The future is mobile.

bilbosmeggins

..... Or, at least, the immediate future is mobile.  Just watched a YouTube video (below), where another data analysis was shown.  The results are quite telling regarding the “big three”....

The Index, following an initial spike, sits at the bottom of the public interest pile.  This is probably due to many people ruling it out once the price had sunk in, coupled with the later delivery date.  The Oculus Rift S is currently generating a marginally higher level of interest, which is not surprising as it’s release date is almost upon us.  The Quest, however, is in an entirely different league, when it comes to generated hype.  Just check the data.

Now I know that the data probably isn’t representative of the feelings on here.  But we are mostly die-hard vr fans, and very much a minority.  It’s catching the general public’s imagination that counts, when it comes to generating a thriving business.  And it looks like the Quest is doing just that.  And once the Quest is out there, it’s very nature will spread the word faster than PCVR ever will.  Being able to take it around to friends and relatives and have it being used by all and sundry with no setting up is a huge thing.  Only a handful of people have tried my Rift, partly due to where it’s situated, partly due to me weighing up how careful they’re likely to be amidst the cables and expensive gear.  The Quest will be the ultimate party gadget.

I honestly believe that the Quest is going to become the phenomenon that the Nintendo Gameboy once was.  And other companies will see that and want a slice of the pie, further driving mobile vr.  Then, once the vr word has become household, we will see the industry looking back to consoles and pc’s. And, hopefully, our high-end sets will then become a priority.

thesnowdog

Yup. I mentioned this in the mainstream VR thread the other week. Standalone VR will go consumer mainstream, but only when the headsets are under $100 and there are sports events and feature films filmed and broadcast with VR cameras.

But the industry will still need high end PC VR and the higher end and more expensive and new tech because that new tech is going to be expensive to manufacture, and enthusiasts are happy to pay for a more expensive headset.

As the tech comes down in production cost it will filter down to standalone headsets.

In the next 10-15 years we'll also see VR cameras drastically coming down in price too which will be great for weddings and other family events.

VR is going to be HUGE, this is why Zuckerberg paid $3bn for Oculus.

bilbosmeggins

Yeah, it’s a bit sad if it is, indeed, going to take 10-15 years to get the real party started.  The way my eyesights going, I might as well strap a couple of bath sponges to my eyeballs.  I’ll be well into my dotage by then

Atmos

We’ve had years of mega cheap GearVR and after years of Samsung giving them away with mobile phones we never saw the mass hysteria for VR.

Then we had Ready Player One put VR in the minds of millions of cinema goers and we still never saw any mass VR adoption even after GO hit stores at £200.

So now we have a third attempt with a £400 device when probably most people interested in VR already bought GO and got bored of it.

I’m really not expecting Quest to do any different.

bilbosmeggins

I think you’re woefully wrong. But only time shall tell.  This time it has sufficient power, excellent controllers and the superb Oculus catalogue backing it up.  Which I know doesn’t sit well with you, but the fact remains.

Atmos

It’s not just mobile it’s the whole VR market that fails to gain mass market appeal.

No need to join the Oculus defence league.

thesnowdog

So @Atmos when were you expecting to see mass market appeal exactly? This third generation of consumer VR (the first being in the 80s and the second being in the 90s) only started three years ago.

Zuckerberg himself said not to expect it to go mainstream for another 10-15 years a couple of years ago.

And even though it's going to sell a sh*tload the Quest won't go mainstream either. Nobody in their right mind is expecting it to. For VR to go truly mainstream we need to see headsets being available for under a hundred quid/dollars and plenty of non-gaming content. We're nowhere near that happening yet.

Be patient.

One thing that we can say for certain now though is that VR has become too big for it to die off the way it did in those first two commercial generations.

thesnowdog

Anyway, back on topic.

Because you may have missed it I'll quote my own post:

huxley

Standalone VR needs to get A LOT cheaper before this begins to happen.

Nail on head.
The interest in the quest is unprecedented, but like Atmos pointed out the adoption is what matters.

aoaaron

Lol kindergarten stuff here.

Great point from Atmos that maybe the issue isn’t what form of portability virtual reality is in but rather the general public just doesn’t seem that convinced by vr.

I think the issue is with vr is that it doesn’t serve a defined purpose yet for the general public. I don’t think it’s marketed well or clear enough and that’s partly because we aren’t suRe what it realistically is or isn’t capable of.

It’s like trying to sell the rift cv1 as a video player. It really isn’t. It can do it, but not very well. Likewise the go was a media consumption device with an lcd screen and had a very half arsed video gaming component.

I agree with op that mobile vr is definitely the way forwards for mass adoption because a device being portable and visible to the general public in use case scenarios is the best form of advertisement.

If the quest for example is a good movie player, I can think of many people at work who would buy one.

Similarly the gaming experiences it offers (such as super hot) will definitely bring people in.

400 is a steep price tag but I think it’s within reach of most people given other portable devices like the switch haven’t price cut or become dirt cheap yet.

No doubt it will need a price cut sooner than 12 months to drive sales.

I personally think if this doesn’t work, then vr might just never be a mainstream thing. It wouldn’t be the first amazing technology to die out eventually. Surely there is also a limit to how far Facebook will keep pushing funding for it. And on the valve side of things, if the index sales wean and their games don’t get bought in the quantities they like, they will kill the product line too like they have with most hardware they’ve produced.  No one can deny there is something amazing but also very unsocial and reclusive about strapping a headset to your head and exiting this world. Although I think it’s amazing, we live in a world where the majority of people prioritise looking at their phone every 10 minutes and being most concerned about what they look like.

I personally think vr will succeed though.
But these awful big headset designs like the rift s and valve index won’t help us.  People like sleek and fashionable.