It Might Be Time to Admit the Great VR Experiment Has Failed

[sharknice]

Same, had to send my psvr2 to ebay. Made me sick. I also don't think it helps that the pack in game was total trash.

PSVR2 is really bad for motion sickness. They increased the brightness to have "HDR" at the expense of higher persistence which is known to cause motion sickness. Even if you manually lower the brightness to lower persistence it's not great. It also has other problems, but the high persistence is the biggest. It's extremely disappointing.

 

[sfsuphysics]

and HD-DVD

TBF, HDDVD was simply a competing standard in a space that really only could have one winner. Where as 3d tv was trying to catch a market that did not want to exist

 

[BravO)))]

While VR can be fun, I feel it isn't like couch or desk gaming. The last thing I want to do after 10 hours of hard work is put more gear on, stand some more, and move around like I'm not hurting or have extra energy to burn...

 

[RanceJustice]

There's nothing wrong with VR itself - its just that the technology isn't "there yet" for wide usage parallel to "normal" gaming. As the headset become lighter , controls become better and other technical elements of capability are integrated into a less complex package things will improve even more. However, its by no means a failure - its just niche, but a successful enough one. Its a bit like playing flight / space simulators with joysticks / HOTAS / HOSAS ; they're niche compared to regular KB/M or controller games but people continually seek out the hardware for certain titles and there are successful manufacturers that make and iterate/improve on them. For instance, there's a major contingent of "VTuber / VRChat etc" avatars where people who are into that sort of thing purchase full body tracking sensors; what's doable today with a bit over $100 in sensors used to take a separate PC running a custom mocap rig with a custom "suit" costing thousands plus the person to manage it, that was the purview of professionals only a few years ago.

For me the biggest issue with VR is if its going to be a proprietary tracker to sell you games on their proprietary store strapped to your face a la Meta's plans, or if it will be open source/spec and compatible on PC; part of the reason I bought a Valve Index is that they were the main champion pushing things toward the second while almost everyone else was a version of the first . There were some who stood between the two, all the Windowed Mixed Reality devices, many Chinese manufacturers etc.. who both made use of SteamVR/OpenVR SDK but often had proprietary windows only driver requirements or issues with QA no matter how good things looked on paper. The Index was way ahead of other devices when it released, but while still very capable could use some upgrades; I hope to see the Deckard platform from Valve and some discussion suggests it will debut by the end of this year with things like planar lenses and wireless capability.

Meta has been able to, in the interim pick up a lot of new users with the Quest line thanks to Meta basically selling it ultra cheap as a "console" style in so they can data mine and get people on their platform, so we really need some new alternatives from Valve. It was no surprised that Apple's attempt more or less flopped - it was a $3500 mixed reality platform that didn't have enough of a use case for business to justify the price nor enough stuff to do for even Apple faithful to make use of it consistently. Besides the Index, the only handful of other devices I consider worthwhile are way out of the pricing sphere for most - like the Varjo XR-4 - but the hardware is high performance and has things like LIDAR mapping, FOViated rendering, 4K per eye planar lenses, and compatibility with SteamVR among other forms of technology for both inside-out and outside-in tracking. There's even a "secure edition" made for classified environments that was assembled entirely in Finland and was entirely offline capable of sideloading everything if you so chose. We're also seeing another spike of interest with the "big pair of glasses looking things" like Bigscreen BYond but many of these are closer to wearable monitors than a full on VR /AR platform at least at first. Things will evolve.

I really want to see Deckard succeed so that Valve's open source/spec way of doing things will become a focal point for a VR industry otherwise predicated on everyone trying to get you into a walled garden or slap a tracker using a mobile SoC they own to your face. We'll see as things progress forward, but I don't expect VR to go away - its not meant to be a 1:1 replacement for flat screen computing usage/gaming in every circumstance but it has its usage and niche that will only grow more accessible...provided its not dominated by walled gardens and lockdown that is.

 

[TangledThornz]

3D tv’s welcome VR into the vault of failed tech.

I still own a 65in Panasonic plasma TV from 2013 with 3D that I have never used. When it comes to VR it needs to be as seamless to use as streaming TV for it to catch on with the mainstream user. Entertainment with extra steps is outdated.

 

[4saken]

The crux for me is the effort as previous folks have stated or eluded to. Don't care for that at all. Been through about 6 headsets since DK2, just sold off last one, don't plan on getting back in for a long time. Zero quality titles, 99% shovelware. Having to plan around using VR, vs just jumping into a quick match just doesn't suit me right now. Sure i had some really cool VR experiences, but its still just too fringe of a market and not convenient enough.

I had used it for sim racing quite a bit, but eventually i just went back to triple monitors and am happier.

 

[BravO)))]

I still own a 65in Panasonic plasma TV from 2013 with 3D that I have never used. When it comes to VR it needs to be as seamless to use as streaming TV for it to catch on with the mainstream user. Entertainment with extra steps is outdated.

I am very much looking forward to the Samsung Odyssey 3d. Apparently, it will be releasing this April. Instead of glasses, it uses tracking to orient the perspective.

 

[sleepeeg3]

This is the second big VR push. The first one arounf 1995 failed all the way; nobody was supporting i-glasses or VFX headsets etc by 2000.

This generation, the headsets are better, tracking is acheivable, the software is better. The units sold has been significant. I think it may be enough that some people will keep using them, and they'll continue to see some support in new software.

That trickle of support is important, because it means when the next generational push for VR comes, there's already a library for new to the market users. And new to the market developers can see what works and doesn't without having to try it all themselves.

I'm just not comfortable in the headsets I've tried, but it has potential. All your VR enthusiasts are going to have to wait for the sci-fi future where we're all living in our headsets 24/7 though.

It's still too expensive - that's the biggest problem. It may have come down 100x in inflation adjusted dollars, but until it becomes affordable and easy to purchase/setup for the average consumer, it won't take off. Content won't be developed if developers know they are only targeting 0.1% of the market.

I still want to try Half-life Alyx.

 

[blade52x]

I think VR suffers a high rate of rapid burnout. It's something that's cool to try and experience, but the thought of putting a headset now is kind of turn off.

And teleporting honestly just sucks. I think there's a great future for AR since it will give you full freedom of motion, but it's a while until AI can turn my surroundings into a corridor FPS of some sort.