I’m pleased to announced that longtime Editor Scott Hayden is stepping up to become Road to VR’s new Executive Editor.
After starting with Road to VR as a freelancer in 2014, becoming a contributor in 2016, and then Editor in 2019, Scott Hayden is now the publication’s new Executive Editor. As such, Scott is responsible for all editorial decisions and strategy, and for upholding the standards of reporting that Road to VR has been dedicated to over the last 15 years.
There’s no way I’d miss my last opportunity—as the one with the final say on editorial—to use this photo of Scott!
Looking back at Scott’s first-ever published work on Road to VR in November 2014 reminds me just how strong of a writer he was from the very beginning. Even then, his articles were well written, informed, and thoughtful.
And in the 12 years since, he’s gone from a strong writer to a great reporter with incredible versatility; Scott has handled it all: daily news, reviews, interviews, international conferences, editorial insights, and, much more. And, importantly, he knows how to make the tough editorial calls that ensure Road to VR’s coverage remains journalism rather than marketing.
Beyond his dedication to the Road to VR mission, Scott is also a very intelligent, very curious, and very kind person whom I’m fortunate to have as a colleague. I can think of literally no one better to maintain this publication’s values as it continues to evolve with the world of XR over the coming years.
A Welcome Letter From Scott
In early 2014, I bought a used Oculus Rift DK1 off eBay. At the time, I felt like I was late to the game. I wasn’t an original backer of the 2013 Kickstarter. I wasn’t a developer, and I had no real intentions of becoming one. But I could own something that I knew was a piece of the future. Something I could strap to my head to experience a multitude of worlds outside my tiny Italian apartment.
I started a VR-focused blog, which is now defunct (and cringey to look back on), but it was a place where I could exercise my thoughts and learn how I do best: by writing. Soon after, I started working as a freelancer for Road to VR under Ben Lang and Paul James, who took me, as a recent history undergrad already very comfortable with research and writing, and gave me the mentorship and public forum to cover history as it happened.
Over the years, that sporadic experiment in writing turned into a career I never really planned on having. I watched the industry mature, learned how to report on it, and eventually found myself doing as much editing and shaping of the publication as I did writing for it.
Now, after 12 years, a few job titles, uncountable press room coffees, and many late nights, that passion has only grown.
I’m excited and deeply honored to lead Road to VR as executive editor. I think I’ve interacted with Ben for so long now that I almost have a miniature version of him inside my head. As you’ll read from Ben further below, he’ll still be here to help, but his focus is shifting toward improving the reader experience with fixes and new features. Where he does still contribute occasional writing, he not only agreed—but actually insisted—that he won’t cover anything that would involve a conflict of interest with his new role.
As I’d hope our long-time readers can attest, Road to VR’s values are clear: we practice journalism, and we don’t do cheerleading. Some of that comes from the knowledge that the XR industry doesn’t need us and will thrive on its own merits. That’s the lens I’ve used when covering VR games, hardware, and the companies who make it all, which sometimes would rather we signal-boost a press release than ask why.
Sometimes you need to go against your best interests to cover a story independently. I’ve done that for the last decade and expect anyone who commits their name to a Road to VR byline to do the same.
As VR changes and grows, we’ll continue following the road toward perfectly indistinguishable virtual reality—that’s the actual road we’re on, by the way. There will be plenty of crossroads along the way, and I’m excited to help navigate them.
At least on the immediate horizon, AI is disrupting both traditional journalism and the ways we consume news, while XR is becoming increasingly intertwined with the same AI-powered technologies.
As we thread these challenges, Road to VR will continue as it always has: by being intensely human, not only in the stories we write, but in the curiosity and skepticism our readership expects from us.
Ben Lang Becomes Road to VR Business Director Alongside XR Industry Role
With Scott taking my place as Executive Editor, I’m shifting to the new role of Business Director. After 15 years of being responsible for editorial strategy, alongside the entirety of Road to VR as a business, this new role gives me the opportunity to rebalance my time and focus on some underserved areas of Road to VR, specifically: the reader experience and media platform side.
Road to VR is a completely different beast compared to when I started it as a little hobby blog back in 2011. The world of online media has changed considerably, and so have the expectation of readers. With this new focus, my goal is to bring Road to VR—as a platform—into the modern era.
The work is already well underway.
Earlier this year we launched Road to VR 5.0 which brought a massive improvement in speed, a vastly improved responsive and mobile experience, and clearer organization of content to help readers go beyond just the front page. Behind the scenes it also streamlined the writing process, improved our ability to serve inline video content, and plenty more.
Since then we’ve also rolled out a ‘dark mode’ (which you can toggle in the top right of the menu bar), and piloted interactive content in our articles (like the timeline here). And there’s more in the works that you’ll see over the months to come.
While I’m excited about what’s in the works for Road to VR, my total time as Business Director will be kept to part-time status, making way for my new full-time focus as the Head of Strategic Partnerships at VITURE.
I’m excited to take the leap from reporting on the industry to being part of the industry proper, and what we’re building at Viture. I’ll be happy to talk more about that over on my personal Twitter or LinkedIn, but Road to VR’s editorial surfaces have never been a place for marketing, and that isn’t going to start now.
Quite the opposite, actually. Conditional on my acceptance of VITURE’s offer, the company signed an agreement that completely insulates it from any efforts to use my position as leverage to influence decisions made at Road to VR.
I expect I will still contribute some writing to Road to VR here and there—after all, you don’t go from 15 years studying this space closely to suddenly having zero opinions about it—but my writings will never be about Viture or matters in which my position with the company would create a conflict of interest.
And with the Executive Editorship in Scott’s hands, I feel confident that Road to VR will retain the editorial independence that we’ve worked to maintain over all these years.
