21st March 2015

Consumer virtual reality will grow exponentially between 2015 and 2020

Several years ago, in the early days of this website, we predicted that virtual reality (VR) would see a major comeback during the second half of the 2010s. This prediction appears to be right on track.

BI Intelligence, a cutting-edge research service from Business Insider, this week announced its latest report on the global market for head-mounted VR. While the current level of adoption remains low, it is likely to explode from this year onwards, achieving a compound annual growth rate of nearly 100% – in other words, sales will roughly double each year, reaching 26.5 million by 2020.

Thanks to falling costs, exponential technology improvements, and a variety of well-known brands competing for market share, the industry will soon be a mainstream form of entertainment.

Just some of the companies involved now include Facebook (Oculus Rift), Google (Google Cardboard), Samsung (Gear VR), Sony (Project Morpheus) and HTC (Vive). Based on its recent patent activity and job postings, Apple is rumoured to be working on VR too. For those who enjoy being immersed in highly realistic virtual environments (and we strongly recommend Elite), the next several years look to be very exciting indeed.

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