These days, much of the accurate information we get about what equipment PC gamers are using comes from Valve and the platform we all share in Steam. So when Valve’s Chet Faliszek – joke-writer, Left 4 Dead project leader and now unlikely VR evangelist – makes predictions about hardware trends, we sit quietly and take copious notes.

Faliszek reckons that VR is going to make 2016 the year of higher-end PCs – and that’s going to have some intriguing, if currently nebulous, knock-on effects.

Our list of the best first-person shooters is headed up by a VR-ready Valve game.

“Thanks to VR, in this coming year we will see a resurgence of high-end PCs in the home,” the designer tweeted on Wednesday. And then asked: “What’s the side-effect? What are the opportunities?”

One follower suggested that the ‘stagnant’ resolution display market would finally see a widespread leap in detail from 1080p to 4K. Faliszek agreed that was “probably true” – VR justifying the upgrades that the promise of 4K alone couldn’t (“though it does look good”).

Another suggested, in all-caps, that bitcoin mining might make a comeback.

“This was my first thought as well but actually not true,” Faliszek replied. “So then I was thinking, what else?”

What else indeed. More than anything, Faliszek is just excited to see people able to take home high-end VR in 2016: “That will influence everything else for years.”

So many predictions in the VR space for next year. I’m like a kid the night before Christmas. So much excitement for next year. — Chet Faliszek (@chetfaliszek) December 31, 2015

Faliszek conducted a recent talk at Helsinki event Slush about Valve’s experience with VR, which he said is still at “Pong level”. What level will it need to be at before you hop aboard?