Immersive X Opens Its Sixth Edition Entirely in Virtual Worlds

“Reclaim the Future.” With that theme, Immersive X opens today, and the timing is pointed. After years of premature obituaries, the festival argues that the real work is only beginning.

Now in its sixth edition, the festival runs November 10 through 12. A VR headset is the intended way in, but other devices work for most sessions, and a selection of the program is livestreamed. The 2026 motto, “The hype may be over. The future isn’t” steers the conversation toward positive, shared visions of what comes next and the part immersive media can play in building it.

125+ Presenters, 70+ Session, 14 worlds

The lineup supports the argument. The organizer expects more than 125 presenters, among them Voices of VR host Kent Bye, Shane Harris of SideQuest, Cortney Harding of Friends With Holograms, Caitlin Krause, and the immersive theater company Ferryman Collective. Around 70 sessions will span topics such as academia, arts, culture, and entertainment. Formats go well beyond the standard keynote, with performances, live demos, and world tours on the schedule.

The platform list is also telling. VRChat, RAUM, Arrival.Space, BurnerSphere, Foretell Reality, and Second Life all host sessions, joined by the Altspace reboot, a name many are happy to see after Microsoft shut down the original AltspaceVR in 2023. The festival intentionally spreads itself across many virtual worlds, showing how rich the VR social scene actually is, but also making a quiet case for an emerging post-COVID metaverse, one that is not owned by a single corporation but distributed across many platforms.

Immersive X is a festival that puts the community inside the medium for three days, allowing everyone to demonstrate, rather than wonder, what the technology is for. Participation is free but requires creating an account through the festival’s sign-in page.