Virtual Realities’ Slow Start

Regular readers will remember the many posts I’ve written on Virtual Reality and my continual reminders that this market is going to develop slowly. The tech industry tends to get very excited about new shiny things but regular consumers don’t see the point and just want to get on with their lives. This is why I’m not surprised by the naysayers who used the news of Best Buy and Facebook closing down a large number of the Oculus VR popups in many locations as confirmation bias of their negative view on VR. VR is certainly niche today and how far it will reach beyond a few verticals remains to be seen and the progress we make technologically will ultimately define how mainstream it can go. These are very early days in VR and a few points of context are important with this news.

1. Oculus Does Not Demo Well. Problem number one is the Oculus Demo is a hard demo to give. The headset is uncomfortable, the navigation requires using an XBOX controller (an acquired skill if you have never used one), the cable is thick and it’s annoying having it constantly hit you in the back. To be fair, this is true of all VR rigs tethered to a PC or game console. Having gone through the demo, even in a perfect situation from Facebook/Oculus folks themselves, I’m not surprised the experience did not go over well with consumers.
2. Content Matters. One of the other issues with most of the demos I saw at Best Buy for Oculus were gaming related. This again will be lost on the general population who are not the typical consumers of most of the VR experiences which truly show its potential on something like an Oculus or HTC Vive. I’d assume some demos had examples of video where you are under water or in a foreign city, etc., but most of what I saw were more gaming related because that is where the market for premium VR is (and what Best Buy wants to sell) and where the market is today.
3. Gear VR Demos Still Doing Fine. Demos of the Gear VR headsets are still getting good traffic per the folks at Best Buy I’ve talked to. Here, again, is an example of the right content and simpler overall experience. Putting on a Gear VR headset is much less daunting than the big cabled headset of the Oculus. The content that make up Gear VR demos tend to be things much more interesting to the general public and demos of this I’ve witnessed in store tend to have the associate set up the video and then hand it over to the customer to just watch and experience. With Oculus, there is more participation in the navigation on the part of the customer from demos I’ve seen. While not the best VR expereince out there, the Gear VR demo continues to provide a better demo experience overall and is less of an awkward and frustrating experience compared to the way Oculus is presented.

None of this means it’s game over for VR. From a technology standpoint, we have years of very hard technical innovation which still has to take place before we get to the full vision of virtual experiences. That being said, the way consumers first experience VR today matters. The concern is negative experiences today could sour consumers on the concept overall and make it harder for them to give it a second chance down the road as the experience dramatically improves.

I know first-hand that, when the demos of good VR are done well, there is no doubting this has very broad appeal in entertainment, communication, collaboration, and more. The PlayStation VR demos I gave friends and family over during the holidays were all the evidence I needed to validate that consumers across the spectrum would appreciate the potential of VR once it becomes affordable and we solve a few technology speed bumps. I gave demos of exploring foreign cities to family members who love to travel and have adventures. I gave demos of sitting courtside at an NBA game to family members who love sports. Even my 80-year-old Grandma Joyce got to explore the bottom of the ocean and Mars and was completely blown away.

There is no doubt VR will play a role in the future of consumption of media and, with the inclusion of things like AR, we can add elements of productivity and core computing capabilities as well. This technology has broad application in the future but it’s going to take a lot longer than many realize.