It's been 6 years since the mainstream launch of VR with the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
I've been lucky enough to be a part of that journey since 2016, so it's with both first hand experience and measured consideration I come to the conclusion that:
"VR is pure folly, a gimmick and will never be mainstream success."
Don't get me wrong, the first time you experience VR is wonderous, it's a completely unique experience. But it's potential is never fully realized and probably never will be.
There are some educational and business uses that are adequately met by VR software. Anyone who bought an 'Oculus Go' only uses it for porn, no matter what they tell you.
But when it comes to video game entertainment, it's always effectively a generation or so behind. VR is always chasing the coat-tails of current gen titles and never delivers the level of enjoyment we need to justify the effort required to set it all up.
Going back to 2016, using an HTC vive meant clearing a room, setting up lighthouses, getting the whole kit to connect to each other via Bluetooth, the inevitable steam issues and a whole clutch of thick wires hanging off your head.
The frame rates and resolutions were nausea inducing and there were perhaps a handful of games actually worth playing, in a VR market saturated by what were essentially rubbish tech demos.
Fast forward to 2023, we have the psvr2 coming out, as well as some higher tier Pico HMDs and the latest Meta offerings.
Sure, refresh rates of 120Hz and better fidelity lead to a more comfortable experience, but this turn also requires more horsepower to produce dual high resolution, high frequency images. Let's face it, the PS5 struggles with 4K 60Hz on one screen...
Even if you're running the latest RTX 4090 in and shiny new PC, the experience is never going to be anything close to the fidelity and stability you can experience on a flat screen.
With a very few notable exceptions, developers also aren't willing to risk high development costs on ground up, VR specific titles. 'Half Life Alyx' is the big exception, a beautiful, full game experience in VR. Sure there are a few great indie titles like Moss and Zenith; but how long before the novelty of a handful of games wears off and preparing for a VR gaming session just becomes a chore.
The original PSVR was an entry level VR experience, the PSVR2 however is priced similarly to buying an entire current gen console or decent PC.... and for what? Is 'Horizon Zero Dawn: Call of the mountain' going to come close to the level of content and playability as it's two predecessors? There will be a few lazy ports .....and you can't even play any existing PSVR games you own on the new Sony headset.
I'm betting less than 10% of people who own psvr have even used it in the last year.
In fact the only people I really see using VR with any degree of regularity, are content creators that literally get paid to be excited about VR.
It's a vicious circle, developers and publishers won't take the monetary risk on developing quality AAA VR titles; and consumers won't invest in VR tech where there's no AAA quality VR titles.
Until such a time as AR/VR can utilize hardware equally as effectively as flat screen and it becomes as easy as popping on a pair of spectacles or jabbing a probe into your brain stem, VR will be pure folly.
Something you get for Christmas and it's packed away on top of the wardrobe by valentine's day. Maybe something you get out to show friends occasionally, but that's more about enjoying how ridiculous they look flailing about your living room.
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