Apple’s headset is a new thing, with a lot more features than VR. We’ll have to give it time to really know if it will find a market.
VR’s main issue is price I think, because most people don’t want to spend a grand on a gaming peripheral system. So the VR market is a niche but seems to be going well from what I can see in the Steam store. I’ve been playing mostly VR games since I got an Index set, because it’s a lot more interesting and fun overall than regular 2D games. The fighting games are good exercise too.
VR’s issue isn’t just price. It’s obtrusiveness. You can watch TV or play a game in a room with others and often with other things going on. With VR, you need more or less a total commitment to isolation. That inherently limits It to niche users.
My Quest has basically been picking up dust since the day I got it because my life isn’t conducive to shutting out the world.
One of the biggest issues I encountered with mine was simply needing space. Nobody wants to rearrange all the furniture in their living room every time they want to play a video game. It caters almost entirely to people with large houses or spare rooms, where they can dedicate an entire space to VR. Because if you need all the furniture up against the walls to play VR, that doesn’t necessarily work when you also want to use the space as a living room, office, or den. Because the alternative is constantly hitting walls, furniture, ceiling fans, etc…
And that’s a very tight demographic, because (on top of being very expensive) it automatically excludes pretty much anyone who lives in a city or small/mid-sized apartment/townhome.
That sounds like a problem that you might have if you live in a war zone or something. But anyone else who has some downtime can easily jump into a VR game and have a blast.
I guess another situation that would make VR hard to use is if you have dozens of small creatures running around near your feet. If you’re raising an army of cats or ferrets, something like that.
Yep that’s no problem to accomplish and still use VR if you wanted to. Nobody said you have to neglect your kids to use it, you just might have to wait until they’re in bed or away.
I have a custom gaming rig and an index. I don’t play it. We used it a bit when we first got it. Then it got put away because it wasn’t being used much, and it’s not fun having sensors, a headset, wires, cord suspension rigging, gaming rig etc. strewn about a large spare room (which most people don’t have), and I don’t feel like getting it back out. It’s just a level of commitment that is too much for me to bother. I’m not suggesting I’m like other consumers, but I feel like people simply don’t care enough to deal with VR until it’s fully fleshed out, easy, wireless, lightweight, affordable with a plethora of games. Which might be quite a while from now.
You summed it up exactly. I had a vive and oculus. I barely used them. Only when people came over to try it. Eventually just sold them both as they were collecting dust.
Aside from the easy part, and a game selection that’s clearly less than pancake, wireless with the Q2 is cheap, wireless (even for PCVR), and stupid fun. Setup is still a bit onerous as nobody in the money chain has a reason to make it easy. OTOH, a $40 router, $10 for virtual desktop, and a balling game PC is all you really need.
I rarely have more than an hour or two for gaming at a times. So the weight of the headset and any battery life issues are moot.
I picked up a used psvr pretty cheap as an intro to see if vr will hold my attention long-term before dropping a few grand on an index and pc to run it, only for the novelty to wear off the next year… I wouldn’t be able to justify getting a nice setup without this intermediate step.
I know the psvr tracking is very imperfect, and the games are older/less refined, but I’m considering it an entry level model based on the price point ($120 for headset, controllers, camera, and cords/connectors, tho ofc that doesn’t include the console or games). For that, it’s pretty good.
Apple’s headset is a new thing, with a lot more features than VR. We’ll have to give it time to really know if it will find a market.
VR’s main issue is price I think, because most people don’t want to spend a grand on a gaming peripheral system. So the VR market is a niche but seems to be going well from what I can see in the Steam store. I’ve been playing mostly VR games since I got an Index set, because it’s a lot more interesting and fun overall than regular 2D games. The fighting games are good exercise too.
VR’s issue isn’t just price. It’s obtrusiveness. You can watch TV or play a game in a room with others and often with other things going on. With VR, you need more or less a total commitment to isolation. That inherently limits It to niche users.
My Quest has basically been picking up dust since the day I got it because my life isn’t conducive to shutting out the world.
One of the biggest issues I encountered with mine was simply needing space. Nobody wants to rearrange all the furniture in their living room every time they want to play a video game. It caters almost entirely to people with large houses or spare rooms, where they can dedicate an entire space to VR. Because if you need all the furniture up against the walls to play VR, that doesn’t necessarily work when you also want to use the space as a living room, office, or den. Because the alternative is constantly hitting walls, furniture, ceiling fans, etc…
And that’s a very tight demographic, because (on top of being very expensive) it automatically excludes pretty much anyone who lives in a city or small/mid-sized apartment/townhome.
That sounds like a problem that you might have if you live in a war zone or something. But anyone else who has some downtime can easily jump into a VR game and have a blast.
I guess another situation that would make VR hard to use is if you have dozens of small creatures running around near your feet. If you’re raising an army of cats or ferrets, something like that.
My small kids almost qualify as an army of cats or ferrets, and they absolutely insist on being fed, watered, and interacted with.
Yep that’s no problem to accomplish and still use VR if you wanted to. Nobody said you have to neglect your kids to use it, you just might have to wait until they’re in bed or away.
Regarding VR gaming:
I have a custom gaming rig and an index. I don’t play it. We used it a bit when we first got it. Then it got put away because it wasn’t being used much, and it’s not fun having sensors, a headset, wires, cord suspension rigging, gaming rig etc. strewn about a large spare room (which most people don’t have), and I don’t feel like getting it back out. It’s just a level of commitment that is too much for me to bother. I’m not suggesting I’m like other consumers, but I feel like people simply don’t care enough to deal with VR until it’s fully fleshed out, easy, wireless, lightweight, affordable with a plethora of games. Which might be quite a while from now.
You summed it up exactly. I had a vive and oculus. I barely used them. Only when people came over to try it. Eventually just sold them both as they were collecting dust.
Aside from the easy part, and a game selection that’s clearly less than pancake, wireless with the Q2 is cheap, wireless (even for PCVR), and stupid fun. Setup is still a bit onerous as nobody in the money chain has a reason to make it easy. OTOH, a $40 router, $10 for virtual desktop, and a balling game PC is all you really need.
I rarely have more than an hour or two for gaming at a times. So the weight of the headset and any battery life issues are moot.
I picked up a used psvr pretty cheap as an intro to see if vr will hold my attention long-term before dropping a few grand on an index and pc to run it, only for the novelty to wear off the next year… I wouldn’t be able to justify getting a nice setup without this intermediate step.
I know the psvr tracking is very imperfect, and the games are older/less refined, but I’m considering it an entry level model based on the price point ($120 for headset, controllers, camera, and cords/connectors, tho ofc that doesn’t include the console or games). For that, it’s pretty good.