significantly, collective efforts are underway to solve these problems.
For example, we’ve witnessed the rise of scalable Layer-1 and Layer-2 blockchains. Personally, though, I believe application-specific blockchain networks are what new-age gaming protocols need. They can fare much better when it comes to overcoming network congestion and enabling the scalability necessary for high-fidelity, immersive gaming.
Thank you for highlighting the silver lining. We must now wrap this up. So, tell us a bit about how you envision the future of blockchain and virtual reality gaming. Do you think they’ll lead the gaming industry in the near future?
Yes, of course. I genuinely believe blockchain and virtual reality will have a tremendous impact on the global gaming industry. The most admirable thing about gamers is that they are constantly looking for new challenges and opportunities. Perhaps no other community is so willing to embrace change, especially when it’s driven by technological innovation. This is why blockchain is and will be welcome in the gaming industry.
Moreover, the unprecedented experiences that both blockchain and virtual reality unlock for gamers is an added incentive for mass adoption. Victoria VR, for example, is much more than just a game, as we previously discussed. The metaverse, as a whole, will evolve to accommodate people from all walks of life. And I think that will inevitably lead to a brighter, more community-oriented future for gaming.
