2016 was the year when a new wave of virtual reality peripherals launched. Despite this, the costs have been high, with few games being made, and the sales haven't really stunned anyone. The technology just isn't there yet, in many people's opinions.
If the Unity CEO (and former EA boss) John Riccitello is to be believed, 2017 will also be a slow year, but after that it will pick up speed. This was revealed when he participated in a Ask Me Anything session on Reddit, and by 2020 Riccitello thinks it will be considered mainstream. Here's what he had to say:
"I think VR will be mainstream - meaning 100m consumers using the tech regularly - by 2020. And I believe that within ten years, we will see more than 1bn consumers globally using VR apps."
As a comparison, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One combined have sold around 75 million units. Of course, Riccitello is talking about consumers rather than sales, but as of today, Oculus, Vive, and Playstation VR have sold less than two million units combined, so it sure is an ambitious goal from Riccitello, even with other smartphone based solutions included.
Do you think virtual reality is the future, or will gamers prefer the simplicity of a TV and controller?