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So... is VR Mainstream yet??

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
For those who have been around since the CV1 release (and even those around for the DK1 days), you've probably noticed that the question of VR being mainstream has been asked every single year. Even now as we approach the year 2020, the question is still posed across various VR discussion groups.

From my perspective, this forum has always reflected the current state of VR as a whole (not just the state of Oculus and Facebook VR).

There's no denying that with the release of Quest and the Link, now more than ever on this forum's history has so much daily high-traffic discussion transpired. For me personally, I am enjoying going from a daily contributor to a passive lurker of the ongoing discussions.

With that in mind, I figured now might be another fun time to ask the question: Is VR finally mainstream? Or is there more to go?

This is meant to be posed as a light-hearted question/discussion. Not fuel any sort of negative rhetoric or debate.
97 REPLIES 97

I'm just looking at friends, family and kids of friends.  Many have bought a Quest.  I think Quest sales will continue and if Playstation does well I think VR will continue to grow.

I do wish Microsoft gave it a push with a headset for the new Xbox too though.
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3

bigmike20vt
Visionary
Microsoft's decision to ignore vr on console is strange because
1) they already have the hardware
2) they have the software
but the big one
3) There are imo very few reasons to actually buy an xbox over a playstation as it is......in terms of games in general the exclusive titles to playstation are far bigger hitters than on xbox (this is even more so the case if you have a PC as xbox console barely has any full exclusives).

supporting VR on the xbox"two" from launch could have been a nice hook for the console..... Windows MR devices may be a bit hit and miss compared to PCVR.... but compared to PSVR it is head and shoulders better. It would have been 1 area where - at least until Sony bring out a PSVR2 which isnt happening at launch - that the xbox console would have a clear advantage over playstation.
Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

Totally agree bigmike.  If Microsoft do not come up with something, then Playstation have that extra something for another 6 years.  Doesn't really make sense.
Big PC, all the headsets, now using Quest 3

inovator
Consultant


Somewhere half way between almost and far from it..... So went the optimistic choice.

Oculus with the quest have pretty much checked every box for lowering the bar so anyone who is interested have an affordable avenue into reasonable quality VR. IF VR fails now, I dont think anyone can say Oculus didnt give it their best shot.

(For PC VR - mobile as well i suppose but oculus are so far ahead on that front that its easy to forget other platforms) one of the biggest hurdles to get past now imo is fragmentation, So long as it remains unofficial hacks to get some software to work imo some people will be reticent to jump in.  Hopefully that will get resolved over the next few years
(no one wants to be owning the betamax or HDDVD** system)
Giving the quest a Rift mode is a huge win for everyone however.
That said PCVR isnt where the mass market is going to go, quest and PSVR are going to be the big sellers, although I think PCVR will be a big enough niche to do well - if they can unify compatibility of software.

edit.. it does depend on your view of mainstream.... if it means like TV almost ubiquitous in every home then we are a long way off... but if it means like a steering wheel or HOTAS system then that is much closer - again I chose the more optimistic choice between the 2 fairly large extremes.. 

**I still have my 2 devices.




Great points.i have said very early on PC vr isnt the big picture and almost got burnt to the steak..the index with its outside tracking is the betamax. I strongly believe quest 2 will also be rift 2 but the stand alone part will be used much more. I think that pcvr wireless capabilities being built in the headset in the future will help pcvr.

bigmike20vt
Visionary

inovator said:


Great points.i have said very early on PC vr isnt the big picture and almost got burnt to the steak..the index with its outside tracking is the betamax. I strongly believe quest 2 will also be rift 2 but the stand alone part will be used much more. I think that pcvr wireless capabilities being built in the headset in the future will help pcvr.


My hope is eventually all store fronts will support multiple headsets, which will mean there will be no betamax devices in VR.  (its often as not the superior hardware which fails to gain traction as well....... Betamax was arguably a superior system to VHS)

I certainly hope the Index does not become a dead end.  Whilst I totally get that affordable VR is necessary for VR to take off, I am myself more interested in high end devices. It may be that I end up having to get an Index or equivalent myself. Either way I really dont want to be the owner of another dead end tech (To go with my HDDVD units and my Amiga CD32 and videologic PVR game accelerator)

But my hopes are irrelevant, just the fear from some of the potential to end up with a dead end device - or a games collection full of software they cant use down the line which will stop some from getting on the VR hype train.

Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

nalex66
MVP
MVP
I think VR is on the cusp of being mainstream... not in the sense that it's in every household, but in the sense of being common in the public consciousness. Between interest in Half-Life:Alyx and vigorous Quest sales, I think a lot of new people are taking the plunge into VR now, and many more are seriously considering it. It feels like we're reaching critical mass.

DK2, CV1, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Quest 3.


Try my game: Cyclops Island Demo

Anonymous
Not applicable
Nope. Not yet. We're only at the end of the first stage of mainstream VR adoption, the Enthusiast Gamer stage. The Mainstream Gamer stage started when Sony released PSVR.

For the Mainstream Gamer stage to start to gain any sort of traction we need Microsoft to jump into VR with their NextBox. We're partway there thanks to Sony bringing VR to the PlayStation and investing loads of money into game development but big name publishers and their developers need numbers to start bringing the likes of GTA, Assassin's Creed, CoD etc to VR.

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Those in the yellow corner are living in la la land. No matter how well they can theorise the current state-of-play. VR might be more visible in the public domain (yes lots of pushing from Team Oculus only unfortunately in Youtube ads) but so is Donald Trump & Boris Johnson. A shame there's been no VR ads for HL:Alyx and the Index. VR can only be regarded as mainstream (in my expert opinion 😛 ) when everyone or most people have a VR headset that they use above anything else for X number of use cases (such as gaming). Just like how most people now have mobile phones they use instead of the landline or phone booth.

On the other side, developers need to see the platform as viable, not a money pit. We're miles away from that. Look at how 2D games have game announcements years before they release. The same cannot be said for any VR games.

All these factors need to be in place before VR can achieve mainstream status when everyone wants or has a headset/glasses/brain implant.


Lower cost of entry
wireless
as good if not better quality than TV
Social
Lightweight form-factor like wearing sunglasses or specs
Comfortable for prolonged use.
Lots of ENTICING software and apps to choose from

I am being light-hearted and not intentionally fuelling any sort of negative rhetoric or debate.

Blue corner wins here yellow and purple opinions suck! But we're all part of the little mans VR club right now.

 ::cold_sweat:




System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

RedRizla
Honored Visionary


I was hovering between far from it and almost, but I've plumped for almost, that may be my optimistic side, but the truth is maybe half way between those two.




I agree with this. I don't think it is very close or too far away from becoming main stream. I think the next round of headsets like Oculus Quest 2, will push it to being mainstream. I see it becoming very popular within 5 years, especially after seeing the new Mobile VR chip that is being made for VR. 

inovator
Consultant



inovator said:


Great points.i have said very early on PC vr isnt the big picture and almost got burnt to the steak..the index with its outside tracking is the betamax. I strongly believe quest 2 will also be rift 2 but the stand alone part will be used much more. I think that pcvr wireless capabilities being built in the headset in the future will help pcvr.


My hope is eventually all store fronts will support multiple headsets, which will mean there will be no betamax devices in VR.  (its often as not the superior hardware which fails to gain traction as well....... Betamax was arguably a superior system to VHS)

I certainly hope the Index does not become a dead end.  Whilst I totally get that affordable VR is necessary for VR to take off, I am myself more interested in high end devices. It may be that I end up having to get an Index or equivalent myself. Either way I really dont want to be the owner of another dead end tech (To go with my HDDVD units and my Amiga CD32 and videologic PVR game accelerator)

But my hopes are irrelevant, just the fear from some of the potential to end up with a dead end device - or a games collection full of software they cant use down the line which will stop some from getting on the VR hype train.



I dont know if you remember why betamax failed. Its interesting. I chose the VCR because the recording time on betamax was only 2 hours. I loved the 6 hours that vcr allowed. If index had inside out tracking that would be a buy for me.