Virtual reality is still largely a zone for experiences, five to ten minute demos for people to casually enjoy. And that’s perfect if you’re trying to market something. Like a chainsaw.
As it turns out, cutting branches from a fallen tree is a sport. It’s called limbing, although I thought that just applied to the process of lopping the branches off. Still, it works for Husqvarna, since they’re the makers of Things That Cut Other Things: lawnmowers, chainsaws, you get the drill.
So in a move that we’ll probably see replicated about a million times over the next few years, Husqvarna has decided to make a VR game. Featuring you, an up-and-coming limber.
Where you chomp limbs. Wood limbs, that is.
If all of these tie-ins are going to be free-to-play, we might eventually get to a state where there’s plenty of VR content to play on a regular basis. I mean, sure, you’ll end up having a few brands shoved down your throat in the process, but it could be fun nonetheless.
Now I’m just picturing a sequel to Firewatch where you play as a lumberjack. Oh god. Someone please make that game. In the interim Limberjack is available for free on Steam, although it only supports the HTC Vive.
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5 responses to “Because Why Not Use VR To Advertise Chainsaws”
Kinda surprised Capcom haven’t whored out Resident Evil 4 to VR platforms yet. Next minute…..
Well, RE 7 is coming to VR so I think they’re starting to catch on.
I see what you did there…. RE4… chainsaws……….
Once drove past a chainsaw shop, they were promoting their business by having someone out the front holding a running chainsaw. If only he had a hockey mask also…
So I had a client I built a VR experience for earlier this year. They are a big accounting firm that has a lot of agtech clients, and they wanted a way to show they were up to date with tech at an expo. So they decided they wanted a VR experience where you shear a sheep, and once you’ve shorn the wool off, their logo would be underneath tattoed to the side of the sheep.
Needless to say it’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever built xD