Not even 7 months ago the tech universe was afire with discussing the introduction of Virtual Reality to the mainstream market around the holiday season. There were mixed feelings about whether or not VR would turn out to be a totally novelty concept, but the past several months have been a pleasant surprise.
Virtual Reality has fast become a new outlet of business with a frenzied pace. Forbes recently posted an article discussing how the VR world is being taken more seriously for long-term growth from a business perspective. Before, Virtual Reality had very few models that were deemed viable for a long term existence, spare the still-thriving Second Life platform.
“According to a Goldman Sachs report published earlier this year, the combined virtual reality and augmented reality market is estimated to reach anywhere from $80B to $182B in market size, by 2025. The higher number represents an accelerated uptake scenario. These estimates represent both the hardware and software sales that would make up the market. What is interesting is the composition of the software market, where videogames only account for approximately one third of the market. Retail, healthcare, engineering, military and real estate applications make up a strong portion of the market.”
Virtual Reality has also fast become a hot ticket to creating a widely-viewed video, with big-time YouTube gamers like Markiplier and Pewdiepie frequently posting videos using the HTC Vive and have long been showcasing games using the Oculus Rift. The horror genre is especially appealing within the gamer community for the simple fact that you’re totally immersed in them, raising the terror bar.
Alternately, there’s always some comedic relief in the bad games (NSFW):
It might seem like a development boom in the gaming world, but this moment has been in the making for quite some time. Second Life has, by popular opinion, set the motion that’s helped lead us to this point. And now we’re in an age where VR is becoming far more advanced and accessible in such a short span of time. I’d like to think that Project Sansar is going to set the bar again, because it was clear that the folks at Linden Labs knew we were on the cusp of the next evolutionary phase of Virtual Reality.