Hello, everybody. This is Zixiong, CEO of Source Technology.
It's been six years since my first experience with VR. For all these years, I have believed that HMDs (AR & VR) are the computing platform for the next generation. It is based on this belief that we created SKYBOX. We wanted to create the most immersive video viewing experience.
We started to work on SKYBOX in 2016. It's been 4 years now. However, we have always maintained the Alpha/Beta status for SKYBOX, because we understand that there are still many things that can be improved, although SKYBOX is already the highest rated VR video player by user ratings.
We are still not quite satisfied with what we have done with SKYBOX. Our to-do-list is still long. I believe we share the same higher expectations towards SKYBOX with many of our users, like videos with 6DOF, a photo gallery, better compatibility, online videos, etc..
These features require much more manpower and energy than we currently have. So we have decided to start charging money for SKYBOX in order to support our further development.
1. The change will begin on May 18th 2020, including Steam and all the Oculus platforms, safe for Cardboard and Mi VR.
2. The initial price will be 14.99 USD.
3. For those of you we have already downloaded SKYBOX for free prior to May 18th 2020 can keep using it for free without any additional charges or changes.
4. The free version will also get the exact same updates as the paid version.
5. Before we have found any other better business models, we will just keep this pre-paid charging method. However, we reserve the right to further raise the price or return to free in the future. We hope you guys can understand. This is just another business decision.
6. If you guys wish to keep SKYBOX free, but want to support us in our development. We now have a Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/skyboxplayer
We hope this plan can cover our development cost and let us make SKYBOX better.
You don't really need a 3rd party software to play movies on the Quest. "Oculus Gallery" will play them on a large screen in your home. I'm able to use it to watch almost all my ripped 3D blueray files. There are a few that I can't get the aspect radio set and a few that has sound issues, but most work well. I still much prefer Skybox. It plays everything well on a much larger screen. Of the many VR players I've tried it is the best by far.
I don't know how you manage to use the Oculus player, it sparkles so much that it blinded me in 10 seconds.
