Even hardened TV execs who thought they had seen it all got a surprise at Mipcom this week when French firm Marc Dorcel launched a 360º virtual reality (VR) adult entertainment offering.

The Paris-based company drew many curious Mipcom attendees to its stand to try out what it said would be the first major offering in the adult space.

The company used a seven-camera GoPro set-up to produce a two-minute demo presentation in which the user takes the place of a casting director on a soft porn video shoot.

^[1]

Actresses approach the user in various states of undress, asking for decisions such as what outfit to wear, while the user examines their surrounds in 360º.

Dorcel’s VoD product manager Jean-Charles Laisné told C21 the company had opted to produce for the Samsung Gear VR headset rather than the better-known, Facebook-owned Oculus Rift DK2 headset, owing to software compatibility.

Media division VP Ghislain Faribeault added that while VR was at the forefront of Dorcel’s Mipcom stand, the company would initially be launching its VR titles as a direct-to-consumer offering.

One New Zealand-based sales exec, who asked to remain anonymous, was clearly convinced by the demonstration, telling C21: “That was incredible. I’ve seen the future of porn.”

And while many at the booth seemed to be trying the tech out of mere curiosity, there appeared to be several genuinely interested business follow-ups from producers and firms working in the VR space.

Dorcel – and the adult entertainment industry in general – has form as an early adopter. It and its rivals, such as Playboy, were among the first firms to launch and sell HD content at the Palais, and among the first to offer 3D content as well.

The success of a new technology in the adult sector is often seen as a weathervane for how broadly it will be adopted by other sectors. VR is already a hot area in tech following Facebook’s US$2bn acquisition of Oculus VR in 2014.