A Reality Check on Virtual Reality

<p>Silicon Valley has been trying to make virtual reality a mainstream technology ever since Facebook acquired VR headset maker Oculus f<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/03/25/facebook-buys-oculus-virtual-reality-gaming-startup-for-2-billion/?sh=7512973d2498" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">or $2 billion in 2014</a>. Now, nearly a decade later, Facebook has rebranded as Meta, and&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/06/meta-quest-3-coming-this-fall/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Oculus is still launching new headsets</a>&nbsp;&mdash; yet virtual reality is still far from becoming the kind of widely adopted consumer tech that the tech companies hoped for. In fact, if anything, the tepid consumer reaction to VR devices has revealed a huge chasm for the industry to bridge.</p> <h1>The Stunted Growth of VR Hardware</h1> <p>Virtual reality is mostly commonly defined as a technology that immerses a user inside a 360-degree visual environment that they are free to explore in and interact with. While existing VR interfaces span from desktops and mobile devices to fully immersive headsets, most of the reports available today opt to only count sales of head-mounted VR hardware as the one true barometer for VR adoption among consumers. While this approach does leave out the 2D access point for VR-lite experiences that are far more popular, it is nonetheless a useful measurement to judge the consumer adoption of, and interest in, VR.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/ipg-media-lab/a-reality-check-on-virtual-reality-56daa1c848b5"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>