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Survey says half of developers consider VR market on decline or in stagnation

jason10mm

Gold Member
This is sad because VR is SO GOOD for certain applications. Pinball, for example, is AMAZING in VR because you can really see the depth of field. Or shooting sports, the ability to get proper grip and sight is really immersive. Horror stuff is INCREDIBLE in VR, maybe too intense?

It's really just moving around and excessive manipulation of stuff that gets me with VR. Simple stuff like the drumming in Ragnarock or twisting around in Superhot are so good in VR.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Sure.

Half Life 1 VR (PCVR)
Half Life 2 VR (PCVR)
Half Life Alyx (PCVR)
Gran Turismo 7 (PSVR 2)
Resident Evil 7 (PSVR 1, maybe PSVR 2 update coming)
Resident Evil 8 (PSVR 2)
Resident Evil 4 (PSVR 2)
Synapse (PSVR 2)
Flight Simulator (PCVR)
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (PSVR 1)
Skyrim VR (PCVR, PSVR 1)
Subside (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Red Matter (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Red Matter 2 (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Pavlov TTT (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Super Hot (PCVR/PSVR 1)
Vertigo (PCVR)
Vertigo 2 (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Boneworks (PCVR)
BoneLabs (PCVR)
Alien Isolation Mother VR Mod (PCVR)
UEVR Mod (PCVR)

Are all a good place to start getting into the really good ones...once you have your VR legs.

They aren't all as good as Alyx, but they are all absolutely fucking amazing games.
Into the Radius is a banger as well to add to the list.
 

Zacfoldor

Member
I keep my head on a swivel at all times. I can't be blinding myself to play a game. What if I was attacked? The attacker may get away before I can pull the headset off. I can't have that.

Edit: I've probably spent at least as much as the whales in this thread testing VR. Eventually they all become dust collectors. The games can be fun but anything that is inconvenient will no longer be used and for most VR is inconvenient. The only way to make VR take off is as meta and apple are doing, have an all in one device dedicated to it. Problem is that is like having an 8k TV set. Little content that truly takes advantage of it, and when you compare it to pancake gaming you are looking at decades for it to catch up in software at 100 times this pace. Once you ever put it down it becomes easy to leave behind. The fact that VR is basically just a high end monitor really hurts it and doesn't help it. Because you need more than a console or PC to get started. You are forced into buying high end monitor and computer together when with a console or PC you can really skimp on one or just use your old set. It means equal value VR will always lag behind because it requires a high end monitor, so it will be very hard to make it affordable and competitive even in the future. Otherwise it is just relegated to a peripheral of another superior device. In other words it's a cool gimmick but there will never be a world where everyone is lawnmower man. It's just not happening....the games ARE fun but wearing the thing isn't, in fact it is pure shit.

I'd suggest they make it easier to use, but until this thing is a pair of slip on glasses with my current prescription that I can literally wear all the time, that is also super cheap and super light and basically works much better than it does now, it's not going mainstream. You MAY get away with a pair of horse blinders when gaming but that's about as far as the mainstream is gonna go for even the best gaming experience in the world.
 
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Wildebeest

Member
VR is stuck in a permanent tech enthusiast "early adopter" phase. People hype up about a new headset that is going to be game changing, buy it, use it for a short while, then forget about it until the next headset comes out six months later. It would be very positive for the market if it could move to the "novelty" phase. Some inexpensive, cheap and tacky VR type solution comes out with a quirky viral game. The tamagotchi or tetris of VR. Then you have a market. Like always the game industry will be bone lazy and wait for Nintendo to do it then cry about how it is ruining everything.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
VR is stuck in a permanent tech enthusiast "early adopter" phase. People hype up about a new headset that is going to be game changing, buy it, use it for a short while, then forget about it until the next headset comes out six months later. It would be very positive for the market if it could move to the "novelty" phase. Some inexpensive, cheap and tacky VR type solution comes out with a quirky viral game. The tamagotchi or tetris of VR. Then you have a market. Like always the game industry will be bone lazy and wait for Nintendo to do it then cry about how it is ruining everything.
Gorilla Tag is that app. My kid has dumped HUNDREDS into that shit. It's the roblox of VR as far as I can tell, at least from a mtx perspective.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
VR is stuck in a permanent tech enthusiast "early adopter" phase. People hype up about a new headset that is going to be game changing, buy it, use it for a short while, then forget about it until the next headset comes out six months later. It would be very positive for the market if it could move to the "novelty" phase. Some inexpensive, cheap and tacky VR type solution comes out with a quirky viral game. The tamagotchi or tetris of VR. Then you have a market. Like always the game industry will be bone lazy and wait for Nintendo to do it then cry about how it is ruining everything.
Meta had a study saying half of VR users dump it after 6 months. So despite all these so called unique VR experiences you cant get on traditional consoles or PC with a gamepad or kb/m, and dirt cheap games and tons of demos, half of them still put in the closet. I dont think it's about VR gamers always trading up in a vicious cycle. It's that games are forgettable.

Name one successful console, handheld, or PC era (since PC is an ever flowing ecosystem), where gamers bought new gear and dumped it fast in half a year. Even consoles that died fast like Jaguar probably had their tiny user base playing it longer than 6 months,
 
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Griffon

Member
What was truly dumb of devs was making exclusive content for VR and thinking they would get rich. They should've just all ported/adapted flat games (RE4/7/8 VR are an excellent example of that) it's much cheaper and in the end you get a real meaty game instead of a glorified tech demo.
 
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poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
VR is stuck in a permanent tech enthusiast "early adopter" phase. People hype up about a new headset that is going to be game changing, buy it, use it for a short while, then forget about it until the next headset comes out six months later. It would be very positive for the market if it could move to the "novelty" phase. Some inexpensive, cheap and tacky VR type solution comes out with a quirky viral game. The tamagotchi or tetris of VR. Then you have a market. Like always the game industry will be bone lazy and wait for Nintendo to do it then cry about how it is ruining everything.
20 million headsets doesn't seem like early adopter phase, not even novelty phase, it's at a third of the PS5 userbase. It's a legit platform, my quest 2 has had constant use by me and my kids since I bought it.
Its not as big as consoles or PC but some of you act like 5 guys bought one and only one of them kept playing after a week.
 

Haint

Member
The Quest market is literally the Nintendo Wii market, where "Serious" or "AAA" developers have no interest producing mobile phone games, most "Core" gamers have no interest buying mobile games, and only a very small handful of games see real success. Meanwhile the "Serious" "High End" PCVR market hasn't seen new hardware or software from a "First Party" in over 5 years, while console VR is just a worse inbred cousin hybrid of both. Decline and stagnation were the only possibly outcomes. The platform with the actual hardware player base can't and doesn't produce the games the large core game buying public wants, and the other platforms don't release the new hardware or games required grow their player base.
 
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Not surprising. As much as I love VR, most of the games are overly simple and many are rough as hell for modern sensibilities. Majority of VR youtubers are cringe as F and dump all over games, even quality games. The VR community is equally as harsh towards most games.

I still say though, if you are a gaming enthusiast and don't suffer motion-sickness, a VR headset is a must have. I don't regret PSVR and PSVR2 for a second, and I'll be getting a Quest 3S sometime in 2025.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Meanwhile the "Serious" "High End" PCVR market hasn't seen new hardware or software from a "First Party" in over 5 years, while console VR is just a worse inbred cousin hybrid of both.
? Quest 3s just launched and Quest 3 is pretty new.
First party PC software, so basically Valve? They haven't released an actual game (porting counter strike to a different engine doesn't count) since HL:Alyx.
 

Ironbunny

Member
Imo there is only 3 games in VR that are actually worth playing. Alyx and Flight Simulator and Elite. Everything else seems cheap and uninteresting in comparison. Alyx was peak VR and it still holds the tittle.
 
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rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Sure.

Half Life 1 VR (PCVR)
Half Life 2 VR (PCVR)
Half Life Alyx (PCVR)
Gran Turismo 7 (PSVR 2)
Resident Evil 7 (PSVR 1, maybe PSVR 2 update coming)
Resident Evil 8 (PSVR 2)
Resident Evil 4 (PSVR 2)
Synapse (PSVR 2)
Flight Simulator (PCVR)
Astro Bot Rescue Mission (PSVR 1)
Skyrim VR (PCVR, PSVR 1)
Subside (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Red Matter (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Red Matter 2 (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Pavlov TTT (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Super Hot (PCVR/PSVR 1)
Vertigo (PCVR)
Vertigo 2 (PCVR/PSVR 2)
Boneworks (PCVR)
BoneLabs (PCVR)
Alien Isolation Mother VR Mod (PCVR)
UEVR Mod (PCVR)

Are all a good place to start getting into the really good ones...once you have your VR legs.

They aren't all as good as Alyx, but they are all absolutely fucking amazing games.
Add (all PCVR)
Asgard Wrath
Asgard Wrath 2
RE7 VR mod
RE8 VR mod
RE4R VR mod
RE2R VR mod
RE3R VR mod
Fallout 4 VR mod
Assetto Corsa VR
Assetto Corsa Competisione VR
Dirty Rally VR
Project Cars 2 VR
 
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UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Imo there is only 3 games in VR that are actually worth playing. Alyx and Flight Simulator and Elite. Everything else seems cheap and uninteresting in comparison. Alyx was peak VR and it still holds the tittle.
What?! There's a TON of games you have left out. You haven't played very many!
 

ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
Gorilla Tag is that app. My kid has dumped HUNDREDS into that shit. It's the roblox of VR as far as I can tell, at least from a mtx perspective.
It's insanely popular with kids, along with all the related social apps that are based on weird experiences, sometimes horror (Big Scary), and very minecraft-esque graphics.

I don't know who else in this thread has a middle-school kid in their house, but -- the number 1 social gaming platform for my son is the Quest. Every one of his friends has a Q2 or Q3 and they get onto these social games almost every night.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
VR has to also deal with 3D blind people who would just see a flat image like on their TV. I do wonder if this plays a part in people being meh on VR.
Fig5.jpg
 
I just can't take the opinion of PCVR only players that still think Alyx is the peak of VR gaming. It had production values and fancy graphics but at the end of the day it's just another one and done FPS. I got more mileage out of "light gun" like arcade shooters. Heavily modded Skyrim VR is where it's really at.
 

ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
VR has to also deal with 3D blind people who would just see a flat image like on their TV. I do wonder if this plays a part in people being meh on VR.
Fig5.jpg
the blind group on this chart ruined the 3DS

It's still the best handheld console screen I've ever used, 3D effect absolutely changes everything for small games and make it feel like a window into a diorama behind the screen. Totally transformative qualitative experience for me. But some % of people simply couldn't see it, ruined it for everyone.
 
This is sad because VR is SO GOOD for certain applications. Pinball, for example, is AMAZING in VR because you can really see the depth of field. Or shooting sports, the ability to get proper grip and sight is really immersive. Horror stuff is INCREDIBLE in VR, maybe too intense?

It's really just moving around and excessive manipulation of stuff that gets me with VR. Simple stuff like the drumming in Ragnarock or twisting around in Superhot are so good in VR.

Golf+ is a lot more realistic than I ever would have expected and I've been playing golf all my life. I've yet to check out the ping pong game but I've heard really good things. Even just going to the gun range in some of the fps games is pretty incredible.
 

Ironbunny

Member
I just can't take the opinion of PCVR only players that still think Alyx is the peak of VR gaming. It had production values and fancy graphics but at the end of the day it's just another one and done FPS. I got more mileage out of "light gun" like arcade shooters. Heavily modded Skyrim VR is where it's really at.

I've played so many of these VR games but they are unimpressive as hell when you compare these to Alyx which is already around 5 years old. Reality is when you but a headset on you need to be transported to different reality. It stinks if its always back to 90's graphics. Not saying there aint place for those but when most of the shit just looks like crap it well never sell well.

ps. MOD's wont sell these sets. You need actual from the get-go VR games that daze. Most people wont be arsed to install MOD's. It's in the same league as "why dont people game on linux?" story.
 
I've played so many of these VR games but they are unimpressive as hell when you compare these to Alyx which is already around 5 years old. Reality is when you but a headset on you need to be transported to different reality. It stinks if its always back to 90's graphics. Not saying there aint place for those but when most of the shit just looks like crap it well never sell well.

ps. MOD's wont sell these sets. You need actual from the get-go VR games that daze. Most people wont be arsed to install MOD's. It's in the same league as "why dont people game on linux?" story.
I have no idea what 90's game you played that looks as good as modern VR games. The quest 3 is outputting graphics that are comparable to or in some cases better than the Switch at significantly higher resolutions and frame rates.

And of course mods won't sell these sets. Neither did Alyx because most people can't be arsed with PCVR to begin with.
 

kevboard

Member
VR will truly start taking off once headsets are barely bigger than swimming goggles. there are already such headsets, but they are ridiculously expensive still and are only PC headsets.

VR needs to have the features of a Quest 3, the price of a Quest 3S, with the graphics of a PS5, and the form factor of a Bigscreen Beyond 👇
Bigscreen-Beyond-Model.jpg
 
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Only half?

Yikes. I could’ve told you that the day PSVR 2 first got announced.

It’s a long ways off from being a true competitor/disruptor to the home console market. At this point not sure it would ever even get there, it seems to be in steep decline. And Sony’s not gonna even bother with a follow-up to 2, it’s been a total flop.

The two major underlying issues I still think apply today, when Reggie brought them up years ago.

A) no one wants to wear a helmet in a room full of other people
B) too many people get motion sickness. Theyve got to figure that out.
 
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This sector is still in it's infancy. Much like the early home computer market, there are large barriers to entry (in usability) that will keep the platform from taking off in the near future. Evolving tech will win out though, and I fully believe VR/AR to be the next computing paradigm in a decades time.

In my opinion, Meta's wrist worn neural link (or similar device) is the input method that will allow for mass adoption, much like the mouse for home computers. Being able to accurately control the software with subtle movements (that don't require line of sight with the headsets cameras) is a big deal.
This.

Unfortunately, I’d say maybe in the late 2030s, at the earliest.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
Only half?

Yikes. I could’ve told you that the day PSVR 2 first got announced.

It’s a long ways off from being a true competitor/disruptor to the home console market. At this point not sure it would ever even get there, it seems to be in steep decline. And Sony’s not gonna even bother with a follow-up to 2, it’s been a total flop.

The two major underlying issues I still think apply today, when Reggie brought them up years ago.

A) no one wants to wear a helmet in a room full of other people
B) too many people get motion sickness. Theyve got to figure that out.
I think the real VR win are those open space games where you can move around with rifles and stuff. Basically super paintball/laser tag.

And then augmented reality fir architecture, interior design, medical, etc, the non game aspects are HUGE.

It's coming, no question. They just haven't really cracked vr porn yet, it's holding up adoption :p
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
20 million headsets doesn't seem like early adopter phase, not even novelty phase, it's at a third of the PS5 userbase. It's a legit platform, my quest 2 has had constant use by me and my kids since I bought it.
Its not as big as consoles or PC but some of you act like 5 guys bought one and only one of them kept playing after a week.
It not just about the sales.

It's the entire package. Low tier gimmicky games, players dumping it after 6 months (as per Meta saying that n research studies), a brick on your face etc.... As I said earlier, not everyone even likes playing first person view games. And also, not everyone wants to Wii waggle or turn around or pretend to bend down to "turn a valve" by actually pressing buttons on wrist controllers. It's not even a cheap add on.

I dont know anyone who has one, but just about every family has a console under the TV in the living room.

For those of you who have one, is it used as a family fun gadget? When family comes over for dinner and people play games like Switch or Xbox or PS after dinner, does anyone pull out VR and everyone watches Brad put on VR goggles and play Job Simulator or Beat Saber? I dont know. Never seen it. If they do have VR, they must have it in another room hidden away and its used as a loner gaming device.
 

SHA

Member
It's not too late, you need a hardware capable of eliminating all game designs flaws that started showing after vr, that's it.
 
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Kataploom

Gold Member
It's basically smartphone gaming with expensive stationary hardware, only the masses follow those trends, then it happens like with the Wii and normies move on
 

Haint

Member
? Quest 3s just launched and Quest 3 is pretty new.
First party PC software, so basically Valve? They haven't released an actual game (porting counter strike to a different engine doesn't count) since HL:Alyx.

Not just Valve, no. Once upon a time Oculus also made PCVR headsets and like a dozen high end PCVR games, which gave the medium at least some semblance of positive inertia and a reason for people to talk about it. There was also Microsoft with their fleet of WMR headsets. The Quest market is undeniably its own thing, selling primarily to a casual "Blue Ocean" audience of lapsed Wii fans and mobile gaming fans, where there are a tiny handful of novelty games and meme minigames that are wildly successful, while everything else tanks. Core gamers are by in large not interested in the Quest or 99% of the Quest library, and no one makes PCVR games anymore cause they don't sell (in large part because there's no new hardware or games to keep people interested).
 

Romulus

Member
Meta had a study saying half of VR users dump it after 6 months. So despite all these so called unique VR experiences you cant get on traditional consoles or PC with a gamepad or kb/m, and dirt cheap games and tons of demos, half of them still put in the closet. I dont think it's about VR gamers always trading up in a vicious cycle. It's that games are forgettable.

Name one successful console, handheld, or PC era (since PC is an ever flowing ecosystem), where gamers bought new gear and dumped it fast in half a year. Even consoles that died fast like Jaguar probably had their tiny user base playing it longer than 6 months,



VR isn't going anywhere. Despite the ups and downs and all the old stats about collecting dust, the big players are invested and there's nothing stopping that.

Batman released two days ago and its better than most non VR games. Quest 3s is outselling every game console on Amazon. There will be good/bad talking points but the jaguar/3dtv/kinect and all those silly things that people compare VR to didn't last. VR has outlasted them all, in most cases by a huge margin.
 
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Ojeteespacial

Neo Member
It is a shame there are not a really cheap glasses with good marketing, VR is the only thing that made me feel something new in the gaming world and i want that market to rise.
 
Well said, pretty much exactly how I felt about the original PSVR. I wouldn't say it was a total waste of money, because VR is an interesting thing to experience, but ultimately I am fine without it and had no interest in PSVR 2.
There are things about it that I like, but honestly, I probably never would have gotten PSVR if not for it being given to me. I had to buy a camera and I had to recommission my ancient PS Move controllers. But eventually I got it setup and I played a few games. It was a fun experience, but what was lacking to me was a "oh wow I can't wait to get home and play VR' factor. It was a cool experience, I didn't hate it. But the thought of playing games that are longer in length than an hour or so--say a full length game, it just isn't for me. I messed with the VR in RE7 but I found it too distracting to have a very good time. It would've been better to me as a kind of haunted house than a regular game.

I find it hard to surpass the comfort of just sitting in a chair or on a sofa and just playing a game on a huge 4K set that is engaging and suck me in. I'm loving my time with the remake of Silent Hill 2 and I think VR would make it less enjoyable. I'd enjoy just wandering around the town, but once I had to start dealing with significant combat scenarios, I feel it would slow my reaction down too much. What I see on my TV is exactly what I'm looking for in immersion.
 

FunkMiller

Member
This is not surprising, given the amounts of cheap, short, pointless piss that’s put out on VR. Devs need to get past the ‘aw gee shucks, ain’t this great’ stage of VR most of them are still at. They’re selling bullshit ‘experiences’ instead of putting in the effort to create full blown VR games.

Batman Arkham Shadow is the first game in a very long time that justifies having a VR headset. It’s ridiculous that Alyx is still held up as the gold standard.
 
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