If your institution is thinking about “going virtual,” it’s important to know: not all virtual formats deliver the same visitor impact.

A new peer-reviewed study, published in Virtual Reality (Springer, July 22, 2025), tested three common approaches at the Wieng Yong House Museum (Thailand) with 84 visitors:

1️⃣ VR360 — 360° image tours (static, click-through formats like Matterport)
2️⃣ VR — fully immersive, interactive virtual reality
3️⃣ MR — mixed reality experiences

What the researchers found

• Presence — the feeling of “being there”: VR & MR scored significantly higher than 360° tours (p=0.026 and p=0.005, respectively).

• Engagement — the degree of active involvement: VR & MR again scored significantly higher (p<0.001 for both).

In short: when visitors can move freely, view objects from any angle, and interact with the space, they feel more present and engage more deeply.

Why this matters for museums

360° tours are essentially panoramic photographs. They’re a documentation tool — good for reference, but not for recreating the richness of a real visit.

Immersive formats like VR (and similarly, interactive 3D on the web) give visitors agency:

• Walk naturally through galleries

• Approach objects as in real life

• Trigger layered media or stories

• Explore at their own pace

That difference — from passive viewing to active exploration — is what drives higher engagement in the study.

How Atopia enables this — without a “digital mega-project”

Atopia lets your curatorial team design fully interactive, immersive exhibitions in-house:

• Simple drag-and-drop builder — no coding or 3D expertise needed

• Publish instantly to web browsers and Meta Quest VR headsets

• Built-in museum-grade interaction features for art mediation

• No six-figure budgets or 12-month development cycles

We’ve seen it first-hand: when audiences can explore interactively, they stay longer, return more often, and share the experience with others.

📅 Want to see the difference for yourself?
We can walk you through a 360° tour and an immersive Atopia build side-by-side in just 15 minutes: Book Demo

Source (Open Access, CC BY 4.0): Ariya, P., Wongwan, N., Worragin, P., Intawong, K., Puritat, K. (2025). Immersive realities in museums: evaluating the impact of VR, VR360, and MR on visitor presence, engagement and motivation. Virtual Reality, 29:117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-025-01201-5