“Do you have a virtual reality headset yet?” This question, bluntly phrased in a recent piece, distills the increased skepticism regarding VR’s future from a simple few words. For most, the answer remains a firm “no,” echoing the technology’s inability to transcend niche interests and become a mass consumer product that will be found on shelves everywhere. Three decades of development and billions invested in it notwithstanding, VR continues to struggle with concerns that appear as deep seated as ever.
The most egregious of these issues is probably the inability of headset sales to increase. Omdia’s report indicated that shipments of VR headsets declined 10% in 2024 with steeper drops expected for 2025. Sony’s PSVR2, a break-through device touted as such, has had its manufacturing halted with inventory piling up a bleak destiny for a firm that shipped over 2 million units in its initial year. This autumn is symptomatic of a broader trend: the VR market isn’t increasing as optimistically as initially anticipated. A September 2024 Game Developer Collective survey reported over half of developers believe the VR market is flat or contracting, and less than a quarter feel there’s potential for growth.
The content ecosystem is to blame here. In short, there hasn’t been a genuinely great, platform defining game since Valve’s 2020s Half Life Alyx is the VR gaming benchmark, and there hasn’t been a sequel to arrive to be added to it. Sony’s PSVR2 titles, effectively VR reapplications of familiar games like Resident Evil 4 VR Mode, have done little to create much excitement either. As one critic noted, “Sony simply isn’t doing enough to tempt me.”
Aside from there being no content, there are still inherent constraints to VR. Room space is still a real barrier, among others. PC based high end VR hardware takes up some room space to utilize as light stations, and even light models such as the Meta Quest 3 take up vast real estate when active play is in progress. For those of us that are city dwellers or for those people that simply don’t have much space, that one factor by itself takes away from it as an attraction.
Price is the second significant barrier. Though the Meta Quest 3 is relatively affordable at $499, the others are rather steep. PC VR players must spend money on a top of the line gaming computer and a headset such as the $1,200 HTC Vive Pro 2. Even console-based options, like Sony’s PSVR2, amount to a $399 headset and a $499 PlayStation 5. That’s too costly for most, particularly when set against the spartan list of VR-exclusive games.
And then, of course, there is motion sickness a health issue which VR creators continue to yet entirely resolve. Enhanced refresh rates and tracking reduced discomfort for some, but it’s still part of the technology. For those prone to queasiness, the potential for accommodation by means of hours long VR experience isn’t on the horizon anytime soon.
Platform fragmentation also makes things that much worse. An in game title bought by Steam is not on a PSVR2, and the platform is more or less in silo for Meta. Segmentation is putting people in discrete camps, from PC gamers to social Questers, and cross platform experiences are hard to make. Throughout all of this, however, VR still maintains its dedicated base of fans who keep it alive and push the technology forward.
Products like the Meta Quest 3 are probably the best demonstrations of how the market has been attempting to narrow the gap and be inclusive. With the extra passthrough for augmented reality, improved optics, and improved hand tracking, the Quest 3 is attempting to fill the gap between AR and VR and enable new levels of immersive experience. The convergence of these technologies will revolutionize human interaction between virtual and real space, unlocking future uses beyond games for education, medicine, and virtual collaboration. More significant changes need to happen for meaningfully to really set VR into mainstream, however. Subsidizing hardware, aging of a more matured content ecosystem, and reduction of technological constraints are all in the right direction. They also need scalable distribution systems to distribute VR games a challenge exacerbated by the scarcity of VR-exclusive channels and absence of ad inventory on big networks such as Google and Meta.
It is hard to say, but the potential of VR cannot be discounted. Already, the technology is beginning to cut its teeth as a robust revolution in niches, ranging from virtual classrooms to rehabilitation centers. As Kraynov so eloquently put it, The gaming industry needs a push (and a lot of cooperation) to move into what’s going to be a new and genuinely breathtaking age of exhilarating change fueled by the mass consumption of VR gaming.
The question now is no longer if VR will succeed, but when and under what circumstances. Meanwhile, however it appears the industry must deal with its aches of growth between innovation and accessibility and pacification of both fanatics and cynics in equal proportions. At least for the time being, the vision of VR as a pervasive mainstream technology hangs tantalizingly just out of reach.
