We’ve all seen in movies what virtual reality can potentially do.
Of course, we also have VR technology today, but it is yet to reach the kind of use and advancements that would make it commonplace in real life- even though it has been around for quite a while already.
In fact, VR tech is still something that is growing today, all while consumers are hesitant to invest in it. So, if that’s the case, why hasn’t VR taken off?
In my opinion, VR is yet to take off largely because of how expensive the cost of entry is.
You’d have to shell out big money to be able to experience VR on your computer or console.
There also aren’t a lot of things that you can do with VR that would justify the expense. Of course, there are also minor problems that still plague VR today.
Ten years ago, it seemed as if the next step in entertainment and gaming was VR.
However, today, it still hasn’t reached the heights that it should have reached based on the projections from a decade prior.
There are very good reasons why VR is not yet commonplace in today’s world, even though we have been advancing faster than ever in pretty much every other aspect.
In this article today, we’ll do a deep dive into what’s been keeping VR on the runway for several years already- and the issues that may keep it from ever taking off!
Why Has VR Still Not Taken Off?
One of the technologies often used as a focus subject for plenty of movies and shows is virtual reality or VR.
Generally, pop culture portrays VR as putting a person in an entirely different reality by transferring their consciousness from the real world to a virtual universe.
While this definitely isn’t within the realms of what our current VR tech can achieve, it is still up to time to tell whether or not we can truly achieve that kind of VR experience eventually.
Nevertheless, even if we don’t have the kind of VR that transfers our consciousness into an entirely different type of reality, we still do have VR tech that exists today.
However, the kind of VR we have is more of a technology where reality is augmented in the sense that we can wear goggles that allow us to see an entirely different reality than what is actually in front of us.
So, while our VR tech is nowhere near what pop culture loves to portray, the possibility and the potential may be there.
Perhaps because of how VR has a lot of potential in terms of what it can possibly accomplish, there are those who once regarded it as the next breakthrough in entertainment or even in regular everyday life.
This happened when VR headsets for computers and smartphones broke into the market during the early half of the 2010s.
Since the introduction of those phone VR headsets back in 2014 and 2015, the initial projection was that the technology was only going to improve in the next few years and that VR headsets would become popular among different consumers.
The possibilities seemed truly endless at that time.
In 2012, the Oculus Rift prototype was introduced, and it allowed us see firsthand what VR in video games could do.
Virtual reality gave us an immersive experience that you could never hope to experience from normal gaming. The VR experience placed players in the shoes of the actual protagonist instead of just seeing things from his perspective.
Meanwhile, a few years later, names such as Google and Samsung began releasing VR headsets for phones.
The idea was so simple in the sense that all you needed to do was to insert your phone into the headset to have an immersive entertainment experience while watching videos or playing specific mobile games.
At that time, it seemed as if the potential was skyrocketing upwards- ‘To the moon!’, as the youth of today would say.
People imagined what VR tech could do in the next few years. For instance, you could be watching movies in a VR-augmented theater, or even in the shoes of one of the characters in the movie!
Of course, games would also give you a more immersive experience by making you feel like you were in an entirely different plane of reality.
However, as you might have already noticed, it has been more than half a decade already with VR yet to take the leaps it was expected to.
If you look at the current VR tech that we have, it may have seen a lot of improvements from its earlier days during the early part of the 2010s.
However, no matter how much it has improved, VR still has not taken off.
So, why is it that VR is yet to become a mainstream technology in today’s tech-driven world?
To say that VR is yet to take off is an understatement.
In reality (pun intended) progress was halted (and probably removed from the runway) before it could even get a running start for the takeoff that it needed.
Big names such as Google and Samsung withdrew from the VR industry when they recently discontinued support for their own mobile phone VR headsets.
While Facebook’s Oculus and PlayStation are still very much in the VR market when it comes to gaming, there is still a long way to go in terms of mass adoption.
For starters, there really is yet to be something that’s truly breakthrough about VR.
It is true that VR headsets have vastly improved in the performance department because they are capable of showing amazing graphics while improving the gameplay experience of gamers.
However, there has not been that one take-you-by-the-eyeballs app or game that has truly made VR stand out to make consumers invest in this tech.
The possibility of that one breakthrough app or game is still there, but for now it remains just that- a possibility.
Additionally, even while there really isn’t that one breakthrough app or game that can help launch VR tech, some of the different applications that do exist currently are more novelties than actual things that can help your daily life or even give you a better entertainment experience.
VR isn’t like the smartphone: able to instantly reshape the way we live our lives to the point that we don’t mind changing phones whenever a new one gets released.
It’s more of an “it’s just there” experience rather than something that can truly augment or change the way you go about your daily life.
Of course, there is the fact that VR tech is not yet where it’s supposed to be to be able to really convince a consumer to shelf their actual reality for a while just to experience a virtual plane.
Ideally, virtual reality has to be so good that it can convince people to want to leave actual reality behind.
A virtual reality experience that is anything short of convincing won’t be enough to really coax people into thinking about trying VR out for the long term.
In a sense, VR is still a niche market that is yet to truly emerge as one of the more popular modes of entertainment today.
Unfortunately, being merely a niche simply won’t cut it due to the fact that niche markets don’t really get the same investments and attention as some of the larger mainstream markets do.
So, unless there really is a breakthrough in VR, it is safe to say that it won’t take off anytime soon.
What Went Wrong With VR?
In relation to the stagnancy of VR as a niche, you might be wondering where it went wrong along the way since its introduction a few years ago.
So, what really went wrong with VR?
There really isn’t one thing that is wrong with VR, but what you can be sure of is that there are plenty of issues that continue to plague VR even though it has seen some major improvements.
Despite such improvements, some of these issues still persist to this day.
One such issue is the fact that VR isn’t the most comfortable experience for most people.
Being immersed in something that’s totally unnatural for long minutes and hours may end up causing headaches, dizziness, and nausea.
Think about how you may still get motion sickness when you are in a vehicle because your body is not used to its environment moving even though you are sitting still. The same concept applies to when you are using VR.
The fact that the environment in VR is moving (brought about by different animations) even when your body has been staying in the same place the entire time may cause the same kind of headaches, dizziness, and nausea that motion sickness tends to induce.
Of course, after you take the virtual reality headset off, the unpleasurable experience may persist for minutes- or even hours!– as your eyes have to adjust once again to the lights and motions of actual reality.
For those of us that are particularly sensitive to motion sickness (such as yours truly), even a few minutes of VR play usually means it’s game over for the rest of the afternoon.
Such problems have never really disappeared from VR, even though the tech has seen its fair share of improvements.
You also have to consider that VR headsets aren’t the lightest gadgets that you can wear.
When worn for several hours straight without your head leaning against something, you might end up getting neck strain.
(That is, of course, if you can last for hours in VR without feeling sick!)
As you can see, no matter how much VR might improve in the next few years, it could be very difficult for any company to find a way around these difficulties.
These problems have been plaguing VR for a very long time to the point that consumers have been completely turned off by them. Of course, VR has to truly become groundbreaking for consumers to want to disregard the problems and issues associated with it.
Why Isn’t VR More Popular?
No matter how much VR has improved over the years, its popularity has remained stagnant.
As already mentioned above, it is still a very niche industry that is somewhat in the same realm as 3D in the sense that it is a nice experience to have- but not something that most people would be willing to invest in for the long haul.
So, why is it that VR is not very popular?
One reason that has contributed to VR’s lack of popularity is the cost of entry.
You’d have to pay somewhere between $300 to $500 just to grab a good VR headset for your PC or console.
If you think about it, a few hundred dollars won’t usually hurt your budget too much. After all, there are plenty of things that we often buy that cost just as much or even more than a VR headset.
However, any wise consumer would know that it really isn’t a good idea to buy something that doesn’t do much for you on a regular basis.
A VR headset, for the price you are paying, isn’t going to be something that’s going to help you get through your daily life or provide you with the entertainment factor that really justifies its price.
Some of us here are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for amazing headphones, but we know the value that we are getting back.
We can’t in all honesty say the same when it comes to VR headsets that are yet to prove themselves to be valuable enough.
Another reason why VR isn’t more popular currently is that it doesn’t have that gravity that can really pull people to it.
True, getting to experience VR from time to time is gravity in itself, but this kind of gravity isn’t going to pull consumers to buy their own VR headsets in a meaningful way.
That’s because VR is yet to have that breakthrough feature, app, or game that can really help it stand on its own.
Case in point: Its highest-selling game, an indie game called Beat Saber, doesn’t even truly show off the real potential of what VR can do.
It’s not fair to blame the developers for not being able to create apps and games that can wow the consumer market and get people into VR.
That’s because the developers are only working on what they have and with a limited budget in most cases.
However, it’s undeniable that this has contributed to the lack of creativity in what developers can possibly do with VR.
As such, people are more likely to stick with what they’re used to instead of buying VR, which remains in essence a niche offering.
Why do people not buy VR?
Simply put, the reason why people don’t buy VR is that they just don’t have a good reason to.
I mean- would you?
Unless you have plenty of money to throw around, you have to have a really good reason to buy something that is as expensive as VR.
Not only will you have to buy the VR headset, but you will also have to invest in the hardware and software as well.
That means that you need to have a powerful computer or a compatible console and the right apps and games that work in conjunction with the headset.
So, if you are someone who is on a limited entertainment budget, you might not want to shell out hundreds or even thousands of dollars just so you can experience VR.
You might as well just stick to your smartphone, video game console, and PC for the best bang for your buck!
Of course, there is also the fact that whatever VR has is also present in other platforms.
Some of the things that VR boasts, such as an immersive experience and the chance to virtually interact with people, are all present in other platforms.
For instance, Travis Scott didn’t need VR to pull in millions of people to his virtual concert in Fortnite.
Meanwhile, the eminently simple Animal Crossing became one of the biggest hits during the early parts of the COVID-19 quarantine period due to how it allows people to interact online.
It might be true that the alternatives to VR aren’t as immersive as VR itself, but they don’t require you to shell out more money or experiment on something that hasn’t been tried and tested by time and consumerism.
Simply put, whatever VR has just isn’t enough to make people want to buy it.
As we’ve argued in this article, it needs to have that one breakthrough feature, app, or game that could act as the launching pad for its takeoff.
Otherwise, we might as well regard the future possibilities of VR as pure science fiction.