As Mitchell Sanchez waited for his high school soccer match as a boy, his nose would be buried in his PSP traversing a galaxy far, far away.
At the time, Star Wars video games had turned a corner, becoming as popular as they had ever been.
But little did that Miami kid know that one day, he’d be working on Star Wars games professionally for Electronic Arts, which at that time was based in Maitland. That’s a long way from sitting on the bus getting razzed by some teammates.
“We almost got into a fight,” he said. “But then fast forward a couple of years and there I was, releasing a reveal trailer for Battlefront II.”
Sanchez would move on to also work on the company’s legendary John Madden football series but left the company because he had his eyes on another medium: virtual reality.
From Galaxy Far, Far Away to Orlando’s Tech Scene
Now, years later, Sanchez,35, will debut a VR experience in Orlando that takes users to an alternate world while their feet are set firmly in a downtown nightclub.
Through his company OtherVRse, Mitchell has collaborated with The Corner, a venue that will host the roughly 5-minute, free experience from 7-11:30 p.m. on Friday at 70 N. Orange Ave. The new immersive experience, which debuts, is called PKM.
The premise is that you are on an intergalactic game show seeking the universe’s top marksman.
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Sanchez has become a strong proponent of Orlando’s tech scene, which he says does not have the exposure it both deserves and should strive for.
He plans to host these VR experiences monthly.
“To get these types of experiences, you usually have to go to another city,” he said. “I feel that I can bring a sort of magic back to (downtown) Orlando.”
Bridging Virtual Worlds with Downtown Reality
The Miami native wanted to become an architect, initially.
However, when that soured, he relocated to Orlando to attend Full Sail University. His goal had been to work on special effects for movies.
But fate intervened and he landed at EA, where he continued to explore interests that ultimately landed on VR.
Still, it remains a learning experience.
“Thinking about it in the business aspect has slowed me down,” he said. “I reframe it where, this is just my art. This is me trying to bring value. It’s my little contribution on helping Orlando.”
Orlando has tried to position itself as a hub for creative technologies, whether it’s VR, AR, artificial intelligence or other emerging technologies.
Years ago, leaders dubbed the region “The Metaverse” in an effort to highlight those capabilities.
But Sanchez was more affected by something he did many years before that.
“My inspiration come from all the trips to Universal Studios when I was a kid,” he said. “That magic I felt was inspiring.”
Sanchez’s admiration for Orlando almost stopped before it started.
After applying multiple places when he graduated Full Sail, he was about a week away from returning to Miami.
Then EA called.
Ever since, Sanchez has found his community, a group of developers and experts backing his efforts.
“Everyone has been chipping in so that I can get my (base) while I’m trying to build something,” he said.
The ‘Super Broken’ Beginnings of a VR Visionary
Sanchez’s journey to his company The OtherVRse has been a series of learning experiences.
Initially, he said, “I was just hoping people weren’t going to crash into walls.”
Sanchez, at the time, manually reset the positioning of the headset for each user. That was novel because he just had not learned quite yet how to match up someone in the physical and 3D world.
Now, as he launches the newest experience called “Containment Breach” on Friday, Sanchez knows he has come a long way since he re-skinned an Orlando pub to look like the Star Wars Cantina bar.
“If I show you the program and the blueprints on how I did everything, it looks super bad,” he said. “It looks super broken. But it worked, at the end of the day. I’m really proud of that.”