LogFAQs > #979260071

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I still remember back in the 80s when everyone was convinced that VR was going to be the future. And then in the 90s people were still saying that. And then in the 2000s. And the 2010s.

Like 3D, it's one of those technologies that everyone always seems to think is going to become ubiquitous right around the corner, but it never really seems to take off in any meaningful way. You get little bursts where it becomes slightly more popular and everyone goes "This is it! It's finally taking off!", and then the fad ends and it just sort of fades back into the shadows until the next time the tech slightly improves and the cycle repeats again.

Since its inception, it's always kind of been hovering on the fringes of the home market as something that's really cool but just not quite viable to integrate into home entertainment yet. The last few years, however, have seen it become viable for home use, and that's given the novelty a chance to wear off that it hasn't really had before now. With the novelty gone and the ultimate experience just not being worth what it costs (and the current trajectory being to improve the experience with new equipment that costs the same or more rather than to make a "good enough" experience more affordable), the hype has fallen off and probably won't pick back up again.

Mostly, I think VR was just cooler when we couldn't have it. A lot of its value relied on that unattainable novelty of always being just out of reach, but now it's in reach and has to stand on its own merits instead of that tantalizing unavailability, and those merits just aren't enough to justify the cost for most people. We'll probably see another attempt to make it work when the current market starts to dry up a bit and the industry pushes for affordability instead to try tapping into the "it's cool, but not $500 cool" audience, but I expect whatever disappointing level that market stabilizes at will be all the success VR will ever have.