Fathoming why virtual reality devices are taking so long to gain traction
LOS ANGELES: At the Electronic Entertainment Expo, all seemed right for virtual reality (VR). Players were waiting in snaking lines some for up to seven hours - for a chance to step into fantasy worlds. Crowds watched as players wearing VR headsets over their eyes reached out to pick up objects or shoot enemies that only they could see.
An estimated 6.3 million headsets have sold worldwide - indicating that, even among the world’s 2.6 billion gamers, few have picked one up.
Experts point to several reasons behind the slow adoption - the technology can cause motion sickness and it is costly.
“How do you advertise a colour TV on black-and-white televisions? It requires people walking down to main street and seeing it for themselves,” said Steve Bowler, president and co-founder at VR game developer CloudGate Studio.
What virtual reality needs, experts say, is a killer app.
Mike Fischer, chairman and co-founder of VR game developer CloudGate Studio, told a panel last year that platform fragmentation “keeps me up at night” after so many new companies jumped into the VR market - although he says that things have improved a little since then.
Devoting extra resources to creating games for different devices can be particularly difficult for smaller studios, whose creativity drives much of the virtual reality market. In fact some developers, such as Jeff Pobst from Hidden Path Entertainment, say they rely on funding from platforms such as Oculus to get their games made at all.
These exclusive deals between developers and VR companies make it hard for consumers to know which expensive headset will get the game that they want to play - leading them to put off their decision, analysts said. — Washington Post