Free-roam Design, Physical Haptics, and Touchable World

Paul Raphaël , co-founder of Felix & Paul Studios, joins the AI XR Podcast for a candid, high-energy discussion on the state and future of immersive experiences. Broadcasting live from Las Vegas during the launch of "Interstellar Arc" at AREA15, Raphael details the three-year journey behind this ambitious location-based VR attraction—capable of hosting 170 simultaneous users in a fully interactive, physically-anchored world.

Paul explains how Felix & Paul’s background in cinematic VR, including their Emmy-winning "Space Explorers" ISS series, led organically to massive real-world installations like The Infinite and Interstellar Arc. The team’s relentless commitment to high presence, practical haptics, and social immersion has kept Felix & Paul at the top of XR content for over a decade. Raphael shares the lessons learned from surviving through hardware hype cycles, pivoting when needed, and betting big on experiential location-based entertainment. He compares the Interstellar Arc’s staged onboarding and world-building to the best of Disney Imagineering, blending nostalgia with cutting-edge tech.

The group unpacks the mixed reviews for Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset, discusses OpenAI and Microsoft’s latest browser moves, and debates the implications of California’s new chatbot disclosure law. Paul and the hosts dig deep on business realities—headset costs, throughput limitations, and why word-of-mouth and “the ultimate holodeck” matter more than the marketing hype. Raphael offers advice for young creators: stay obsessed, be nimble, and design for what’s actually possible today—not just hype for the future.

Guest Interview Highlights

• Launching “Interstellar Arc” at AREA15: 170-player free-roam VR set in a massive, tactile spaceport—blending real-world physicality, seamless pre-show and post-show narrative, and next-gen social VR.
• Lessons from “The Infinite” and Space Explorers: Pivoting toward large-scale, high-throughput live VR events as a sustainable creative and business model.
• Staying power in XR: Why creative obsession, no-plan-B persistence, and ground-level adaptability have kept Felix & Paul thriving.
• Haptics, real objects, and social immersion: Making “free-roam” a convincing, embodied experience—even with today’s hardware.
• XR’s future: Why the studio’s best projects might be ahead—and how true mixed reality will need to drive down headset weight, friction, and heat.

News Segment Highlights

• Amazon’s leaked internal AI & robotics roadmap
• Meta reorgs AI staff
• Samsung launches Galaxy XR headset
• OpenAI and Microsoft debut AI browsers
• California passes first US chatbot law
• Wikipedia sees 8% drop in traffic

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