At least VR does what it promised, unlike crypto and AI.
I also think there are economic reasons, we don’t live during a time when people can buy expensive toys.
Steam deck was a hit because it was economical, just $500 and have access to a whole PC.
If you don’t mind Meta/Facebook, then the oculus quest headsets are also very affordable hardware and deliver a good experience. I think the issue lies with content.
Smartphones or handhelds like the steam deck with flat screens could use plenty of already existing content made for screens. With VR you want different content that is made specifically for it. There is a decent amount of games (but still much fewer than for other devices), but honestly not that much more.
Additionally it also can only really be used at home, where most already have other devices.
It’s a chicken and egg problem. But imo if there were more genuine unique productivity tasks and experiences available through VR, we would see more adoption.
What Meta has been doing with VR has failed. PCVR continues and continues growing and will still be around when the great Zuck moves on.
If you’ve already got a VR headset and you’re happy with it, I’m envious. But for the rest of us, it’s worth asking the question: just what is it going to take to get on board?
Speaking for myself, if I can use a headset about as well as I do a regular display, that’ll do it for me. I’m less-interested in a gaming-specific peripheral, though that’d be nice frosting on the cake. If I can just carry a headset in a case and a display-less laptop, that’d probably be sufficient to get me onboard the HMD train.
There are real benefits to that:
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Privacy. My screen isn’t visible to anyone nearby.
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Wider field of view possible.
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No glare issues.
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Potentially less power use, since one isn’t blasting light everywhere just to get a little into one’s eye.
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Able to use in any orientation easily, like lying down.
My experience so far has not led me to believe that this is near. I’ve found HMDs to be twitchy about the location relative to the eye, prone to blurriness if nudged a bit off. Blurriness around the edges. On my Royole Moon, fogging up is an issue, due to shields to eliminate light from bleeding in. Limited resolution. For some, inability to easily see the surrounding world. Limited refresh rates. Many headsets can’t really be used with headphones, which is okay, as long as you’re fine with the headphones that come with the headset. [EDIT: As someone else pointed out, setup time is a hassle as well. I want using one to be as trivial as it is today for me to open my wireless headphones case and throw the headphones on my head, with just the addition of a cable.]
I don’t personally really care all that much about price, if the thing can serve as a competitive monitor replacement, since then it’s not just a toy.
I’d also add that I think that there are some genres, like flight sims, where VR has legitimately succeeded. Like, compared to multiple-monitor rigs that some serious flight sim fans have set up, VR is pretty much better in all ways. No physical control panels and such, maybe, but they really want the wide FOV and ability to use the head/eye as an input device.
I’m sure that there are probably some AR applications where you can find an AR headset making sense. Maybe stargazing or something.
But what the article author seems to want is a transition to a world where basically all or a large chunk of new video games are VR-based. And yeah, that hasn’t happened.
EDIT: Honestly, most of the games I find myself spending a lot of time playing aren’t even 3D in the first place. That’s not due to lack of hardware. I have a pretty maxed-out PC, can run them fine. It’s just not what I think is most-entertaining to do — many of the games that I find really deep and replayable are 2D, so I’m not playing the 3D games that I do have. If the games aren’t 3D, it’s hard to see how VR buys much.
I don’t see input being discussed as much as it should, but when modern games became very realistic, let’s say Battlefield 4 era, it became clear for me that the current challenge for gaming is input. You can make an character animation do anything but you can’t instruct it to the character, maybe that is why this quick time action bullshit is so popular, because you can make a very complex cinematic scene but you can’t make the player give the input for it.
That is all to say this problem is 10x worst for VR games. Like the biggesr benefit of a 3D view is to move around but if you can’t do that in a natural way it kinda sucks, that is why 3D movies sucks, you are not moving around the scene. I guess that is also why VR works well with flight sims because in a real plane you are confined to your sit and can only look around. Now a shooter or other FPSs you WALK around and that has not being solved.
Man now I want one as well, so one you imagined. :)
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Screw you! I enjoy VR gaming a lot, and there’s nothing “failed” about it.
But yeah, if your VR experience doesn’t go any further than metaverse, then yeah, it failed hard.
Learn a bit about upcoming headsets though, you might be surprised
I posted the article mostly for discussion, I personally have had a great time play AC: Nexus VR lately. But it does feel like the market is in a bit of a weird place right now as Meta/Apple are both pushing AR and non-gaming use cases, when the only thing these headsets have really been shown to be superior at is playing games.
apple and meta are not the benchmark. If anything, we should probably look more at valve with their Deckard, and other specialized companies like Meganex and BSB.
I bitterly regret getting Q3 that turned out to be a downgrade from old Vive Pro, but sadly missed the return date. I just gave it to kids to play because I refuse to touch that crap with horrible black levels and lens glare.
I personally feel like the Quest 3 is the most comfortable headset I’ve ever owned (previously owned the CV1 and the Quest 1) and that for me trumps all of its issues with the lens/display setup.
I am desperate for Valve to succeed and really shake up the market but I think they’ll continue to make headsets that cost over $1K and just aren’t palatable to a wider audience. Hopefully Deckard is at the very least good enough to justify that price. I certainly have more faith in them after loving the Steam Deck.
Geez man, sorry to hear that. I found Q3 with original strap to be unbearably uncomfortable. Had Rift S, Index and Vive Pro (still have it, and all of them are heavenly bliss compared to that torture machine that q3 is
Needed to ditch the original strap and put the Bobo M3 strap on it, but once that was done it was the first time I was able to use VR with no weight on my cheekbones. Wildly changed how I felt about it as it was suddenly so comfortable I could use it for hours without discomfort.
I think mine is S3 (with fan and battery). It definitely made it better, but still not that close to HTC
VR gaming is still pretty niche and expensive if you want a truly good experience. There also haven’t really been any major advancements in the space since the Valve Index almost six years ago.
Inside out tracking is still not where it needs to be and the base stations for outside in tracking are cumbersome.
Additionally, for the full promise of VR gaming to be realized you really need accurate full body tracking to include full hand tracking, a compact, easily stowable, but accurate omnidirectional treadmill, and some way to do all of the tracking without the need for base stations.
And all of that needs to be standardized across the industry.
I too enjoy VR gaming, but there’s been basically no movement in the VR space in a long time, and to most people VR is a novelty at best. Unless someone gives us a decade’s worth of advancement inside of a year or two, I expect modern VR will go the way of the virtual boy. Only to be revived again in 20-30 years.
BSB? Meganex? Pimax? There are more
VR world is not restricted to valve and meta.
The issue is it takes too much effort to play vs normal gaming unless you are able to dedicate a room to it. For people in areas where housing costs are low enough that you can afford a big house, or for people who are single and don’t have other people in the house to cater to, this might be fine. But for most people, a good VR session involves moving shit out of the way, strapping on a helmet, putting wrist straps on and figuring out whether you want to do that blind after putting the helmet on or trying to put the helmet on with things in your hands, then playing in a specific area so you don’t kick your coffee table (and hope your dog doesn’t walk in front of you while you are walking).
Contrast that to picking up a controller while sitting down.
If the awesome games were there to make the extra effort worth it, then fine. But there just aren’t the great games yet. I have a VR system and haven’t put it on in months because I just don’t care enough. It has become a novelty.
I play most of my games sitting down. VTOL VR, Derail Valley, whole suite of driving games (OK, I have a special simrig for these), IETD, Uboat, KSP. Even Skyrim VR and Alyx are perfectly comfortable sitting down.
The only game I find that roomscale is s must is Blade and Sorcery
Good thing Zuck has to deal with all those terrible consequences resulting from his country-sized expenditure on the failed metaverse project.
Ok, now do AI. I feel like normal people knew VR was dead again 3+ years ago.
