Best Of

So here's the thing. VR is something I've wanted to succeed for a very long while. I remember playing with the Occulus DK1 at expo 2 or 3 years ago when @mertesn brought it. It was neat, as a proof of concept, but holy crap it had a long ways to go.

Fast forward to late 2015 and a buddy lets me try the Samsung Gear. It blew my mind. There's a demo where you're in the middle of a WWE NXT pay per view, you're front row in the audience and you look around at whatever you want during the match. Super dope. Amazing experience, and LEAGUES ahead of what I experienced with the Occulus DK1 years ago.

But then the lenses start to fog up badly, and you can't really see. And then the straps start to annoy your noggin. And then your phone's battery is low, and then the virtual video ends, and then you reach for your beer and you knock it over. It was cool, great, even, but a niche experience at best. But all that considered, it gave me a sneak peek at what to expect, and I was into it.

Then the price announcements dropped. Occulus Rift for $599. $799 for the HTC solution. And on top of these insane prices, there's the hardware requirements. I have a brand new top of the line gaming PC at home with two GPUs that I built less than a year ago, and even so I don't have the hardware required to run an Occulus Rift because my GPUs are only GTX 960s and are one step too slow. Are you kidding me? Who in the WORLD is going to be OK with this outside of hardcore enthusiasts?

They say with VR you have to expereince it to believe it, and as somebody who's done just that, I 100% agree. But that price point? Forget it. Too high. Too much risk. Not enough notable exclusives. Not enough reasons to invest. At 800 bucks, I can build a new gaming PC. I can buy a console, tons of games, and an entertainment solution. I can buy a BOATLOAD of games for the systems I already own. Why bother? Right now, VR is begging for the enthusiasts to invest, but to this enthusiast, that price point is way too high with far too little a return.

I've got a few close friends working at Occulus. I have easy access to it. I'm the target market. But after all the demos, hands on, insider previews and promises of future goodness, I just can't get on that horse. I get it, bleeding edge tech commands a high pricepoint. But if you want to introduce an entirely new form of media and entertainment, this is not the way to get the mainstream on board. And praise enthusiasts all you want, those whales buying all the top dollar gear, but if you don't get the maintstream on board, you won't make history. Simple as that.

I really, really want the Vive and Occulus to succeed. But there's a long ways to go, and the general public just thinks the tech is gimmicky or creepy right now. And if your price points are close to a grand, people are just going to laugh at it.

Never forget how people reacted to this pic, it tells the story without putting down a single word. Casual consumers think this tech is creepy, and they will never pay 5-8 hundred bucks for it.

AR and VR are married. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. You've just acknowledged how the market will grow: through different form factors that ultimately grow the VR market as a whole.

We are now at the point where VR is already mature enough to provide a variety of differentiated experience/performance/price envelopes. You're even interested in one of them!

But it's never been like that before. And most people don't seem to be imaginative enough to see beyond the (already incredibly diverse and multi-billion dollar) first generation.

Edit: it takes a lot to fundamentally alter the buying habits of the GPU market. A lot. The demographics have been stable for a decade, but the rise of VR has triggered an undeniable change. It's an amazing canary in the coal mine attracting the leading edge of the bell curve.

I don't think the idea behind VR is going anywhere, I just don't think that VR in its current from (which, let's face it, is the exact damned same as it was in the early 90s) will be the thing that gets Aunt Sally and Hipster Joe and Everyman America buying into it. You're talking about the "types of GPUs people are buying". Who the hell buys GPUs? 10% of the people in the world? 5%? Compare that to who owns a TV or a smartphone. I think we're both saying "mass market" and yet talking about absolutely completely different things. You're talking about what is ultimately a niche market (PC enthusiasts).

When you put a device on your face and two things in your hands and are forced to be stationary while simulating being in another space, it's just lame, no matter how comfortable, immersive, slick, or wow it is. It's unnatural and it just won't take off. You're not going to see middle-aged businessmen in France using VR tech in everyday entertainment or 25 year old girls in Manhattan sitting around with a VR headset on, just like you don't see them upgrading their gaming PCs with new GPUs.

Now; when I see Microsoft's HoloLens, I think, "That's more like it. That's the right direction". I don't know what it is, but something along those lines could take off. I think augmented reality is the path forward; the more something allows us to experience the digital world in the real world, the more likely we'll see actual mass market acceptance. I want to interact with digital media in every day space; not have to have a "chamber" where I can play around with my VR toys.