Is 2017 Year of Virtual Reality? – Geektime

The year of 2016 saw a mixed growth for Virtual Reality, but what is expected for 2017?

Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the fairly new technologies that is going to dominate in the year 2017. The VR market has shown great promise in the last decade or so and is growing at a rapid pace. VR headsets such as Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive only became available in the last year or so. With so much investment by big companies, the future of VR looks bright similar to other fairly new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

Virtual Reality is a combination of techniques by which a user can have a realistic experience through the use of sounds, images, and other real-world sensations.

The way VR enriches user experience makes it an excellent choice for future entertainment systems. VR is also applicable in other fields such as medical, education, marketing, etc.

So, is 2017 the year of Virtual reality? Is the growth substantial? Lets dive deep from the perspective of both the consumers and VR developers.

2017 looks promising for VR developers. The last year saw some great VR hardware releases. The release of Facebooks Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and other key VR headsets set the tone for the future of VR. However, they offered mediocre performance when it comes to sales and value for money.

VR/AR(Mixed Reality) games, on the other hand, provided the benchmark for performance. One big example is Pokmon GO that slew over $600 million revenue in the first few months after release. Sonys PlayStation VR also received a great welcome by the community ensuring that the future looks great for VR products.

So, what does it means for the VR developers? The 2016s events look promising, to say the least. VR is still in its infant stage, and the audience/companies are experimenting with the technology to find the right formula. Not to mention, VR is an active field when it comes to research. So, if you wish to become a VR developer in 2017, you cannot go wrong.

VR for consumers is an exciting place. Consumers can see better hardware pricing and products. VR is currently used in almost every sector and not only in gaming. Hotels are using VR to promote their exclusivity; educational institutes are using it to engage students and so on.

The consumer can see better hardware, better compatibility, and pricing this year. They will also see VR used in many new places such as tourism gradually. Magic Leap, a startup is showing demos that show real promise for the consumers.

Check out the original Magic Leap video to get hyped!

2017 could be a great year for Virtual Reality. Lets check out some of the big predictions that might come true for VR this year:

Social VR experience: Social VR experience could be a reality in 2017. So, what is Social VR experience? It is similar to VR, but it enables two or more users to interact with the virtual world.

Lower price point: The 1st generation of hardware always have the highest price due to high development and research costs.

Apple making it big in VR: Yes, you heard it right. Apple can make inroads to the VR/AR market with their new iPhone8 camera.

Proper mobile integration: VR can see proper mobile integration on mobiles. Right now, VR on mobile phones is weak and requires improvements in terms of quality, usability and user experience.

The year of 2016 saw a mixed growth for Virtual Reality. The VR headsets could have performed better, but the first generation of hardware always lags in terms of expectations and pricing. With the first batch of hardware already on the shelf, we can expect better products and hardware in the future. Better monitors, refresh rate and technologies will enable viewers to enjoy the VR more intuitively.

So, what do you think about Virtual Reality and its future in 2017? Comment below and let us know.

UX & Design by David Luria

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Is 2017 Year of Virtual Reality? - Geektime