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Develop: PC VR sales has almost ground to a halt
- Thread starter Wollan
- Start date
You definitely called it. I mean, it was inevitable that we'd see people climbing out of the woodwork to throw shade on the whole VR paradigm even when it's still less than 6 months from initial release, but still... Also, people need to slow down and choose their terms correctly. "Fad" and "bomb" get thrown about waaaaaaaaaaaay too casually on this board. VR is right where it should be - a successful niche product that still has great growth potential. I think Sony and the PSVR will be a great success story to cap off 2016 and give a boost in the arm to VR in general. Anyways, we're just now exiting the doldrums of the summer so I expect activity in the VR scene to spike up regardless of what Sony does or how they perform.
Shocking!!!! ................NOT! Mainstream will only be "briefly" interested in VR, if that even happens. VR is nothing but a fad thats coming and going, already.
I knew this from the get-go. This entire VR thing is going to flounder and flounder quickly. It's one of those niche things that most gamers will get tired of quickly. Most gamers rather just play traditional style gaming sitting without having to move around or wave arms around. This is the same thing with the entire Wii thing...the Wii was a fad that garnered attention of even non gamers for a period of time but quickly...it began to get tiring and old as most gamers rather just play traditional gaming by sitting in front of a PC or on a Couch without having to move around,
Its ridiculous to see Sony and other companies pour so much money into this without even a hint of it going mainstream permanently. VR is one of those things that may be cool and interesting for a few games here and there but overall...its just another fad and a big waste of money, imho.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Oculus, Vive, and PSVR have been in a pre-release hype cycle beta for 2-4 before their respective launches and at least two of them launched arguably way too early. This isn't the tech world of 20+ years ago where major innovations in the tech world can just develop. Consumer electronics live and die by the first impressions they make to the consumer. And I can't see second generation Rift or Vive catching on as much as the first generation let alone more.
Yep. Well said.
After demoing my Vive to 100+ people by now, people LOVE the technology and even the smaller demo experiences. It's mindblowing to the majority of them despite some of the technological (resolution and such) and comfort factor.
Just because it'll be a niche for awhile doesn't mean VR is dead on arrival. Technology will advance, developers will learn how to make VR games, and the price will go down, and I'm confident it'll be mainstream so fast. And like others said, it could even stay a niche in the gaming industry, it really doesn't matter since there's just so many other avenues the technology could go as well.
I agree it'll take some time to get into the majority of homes, but it's definitely not anti-social. The Vive has given me some of the most social gaming experiences. Online VR is really neat, and I'm sure stuff like the front facing camera on the Vive could give us more social/AR-like experiences in later revisions where the camera could be higher res.
GillianSeed79
Member
Man I'm really on the fence about canceling my psvr preorder. At the very least VR got me to start building a new PC
the-pi-guy
Member
Everything that I've seen from Oculus/Sony, etc suggest they're quite aware of what the situation is for VR.
Oculus Founder: VR will become something everyone wants before it becomes something everyone can afford
It seems pretty clear to me that most of the big players of VR have long term plans, not make a quick buck plans. Seems quite likely that we'll see 3rd/4th gen VR.
Shpeshal Nick
aka Collingwood
Given PSVR was always going to be the only VR to have a chance of having mainstream success, this isn't overly surprising, but doesn't yet confirm that "VR is a fad".
If PSVR fails to take off, then we can call it.
If PSVR fails to take off, then we can call it.
Dlacy13g
Member
Could it be some of the realities that this wont be a primary way to game are setting in? Spending tons of $$ on something you may or may not use every week could be a real barrier after all. Will be interesting to see how PSVR fairs but I am going to guess it will see a similar trend.
Zalusithix
Member
Ah, yes... the flawed Wii comparison. Again. The previous motion control systems didn't fail because of the activity level. They failed because they didn't offer anything truly compelling that standard gaming couldn't to the core audience. They were by and large standard games with motion control input grafted on. You were starting with a 50% overlap by virtue of them being played on a TV, and then coverging more from there depending on game design. The Wii also attracted many non-gamers - a demographic that tablets and smartphones ate up shortly thereafter. Regardless, motion controls in VR are an entirely different beast in both feel and functionality. You can't emulate a VR game with tracked controllers on a tradition screen. It offers a very different experience with little overlap with traditional gaming.
Also, the mentality that most gamers are couch potatoes that never do anything physical is kind of insulting. Beyond that, even if every gamer was rooted to their ass for the rest of their life, it wouldn't doom VR. Gaming is but one facet of VR's future. Arguably not even the biggest one.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
I disagree. VR's a marketing nightmare. It's not like the Wii, or even the original iPhone where you see it and you immediately understand how intuitive it is. I see VR going the same way as the smart watch. Cool ideas for a new product category in an attempt to capture the lightning in a bottle success with smart phones but isn't nowhere near successful as people thought but will still have its uses, and its audience.
it's still hilarious to me that people totally ignore other non-gaming markets for VR, any and all of which have the potential to be bigger than games for the forseeable future and aren't anywhere near as price-sensitive as people who post here.
even if VR games don't take off at all the tech will still exist and progress until it's ready for the mass market breakthrough. calling it a fad is idiotically short-sighted.
even if VR games don't take off at all the tech will still exist and progress until it's ready for the mass market breakthrough. calling it a fad is idiotically short-sighted.
eyeball_kid
Member
Totally agree that it's a marketing nightmare. This is not something you can show in commercials during the football game. It's not even something you can show Conan or Colbert trying out. In fact, showing it using a 2D screen or trying to show other people using it just makes it look unappealing at best and idiotic/dorky at worst. Google Glass territory.
Word of mouth can only get VR so far. If people can't easily understand why they should want it, they're not going to drop several hundred to see. Best Buy demo stations attracts core gamers, but is not a marketing strategy that scales with a general audience.
Unless Sony is selling huge numbers of these for the holiday season, it could easily become a product that dies on the vine, the same way 3D TVs did. And I say this as someone who has the PSVR pre-ordered. If that happens, we'll have to see whether Sony believes in the tech for the long haul, or was just trying to hop on board a new tech they hoped could be a Wii-like sensation. I don't agree with your smartwatch comparison though, as wearables aren't going away.
This is a great point and lost among many. Facebook acquired Oculus almost exclusively for the potential yet-to-be created market of creating social experiences in VR. Just read some Zuckerberg quotes about what he sees VR providing in the future. Games are just the best entry point because you have people who already have systems that can run current headsets and have a very active community of people who typically are early adopters of tech. Sony undoubtedly has a lot of non-game VR projects planned because they can leverage their movie and entertainment units.
To think that the entire success factor for VR should be based on the initial launch of games-focused devices is missing the big picture. This is a marathon and these companies are going to expect a long road and some initial failures.
I'm not sure if VR will ultimately succeed or fail - no one will know for years - but I'm getting a laugh out of all the naysayer posts that are calling it dead on arrival. These companies are in it for the long haul and have barely tapped the surface of what is possible.
shira
Member
Facebook gonna have to eat a deep cheque if they are going to pack up
100% on point. VR's potential as a tool in various industries far outstrips it's entertainment applications i think. It's not going away, not by a long shot.
Got to laugh at people thinking VR will just fade away now. The tech is impressive, it does amazing things. It will do more and more amazing things as the years go on. It will get smaller, lighter, better, cheaper, more convenient, eventually, and probably within 10 years it will be something everyone will have.
There's so many advances concurrently going on for a whole bunch of things to come together to make VR incredible, we're at the brick sized phone stage right now, the iPhone of VR is what will absolutely blow people's minds in a few years from now.
VR with augmented reality, bringing worlds, games, characters to life, all around us. Social, being able to take an avatar, directly animated by your facial movements picked up by a camera or sensor, and do weird and crazy things together with friends in the real world, and friends on the other side of the world, simultaneously. The limit is imagination just now. This is the beginning. VR will steadily grow from here on out and I don't see it just disappearing into the ether. What is available in the here and now is definitely limited, definitely has myriad drawbacks, but when it all comes together it shows the way forward.
There's so many advances concurrently going on for a whole bunch of things to come together to make VR incredible, we're at the brick sized phone stage right now, the iPhone of VR is what will absolutely blow people's minds in a few years from now.
VR with augmented reality, bringing worlds, games, characters to life, all around us. Social, being able to take an avatar, directly animated by your facial movements picked up by a camera or sensor, and do weird and crazy things together with friends in the real world, and friends on the other side of the world, simultaneously. The limit is imagination just now. This is the beginning. VR will steadily grow from here on out and I don't see it just disappearing into the ether. What is available in the here and now is definitely limited, definitely has myriad drawbacks, but when it all comes together it shows the way forward.
Marketing may be an issue for the early VR products, but for the technology as a whole, it won't really matter. VR is eventually going to be all over the place, so people won't have any trouble experiencing it.
This is only too true. There are so many compelling commercial uses for VR that it's guaranteed to be here to stay. The only question is when we'll start seeing all these applications of the technology, and when it will become a mainstream gaming product. It's quite possible that the former will happen well before the latter as well.
jokingbird
Member
Daydream will probably be the biggest push for VR especially if you look at Google Cardboard numbers. Intel is looking to buy Movidius, which would solve the need for external tracking sensors or cameras. That leaves you with a wireless solution that consumers will already be purchasing anyways as smartphones.
http://uploadvr.com/intel-movidius-high-stakes/
The majority of uses will obviously be for movies (porn or other), with gaming coming second to that. It just seems obvious if you have ever used VR for an extended period of time. While it will no doubt never replace current gaming in the form it is in, it will be a nice supplemental until it evolves further.
Anyone who has played Raw Data for an extended period of time, should be able to appreciate why VR gaming will eventually become a norm. It is just a giant step above any other non-VR experience.
http://uploadvr.com/intel-movidius-high-stakes/
The majority of uses will obviously be for movies (porn or other), with gaming coming second to that. It just seems obvious if you have ever used VR for an extended period of time. While it will no doubt never replace current gaming in the form it is in, it will be a nice supplemental until it evolves further.
Anyone who has played Raw Data for an extended period of time, should be able to appreciate why VR gaming will eventually become a norm. It is just a giant step above any other non-VR experience.
Same. I might've purchased PSVR if Neo wasn't coming out, assuming they both come out this year.
I'll probably wait at least a year for PSVR unless a killer app comes out before then.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
Ah so you came back from the future then. Tell me, what are tomorrow's winning lotto numbers?
LostDonkey
Member
It's far too expensive for me considering it can't be used with every single program/game on my machine. It's only compatible with certain things unlike a new monitor etc I can use with everything.
When it's £150 or less I'll start to look around and see what the options are.
£500/600 it's a no go. I can get a sick new 4k monitor for that.
When it's £150 or less I'll start to look around and see what the options are.
£500/600 it's a no go. I can get a sick new 4k monitor for that.
Eh why won't people pick both? Your CAD is way stronger than my country's currency.
I tried PS VR, and it was awesome.... but I feel like several more iterations would make it a much better,c cheaper product that is more easily digestible for the masses.
Right now its cool, but pretty niche.
Agreed... on the condition that companies don't just drop it because it didn't immediately set the world on fire.
Right now its cool, but pretty niche.
Agreed... on the condition that companies don't just drop it because it didn't immediately set the world on fire.
Most people don't just throw ~1000$USD around casually on their hobbies.
Damn. USD is 4x stronger than the local currency. If I could work in the US/CA, would buy up these tech toys like nothing.
Couldn't agree more. I think VR has done amazing in its first generation. What other new consumer tech has done this well in its first generation?
It's only going to get smaller, cheaper and less intrusive from here. When the VR devices are like just like sunglasses but a bit bigger, I think it'll start really booming.
When you've got every big corporation backing something like this, you know its no joke.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
It is definitely a pricey hobby, was initially shocked by the Vive price and that took a bit of hesitation before ordering. Thank god I already had a pc ready for it. Now I'm contemplating getting psvr too. With Neo around the corner it'll be an even bigger investment, no doubt Sony will use that to push out more visually intensive experiences/games. As much as I want this stuff to advance and include things like foveated rendering and eye tracking I also wanna tell companies to slow their damn roll for the sake of my wallet
ambar_hitman
Member
I am interested in PSVR. But with new console releases around the corner, I rather get a new console than a VR device that costs the same.
Marty Chinn
Member
Why do people keep saying this is first generation? It's not.
StudioTan
Hold on, friend! I'd love to share with you some swell news about the Windows 8 Metro UI! Wait, where are you going?
It's technically not but you know exactly what people mean when they say that. The current headsets are the first to provide a satisfactory experience. It's the first generation of the new wave of VR.
wanderingprostheyltite
Member
Well for ad purposes it's certainly the first consumer gen, you can argue the Oculus devkits were their own gens but eh they didn't have any in-house titles released for those, those really were tech demo iterations. Unless you're talking about the 90s jank that was insanely cost prohibitive?
Croatoan
They/Them A-10 Warthog
The_blonde_and_blue
Member
Not surprising in the least really.
I have the funds. I have the desire. However, I have not seen a damn thing to get me pumped for VR yet. I get pumped thinking about what VR could be, but I don't see that yet.
When there are actual VR games, not tech demos or VR "experiences", I'll gladly bite, regardless of the cost. But it's kinda hard to sell something like this without a killer app IMO.
I have the funds. I have the desire. However, I have not seen a damn thing to get me pumped for VR yet. I get pumped thinking about what VR could be, but I don't see that yet.
When there are actual VR games, not tech demos or VR "experiences", I'll gladly bite, regardless of the cost. But it's kinda hard to sell something like this without a killer app IMO.
Is time travel the only way to infer something like a certain technology is going to have ubiquitous commercial uses? If so, I just time traveled to the future and discovered that next Sunday is going to be followed by a Monday.
As a consumer product, computers had their first generation in the late '70s. Obviously, they had been around since the '40s, but only as industrial equipment.
But they expect to make a profit at some point.
At this stage, there doesn't seem to be sufficient interest beyond a small pool of enthusiasts to sustain an ecosystem by itself.
There were consumer VR headsets in the '90s, and you could play System Shock, Mechwarrior 2, and Star Wars: Dark Forces, among others, with them. Saw them on store shelves in the mall near where I lived, really wanted to get one but they were too expensive.
Marty Chinn
Member
Why are we trying to pretend these things never existed before?
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2007/11/virtual-reality-headset-review/
Already a lot of full games on PC VR. Not sure where people get that there isn't. Must not be very informed about the subject. Games like Ark, Subnautica, Project Cars, Mind, Elite, etc etc etc I could go on and on. Hundreds and hundreds of hours worth of full games.
Croatoan
They/Them A-10 Warthog
No you fucking cant. PSVR is just a shitty version of the oculus rift, which is a boring version of the Vive which is (like the others) a first gen device that is going to be dropped as soon as gen 2 gets released. None of them are a fad, or will be a fad, because VR isnt that popular yet.
No, VR is a slowly growing tech that isnt ready for mainstream. Eventually it will get there, but that will be long after the psvr fails magnificently. And nobody will care, just like how nobody cares about how well pong sold to houses.
VR will evolve a lot over the next 30-100 years. It will merge with ar, the headset will shrink, and then eventually content will be beamed directly into your brain with no need for headgear.
The sales results for oculus, htc and sony gen 1 headsets are meaningless in the long run.
Spooky Scary Skeleton
Member
Not enough good titles for VR to justify these overpriced pieces of hardware.
you sound angry
It would be fair to say that all of those earlier attempts are too primitive to work as proper VR; resolution being the biggest problem. They're clear examples of technology being rolled out way before it was ready. That doesn't keep them from being cool though!
Croatoan
They/Them A-10 Warthog
People want AAA titles that are open world shooters/rpgs. Those won't exist until Fallout 4 and likely won't be the norm for a decade.
Most people who try my vive get bored quickly of wave games. The locomotion problem has to be solved and teleportation has to die.
It doesn't help that Valve won't support its own hardware with an AAA title...