Singapore, 2 March 2023 – Samsung Electronics Singapore and Refract Technologies, a game and technology company with expertise in extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) for interactive entertainment and enterprise applications, today announced they have entered a strategic agreement to collaborate on the creation of new immersive experiences for consumers in gaming, virtual sports, and other activities in market.  

The partnership will explore how Refract and Samsung can come together to expand the use cases of XR with the AXIS system for consumers and enterprises. Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones will serve as the official main hub for Refract’s AXIS, the proprietary wireless and occlusion-proof inside-out full-body tracking system designed for gamers and content creators to use their bodies as controllers. This has started with the shipment of Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, which was included with each set of AXIS to Kickstarter backers starting in 2022. Announced in March 2022, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G balances robust processing capabilities at an optimal price point, making it the ideal hub for AXIS.

In addition, Refract and Samsung will collaborate to identify possible joint activities and projects that will contribute to technology development and innovation for both companies, as well as establish go-to-market efforts to drive broader adoption of immersive experiences powered by XR, AI, and Samsung’s hardware solutions.

Refract and Samsung’s collaboration will debut in the form of Virtual Taekwondo competitions and exhibitions, starting with a showcase at the inaugural Olympic Esports Week in Singapore from 22-25 June, and other World Taekwondo Championships and Grand Prix events in 2023. The Federation’s goal is to eventually make Virtual Taekwondo one of the first medal virtual sports at the Olympic Games.

“We are excited to partner with Samsung as they are a leading consumer electronics brand that enables continued innovation in the age of 5G and AI,” said Michael Chng, CEO, Refract Technologies. “Besides relying on the quality and processing capabilities of Samsung Galaxy phones, we look forward to jointly exploring further opportunities in designing cutting-edge XR experiences around both our products.”

“Technology continues to drive new frontiers of innovation, and we want to be able to bring new experiences for our consumers. Partnering with Refract will support our goals of creating technology that can touch the lives of our users and more, and we are very excited to see advanced technologies such as extended reality come to life with the help of our Galaxy 5G devices. We are also looking forward to collaborating closely with Refract to explore more opportunities where we can bring XR experiences across more of our products, making next-generation immersive experiences a reality for more,” said Dennis Jang, President, Samsung Electronics Singapore.

AXIS was successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2021, and was first showcased at the 2022 Commonwealth Esports Championships Innovation Showcase. By combining low-latency real-time input with a patent-pending untethered design that negates the need for external base stations to do absolute position tracking, AXIS is a full-body controller targeted at the growing group of tech-savvy consumers who want more immersive virtual experience,  supporting use cases such as entertainment activities including gaming and Vtubing; fitness activities like remote training and virtual sparring, as well as professional motion capture functionality for creators. For more information, visit https://refract.gg 

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com.

About Refract Technologies

Refract is a game and technology company with expertise in extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) for interactive entertainment and enterprise applications. A global partner of the Global Esports Federation, the company was founded by tech and games industry veterans from the likes of Unity, EA, and Ubisoft, with a vision to extend the human experience beyond reality through innovations in gaming and entertainment.