VR Gaming: Key Challenges For Unlocking the Future Potential
Unlocking VR gaming industry’s potential, discussing the challenges hindering mainstream adoption & industry growth.
Explore the hurdles facing VR gaming’s path to mainstream adoption with Max Kraynov, CEO of FunCorp. Discover the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of immersive gaming.
Meta has recently unveiled its Quest 3 VR headset, reigniting debates about the future of the virtual reality (VR) gaming industry. What are the big challenges that must still be addressed for VR to go mainstream?
Meta’s newest hardware set, showcased at the Connect event at the end of September, represents Meta’s latest attempt at cracking the mass market dilemma for VR gaming.
Retailing from $499 and targeting the mass affluent consumer, Quest 3 offers enhanced features, including a powerful Qualcomm chip, improved screens, and a ‘passthrough’ capability for augmented reality (AR). The headset uses two external cameras to provide a video feed of a user’s surroundings. This enables digital objects to be overlaid on top of the physical world, supporting augmented reality capabilities and is similar to features available on Apple’s Vision Pro, which is expected to hit the market next year at a much heftier price tag of $3,499.
Of course, the relatively high cost of the hardware, combined with limitations of certain VR/AR gaming features, have plagued the industry for some time. As more consumers access high-quality VR experiences at an accessible price point, the industry’s user base is poised for further growth.
Increasing VR/AR convergence like Meta did with Quest 3 is also exciting, especially for any tech geek like myself. This integration can redefine the immersive gaming experience and open up previously unimaginable creative possibilities.
However, the cost to consumers and the richness of features are not the largest challenges keeping VR gaming from overtaking traditional gaming and becoming a truly mainstream activity.
Despite big expectations – revenue in the overall VR and AR market is set to reach $31.12 billion already this year, according to Statista’s projections – VR remains a relatively niche market, and I would argue that this is only partly due to a lack of awareness and certain misconceptions about this technology’s capabilities.
Content Development
Content development costs and market fragmentation are far bigger structural issues that keep VR gaming from finally exploding onto the mainstream stage.
Developing high-quality VR games and experiences can be costly and time-consuming. While some industry players like XOCUS, a developer of VR and AR games, have bucked this trend, smaller developers often need help to secure funding, hindering the creation of diverse, compelling, and truly engaging content.
Even mid-sized VR/AR game projects can cost $100,000 to $500,000, depending on the game’s design, graphics, and interactivity. High-quality 3D models, animations, and assets for VR/AR can be costly to create. The more intricate and detailed your game world, the more you’ll spend on content creation.
Just consider that even such a seemingly simple, small detail – such as depicting the way light reflects and refracts on water and objects and making it look realistic in a game is a highly complex task. The foundational algorithms for ray tracing were largely created by tech insider Jacopo Pantaleoni, a two-time recipient of the High-Performance Graphics ‘Test of Time’ award, which recognizes published research that has had a broad and lasting impact on computer graphics.
See More: How To Create a Secure But Immersive Space for Gaming
Hardware Management
In addition to the look and feel of the game, the fragmented hardware market is raising production costs. Developing for different platforms (e.g., Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR, or ARKit/ARCore for mobile) often requires additional development, testing, and optimization resources. Boring things like VR/AR hardware, software licenses, and licensing fees for specific development tools or platforms can also add up.
XOCUS managed to keep their costs relatively low by keeping their team relatively lean. Their portfolio includes the adrenaline-pumping racing hit Omega Pilot and the intense first-person shooter Presentiment of Death. Additionally, XOCUS has a lineup of new titles currently in development, including a single-player Rock and Roots game and an action-packed shooter game with real-time multiplayer capabilities called Wicked Game.
Looking at the market, access to capital for VR apps and games is becoming increasingly restricted amid a rout in fundraising in the broader tech space. This affects pre-release startups the most, as they will likely face an uphill battle in securing funding for development.
Assuming your stellar team of experienced yet relatively cheap developers made a fantastic game and has surpassed all the production and testing hurdles, they will still face a huge marketing challenge – finding scalable channels for promoting VR games. Where do they turn to find millions of new users eager to try their games?
The Meta Store, while significant, is not a primary source of traffic, and independent VR-focused websites have limited reach. Major advertising platforms like Google and Meta do not offer targeted advertising for VR, which further hinders marketing efforts.
Generally speaking, the fragmented nature of the VR market presents an issue beyond marketing, with various manufacturers and platforms, making it challenging for developers to target a broad audience without significant effort into adapting the games for different platforms that can carry them.
VR Beyond Gaming and Industry Challenges
While it’s naive to expect that VR headsets will become as widespread as mobile phones, tablets, or computers any time soon, they are becoming more applicable to various groups of consumers. In addition to gaming, devices such as Meta’s Quest 3 and Apple’s Vision Pro can now be used for studying, watching sports games, streaming movies, and video conferencing. As different family members can find such devices useful for their respective needs, we can expect more households to adopt them in the coming years.
Beyond this, though, what I think the industry needs are some assurances regarding the long-term commitment of VR headset manufacturers, additional clarity about their device roadmaps, and support for more excellent centralization of marketing channels to make the lives of developers a little easier, which in turn would help support creative talent and benefit the VR gaming industry as a whole.
I’m a strong believer in the potential that VR technology can unlock. The gaming industry needs a little push (and a lot of cooperation) to enter what’s bound to become a new and genuinely staggering era of exciting change fuelled by the mass adoption of VR gaming.
How can VR gaming overcome challenges? Let us know on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
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