Talks around the success of virtual reality have been swirling around the gaming industry for a number of years now, whilst there hasn’t been any enormous breakout title that could make virtual reality a must-have, things are certainly looking to start moving forward for the platform as costs come down and availability goes up. Whilst there has been an expansion for VR out into other markets particularly aimed at mobile as growing markets at the best online slots and other genres, in particular, much of the aim lately has been at the consoles to lead the way, but could this be a passing trend that doesn’t take off, or is virtual reality a new statement entirely in gaming?
On one hand, there’s the option provided by Sony and their newest PlayStation as recent news has come with the expected release of PSVR2, an expansion on their already existing virtual reality platform that aims to provide better quality at a lower cost – although an uptick of the existing VR platform hasn’t been huge this could certainly look to be a way forward for many fans of VR and for many big developers looking to expand their own options in virtual reality too.
The other hand comes from Microsoft and their latest console in the Series X, which as a surprise to many doesn’t currently have any support for VR, or any future plans to support VR. Much if this comes as Xbox lead Phil Spencer had recently voiced his own concerns around virtual reality suggesting that current numbers aren’t where they need to be for Microsoft to invest into developing opportunities on their own platform, and so whilst this means that there is currently no support, they have stated that there’s certainly opportunities in VR is to take off in the future.
This puts virtual reality at a bit of a strange crossroads with only half-support, rather than full support – with only half of the bigger markets providing access to virtual reality it means only half of the potential userbase will be able to experience it, it will skew how new releases are handled and may even slow down the progress for others too. But it does allow for things to be done right the first time – with all attention being placed solely in one space rather than multiple, it means that solid development can happen all at once, and then be tailored later on to fit other platforms, and the coming years will certainly be important for determining whether VR will be a passing trend that comes and goes, or whether or not it’s the latest and biggest statement in gaming moving forward.
