These days, whenever a new technology is released, there is always a multitude of opinions about it. And that’s natural since modern tech isn’t a strange new wonder to us digital natives. What is strange, however, is that there can be so much doubt when it comes to a new piece of tech like VR.

When the PC first came out, people didn’t know where it was going either. But look at it now. Yet still, people are doubting whether VR will succeed. Given, there are some obstacles. Like how expensive an HMD is or the naysayers who spread rumors that VR is failing and on it’s way out.

The Lack of AAA Titles

There has been some dissent brewing amongst gamers and developers (but when isn’t there, really). A lot of people have been complaining about the lack of good, AAA titles in VR gaming. The problem with this is, however, the time and cost it would take to create a AAA game for VR and then there’s also the return on investment – which is something every company – indie or large corporation – should think about. So when you look at the relatively small group of VR consumers right now, compared to the gaming community at large, then it makes sense that there aren’t a lot of big name games in VR yet.

That hasn’t stopped the VR community from voicing their dissatisfaction, though. Although they haven’t been completely unreasonable either. There has been an influx of mediocre content, while the larger fish in the pond don’t look like they’ve even taken an interest. What gives consumers more fuel is the fact that some major AAA titles have been modded or ported to work in VR, like Doom 3 BFG, Fallout 4 and the Portal 2 VR prototype.

Taking The Old And Making It New

So a very vested argument is that developers should simply focus on taking what games are already there and tweak them to work in VR. There are a couple of issues with this train of thought. Firstly, there are quite a number of technical challenges that come with taking a normal game and optimizing it for VR, like having to render for two screens instead of one. That number can go even higher depending on the game and how it’s been created. There are so many things that need to be changed and/or completely reworked. Plus in addition to this, the developers have to keep the players in mind at all times – how to make the experience comfortable in VR and how to make sure that the immersion is never broken.

That’s not exactly easy. When you think of things that seem simple enough like fixed perspective and then start to think about making it so that players can bend over or lean forward and things will still look right, it gets complicated really fast.

Having said all that, there’s another issue that we also have to take into mind. VR is a new way of gaming and simply taking all the existing games that we like on PC or console and porting them into VR is not necessarily the way to go. This is an opportunity to experience something new that we’ve never experienced before. Everyone that has played in VR goes on about how different and great it is. So why would we want to take what we already have and just play it in VR? Especially when VR adds so many new ways of interaction and storytelling. Why just settle for the old when you can have something better? Just take a look at this comment on a Reddit thread about the subject:

The point is, there is no easy solution to the matter. The industry isn’t going to grow without good AAA titles and the AAA titles aren’t going to come without assurance that studios will get their money returned (with profit, I mean, they are businesses after all) for the time and resources spent.

Giving VR A Bad Press Rep

From motion sickness issues to claims that the VR industry is failing and will be fazed out within a year. Despite the contradictory evidence. And a little bit of common sense.

Firstly, let’s talk about all of the articles, opinions, posts and threads there’s been so far, discussing the failure of VR or why it’s failing, could fail (which is reasonable) or going to fail. Just take a look at this screenshot I took of a quick Google search of “VR failure” for instance, and that’s only the first couple of results. What makes this so interesting is that the VR industry has only been commercial for little over a year now.

VR isn’t just another gimmick (well it’s not supposed to be). It will, inevitably, change the gaming community. The same way consoles and handhelds did in the beginning. Otherwise, a lot of large companies have been pouring billions of investment dollars into the wrong thing. Plus then this year’s CES and the upcoming GDC, which shows a lot of interest in VR from consumers, hardware manufacturers and developers are entirely wrong.

And then there’s Valve who is apparently ‘comfortable’ with VR failing. Which has, of course, put people into a spin, making them think that VR really is on it’s way out. But if you really think about it, why would they spend all that time, effort and money to help develop the VR industry along with HTC? Plus they’re developing not one, but three VR titles themselves as well. Yes, Valve will be fine if VR tanks because they have some pretty big things to fall back on, like their whole Steam empire. But still, why all the doubt?

So there you have it, an update (albeit one colored with my own opinions) on the current state of the VR industry. What are your thoughts on the subject? Would you like to see more popular games optimized for VR or something new? Do you think VR is bound to fail?