In what sounds like either a stunning feat of stamina or a terrifying harbinger of future pastimes, two New York men set a Guinness World Record over Easter weekend for the longest virtual reality viewing marathon ever.
Twenty-six-year-old Alejandro Fragoso and Alex Christison, 37, watched virtual reality videos for 50 straight hours on their Oculus Rift headsets, Variety reports — though the two men were allowed to take five-minute breaks every hour in order to eat, shower, and stretch. The event doubled as a publicity stunt for software company CyberLink.
While this marks the first such attempt, there is an existing record for the longest-ever VR video game marathon (25 hours), and Fragoso also holds the Guinness World Record for the longest TV binge-viewing session at a whopping 94 hours.
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The guys watched VR movies, shorts, and other immersive content sourced from YouTube, Variety reports. Two witnesses were monitoring Fragoso and Christison at all times, and eye-monitoring software and cameras made sure that they weren’t napping inside of their headsets. A physician was also on hand to make sure that neither suffered any serious side effects, including nausea or vertigo.
Fifty straight hours isn’t the only stunning stat to be associated with virtual reality in recent days. According to Greenlight Insights, the VR industry is expected to generate $7.17 billion in revenue by the end of the year before catapulting to $75 billion in 2021 — the majority of which is projected to come from headset and camera sales.
