Virtual reality has begun its transition from the new cool idea in tech to actually being implemented into daily lives. Large multinational technology corporations are driving these new products to market. Examples of this are Facebook’s Oculus Rift is set for distribution in November of 2015, the Sony Morpheus, and Google’s Cardboard virtual reality headset. New research by Transparency Market Research estimates that virtual reality gaming has the potential to be a $6 billion market in the next 5 years.
The biggest problem these companies face is making these devices free of health issues. Apple has consistently proven that consumers are willing to pay high prices for the right kind of technological devices. Therefore, the biggest hurdle for these companies as they seek to bring their products to market is avoiding users getting sick while using their virtual reality headsets, a problem that has come up for many of the headset testers. The headset’s goal is to immerse you into the virtual reality world, but a side effect of this has been users getting sick. However, as this technology is continually tested and improved, one would expect this problem to be a short-term one.
The most interesting aspect of this technology is how extensively it can be used. The headset’s initial market appears to be gaming, with Sony’s Morpheus having plans to be used with the Playstation 4 for example.
However, it goes much further with the CEEK platform. The company plans to use virtual reality technology to “attend” concerts, sporting events, movies, or conferences. As one can anticipate, the marketplace and revenue generating possibilities for this could be huge. The company’s plan is as follows: “Content providers will be able to leverage the platform to easily distribute and manage their virtual reality content, as well as monetize the content by selling virtual conference tickets or including virtual billboards.”
The ability to monetize this technology and successfully implement it not only into the gaming marketplace, but also into other aspects of consumer technology, will largely determine the size of virtual reality’s impact on our daily lives.