It is evident the virtual reality industry has come at a major crossroads. Although there are some high expectations, current sales figures do not bode well for the foreseeable future. A new report claims the VR market will grow into a $33bn industry by 2022. Achieving that growth will require major efforts by industry leaders, as well as new ways to improve consumer adoption.
Matching the Predicted VR Market Growth
For all intents and purposes, virtual reality is still a small niche market. Despite advancements on both the hardware and software side of the spectrum, there is still a long way to go prior to consumers flocking to this technology en masse. The rise in popularity of location-based VR, as well as VR arcades, shows there is room for potential growth. A new report by Market Research Engine claims the VR industry will grow into a $33bn industry in the next four years.
According to this report, key industry players will need to step up their efforts accordingly. Despite big developments on the hardware side over the past year, the average price of VR hardware remains relatively steep. Software-wise, there has been an increased focus on bringing more content to VR headsets, including sports and other types of experiences.
Even so, there is still plenty of work to be done. Display latency and power consumption are still two big concerns for consumers looking to enter the VR market. There are also a lot of unanswered questions regarding the impact on users’ health. At the same time, VR sees a big uptake in terms of training exercises, defense imitation programs, and so forth. Finding the right balance to address those issues and improve upon the segments which see major adoption will be a critical challenge.
If the VR industry is set to grow to $33bn, a lot of things will need to fall into place over the coming years. It seems a lot of the VR customer adoption efforts focus on the US and Asia, whereas Europe is still a bit behind. Africa is almost a non-factor in this regard, and that situation will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. The VR industry is far from dead, but there is still a lot of work ahead.
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