Sensorium Corporation

Sensorium Corporation
Information
Industry	Virtual reality, social VR
Founded	2018
Founder	Mikhail Prokhorov
Headquarters	Zug, Switzerland
Products	Sensorium Galaxy, SENSO token
Website	https://sensoriumgalaxy.com

Sensorium Corporation (also called Sensorium; its Swiss company is Sensorium AG) is a social virtual reality and metaverse developer founded in 2018 by the Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who sold the Brooklyn Nets in 2019. Its main product is Sensorium Galaxy, a multi-user platform of themed virtual worlds built around virtual concerts by electronic music DJs, AI-driven avatars and social features. Its first world, PRISM, is a music venue developed with Yann Pissenem, the creator of the Ibiza nightclubs Ushuaïa Ibiza and Hï Ibiza.

In August 2020 the company said it had attracted 100 million US dollars in investment since 2018. Bloomberg reported that Prokhorov controlled the company and was one of the investors behind that figure. Sensorium signed performance deals with DJs including David Guetta, Carl Cox and Armin van Buuren, and sold an in-platform cryptocurrency token, SENSO. The platform had been due in the first half of 2021; it opened a public playtest on Steam in February 2023, and Carl Cox's virtual show Intermundium premiered on 27 October 2023 as what the company called the platform's official launch.

Reviewed 6 October 2026. Founding, ownership, funding, Redpill VR deal, TIDAL and DJ deals, Creators Program, HotBit listing, beta, SXSW, playtest, Arc, Intermundium, Steam listing and update notes, website statements and Zug register entry checked against Forbes and Bloomberg (archived), Music Business Worldwide, Mixmag, Auganix, Decrypt, Steam, Zefix and the company press releases. About review dates.

History

Founding and the Redpill VR partnership (2018-2019)

Prokhorov founded Sensorium in 2018. In August 2020 Forbes reported that the company was registered in the Cayman Islands and had offices in Moscow, Zurich and Los Angeles.

On 13 June 2019 Sensorium and Redpill VR, a Los Angeles company led by its CEO Laurent Scallie, announced a partnership on social VR music experiences. They said joint investment in the project to date was about 70 million US dollars, from a group of gaming and entertainment companies in the United States, Europe and Japan. They said a technical prototype of their social VR platform would debut at E3 2019 in Los Angeles (11-13 June 2019), with an official launch expected in 2020. Redpill VR's platform was built on Unreal Engine 4. The announcement described Sensorium as a creator of digital simulations of real-world venues and virtual worlds, with partners including Ushuaïa Ibiza, Hï Ibiza, the Dutch event organizers ID&T and Apenkooi Events, and the technology partner Iconic Engine. Ingvar Goldman, Sensorium's Chief Vision Officer, was quoted in the announcement. By August 2020, according to Forbes, Sensorium owned a 27% stake in Redpill VR.

Sensorium Galaxy announcement and artist deals (2020)

In a statement on 17 August 2020 Sensorium said that investors had put a combined 100 million US dollars into the company since 2018. Bloomberg, reporting on Sensorium Galaxy, described the company as a startup controlled by Prokhorov, reported that Epic Games was a Sensorium partner, and said that Yann Pissenem was developing a virtual venue on the "Planet of Music", the first planet of the galaxy. According to Bloomberg, visitors would be able to watch shows, socialize and buy avatar accessories using blockchain technology. In the same article, Joost van Dreunen, an adjunct assistant professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, called Sensorium "one the best funded VR-related experiments out there". He also said it was a risky bet because the VR industry was still young.

Forbes reported that the company would not name its investors and had not yet said which musicians had signed on. The platform was then due in the first half of 2021. A company spokesperson told Forbes that the COVID-19 pandemic had caused "minor delays in terms of development" because it had kept the company from recording artists in its motion capture studio. The spokesperson said that users would be able to reach the platform through a VR headset or a personal computer. Forbes also reported that Sensorium was using Epic Games' 3D creation tool to build it.

On 10 September 2020 Sensorium launched a "Creators Program" for Unreal Engine developers. It took applications from 10 September to 10 December 2020 and planned to publish results by 15 January 2021. The company said the program could lead it to acquire, invest in or co-develop Unreal Engine projects so that they could become locations inside Sensorium Galaxy. The same announcement listed two worlds, PRISM and MOTION, for a public launch in the first half of 2021.

Music Business Worldwide reported that the streaming service TIDAL had spent 7 million US dollars on SENSO tokens. The purchase gave TIDAL's artist co-owners, among them Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Rihanna, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk and Chris Martin, access to broadcast their content in Sensorium Galaxy. David Guetta was announced on 1 October 2020 as the first DJ to join PRISM, with a series of exclusive performances planned. Carl Cox followed on 16 October 2020 with a series of exclusive VR DJ sets for PRISM. On 3 December 2020 SENSO was listed on the cryptocurrency exchange HotBit. Sensorium then said the platform would launch in early 2021 and work with the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift S and Valve Index headsets as well as PCs and mobile devices.

Closed beta and AI DJs (2021-2022)

On 2 April 2021 Sensorium began an invite-only closed beta of PRISM and MOTION on head-mounted displays and PCs. CEO Vladimir Kedrinsky and head of product Ivan Nikitin were quoted in the announcement, which put the public launch in the second quarter of 2021. PRISM was to host performances by real DJs and by virtual AI-driven DJs created with the generative music service Mubert. The DJs named as confirmed for PRISM were David Guetta, Carl Cox, Armin van Buuren, Black Coffee and Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike. MOTION was an underwater world for meditation and mindfulness. A minimum viable product of a companion mobile app had also been built, which the company said would let users create avatars, buy tickets, watch livestreams and chat with other users and AI characters.

At SXSW in Austin in March 2022, Sensorium showed a VR concert headlined by its AI-driven DJs. The company said these virtual performers could generate music in more than 60 genres and use genetic algorithms and reinforcement learning to hold unscripted conversations. The platform was still in beta at that time.

Public playtest, Sensorium Arc and Intermundium (2023)

A Swiss company, Sensorium AG (registered with the additional name Sensorium Corporation), was entered in the commercial register of the canton of Zug in June 2021. Its statutes are dated 28 May 2021, and its registered purpose includes services in information technology, social VR, games and entertainment. By February 2023 Sensorium described itself as a Swiss company and issued its announcements from Zug. On 21 February 2023 it opened a public multiplayer VR playtest of Sensorium Galaxy on Steam, with PRISM as the first available destination. The playtest included a 24/7 "Sensorium Party" with AI avatar performers, voice chat, avatar customization and a "Salvador Dali Experience" in which users could talk to an AI avatar of the painter. The platform was then built on Unreal Engine 5. Sensorium said the first three PRISM shows by real musicians would come in the first half of 2023 and MOTION in the second half.

On 5 May 2023 the company announced Sensorium Arc, a decentralized platform for company-owned and third-party Web3 products, to be powered by SENSO. Its first releases were to be a SENSO decentralized app and UNDER. The announcement was a sponsored press release distributed by Chainwire, and it mentioned planned non-fungible token assets such as avatars and land parcels.

The Steam store lists Sensorium Galaxy's Early Access release as 18 October 2023. Carl Cox's Intermundium, a free virtual show of tracks written, produced and performed by Cox, premiered on 27 October 2023 at 7 p.m. GMT. Sensorium called it the official launch of Sensorium Galaxy, and the company then said it was headquartered in Switzerland and Dubai. The show was streamed in 2D on YouTube, the Sensorium website and the mobile app, and in full VR and desktop form on Steam and the Epic Games Store. A VR-360 version for standalone headsets was announced for later. The Steam listing describes the show as a 30-minute set. Mixmag, in an article published in association with Sensorium Galaxy, reported that Cox's avatar, nicknamed "Coxy 2.0", drew over one million viewers across the opening weekend.

Current status

As of October 2026 the Steam listing for Sensorium Galaxy shows a free-to-play Early Access title for Windows, with an optional PC VR mode that uses OpenXR and motion controllers. Its developer and publisher are listed as Sensorium AG. The Swiss commercial register listed Sensorium AG of Zug as an existing company in October 2026. The most recent update notes on Steam are dated 16 April 2024 and added single sign-on through Google, Facebook, Apple, Discord and Steam. The Sensorium Galaxy website names Sensorium AG of Zug as the trademark owner and describes the mobile app, which has AI-powered "virtual beings" as chat companions, as "the only gateway to the digital metaverse at the moment".

Products

Product	Type	Dates	Notes
Sensorium Galaxy	Multi-user metaverse platform	Described in press coverage in August 2020; closed beta April 2021; Steam playtest February 2023; Early Access 18 October 2023	Themed virtual worlds; PC VR and desktop on Steam; 2D streams and a mobile app
PRISM	Virtual world in Sensorium Galaxy	Closed beta April 2021; first destination in the February 2023 playtest	Electronic music venue developed with Yann Pissenem; real and AI-driven DJ performances
MOTION	Virtual world in Sensorium Galaxy	Closed beta April 2021	Underwater world for meditation and mindfulness; scheduled in 2023 for a release in the second half of that year
Sensorium Galaxy mobile app	Mobile companion app	MVP built by April 2021	Avatars, tickets, livestreams and chats with AI characters
SENSO	Cryptocurrency token	HotBit listing 3 December 2020	In-platform currency for tickets, avatars and items; TIDAL had spent 7 million US dollars on tokens by October 2020
Sensorium Arc	Web3 platform	Announced 5 May 2023	Decentralized platform powered by SENSO; first planned releases a SENSO decentralized app and UNDER
Intermundium	Virtual concert	Premiered 27 October 2023	30-minute Carl Cox show in PRISM; free in 2D, VR and desktop formats

XR work

Sensorium's XR work is centered on social virtual concerts. In its Intermundium announcement the company said it used photogrammetry to create realistic avatars of artists, recorded 3,500 dance movements with motion capture to animate them, and used its own technology to create the personalities of the AI characters that users talk to inside the platform. It said all of this runs in Unreal Engine 5. The full VR version of the show let users stand in a fan zone in front of Carl Cox's avatar, join the crowd on the dance floor or explore the venue. Users arrived through a "Shuttle", where they could choose their avatar's appearance and talk with generative-AI avatars before the show.

AI-driven performers and characters, which the company calls "virtual beings", have been part of the platform since at least 2021. Its closed-beta PRISM program combined human DJs with AI DJs developed with Mubert, and the 2023 playtest added the AI avatar of Salvador Dali. Its website says virtual beings are alter egos in the VR and desktop versions and companions in the mobile app.

See also

• Social VR
• Virtual concert
• Metaverse
• Avatar