Years later, Virtual Reality headsets are yet to take off

Having been around for nearly five years now, Virtual Reality (VR) headsets are yet to find adoption among the masses.

You only find them tucked away in a corner at the neighbourhood mall where kids wearing head-mounted devices (HMDs) experience virtual games. Even those who bought VR headsets — either as an independent unit or bundled with smartphones — have dumped those at home.

The global Augmented Reality (AR) and VR headset market returned to growth after a full year of decline in the first quarter this year, as global shipments reached 1.3 million — up 27.2 per cent — from the same quarter last year.

VR headsets represented 96.6 per cent of the combined AR/VR market during the quarter with strong volumes from top companies such as Sony, Facebook, HTC, Pico and 3Glasses.

“One of the main reasons why VR is not booming into the consumer segment is because of the uncomfortable, clunky headsets — even early VR adopters have complained of mental fatigue due to prolonged use of VR headsets,” Prabhu Ram, Head – Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, told IANS.

“Secondly, there is a clear dearth of quality VR content that one could watch,” he added.

“Consumer interest in VR, while still in its infancy, will see a slow and steady traction as specific use-cases, such as gaming, are pushed forth,” noted Ram.

Source: Hindustan Times