New York Times Giving Away Google Cardboard

(RTTNews) - The New York Times is teaming up with Google again to give away Google Cardboard, the virtual reality headsets, but this time only to its "most loyal" digital subscribers.

The company said that the digital-only subscribers selected for this distribution were chosen based on the duration of their subscriptions. Based on figures published last year, the headsets will reach about a third of the New York Times' million-strong digital-only subscriber base. The cardboard viewers are simple to use and allows anyone to experience virtual reality with a smartphone.

In November 2015, the New York Times gave away 1 million Google Cardboard headsets to its print subscribers to coincide with the launch of the "NYT VR" app.

Next month, the company in partnership with Google will distribute 300,000 Google Cardboard viewers to coincide with the publication of its eighth VR production, "Seeking Pluto's Frigid Heart," a stereoscopic virtual reality experience that brings viewers to Pluto.

The New York Times's film allows the viewer to fly over Pluto, soaring above rugged mountains and bright plains, and stand on Pluto's unique surface as its largest moon hovers over the horizon.

The New York Times worked with the Lunar and Planetary Institute and the Universities Space Research Association to build accurate three-dimensional virtual worlds from data collected last year by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. This is the first New York Times production to use computer-generated images instead of live-action video.

"Seeking Pluto's Frigid Heart" will publish on May 19 in the NYT VR app, which is free and available for download in the Google Play and iOS App Stores. The app now supports video streaming.

The NYT VR app has had more than 600,000 downloads since it debuted in November 2015.