I think that it’s theoretically possible to have a killer app for VR, something that a lot of people really want and that you can only really do with VR.
But I don’t think that that killer app exists yet. As I mention in another comment, VR might be a worthwhile buy today for hardcore flight-simmers, but I don’t think that it is for most other people.
Maybe if Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Valve, Sony, etc all put off competing on this long enough to try to put together said killer VR app that ensures that they actually have a market to compete in.
thinks
On the hardware side…hmm. What would make me want to get a VR headset?
I don’t know if I’m a typical consumer, but I have a lot more interest in a monitor-replacement head-mounted display for portable computers than in VR stuff. Like, if you give me something that I can plug into a laptop or phone and can display high-resolution text better than my laptop display – where I can’t carry a large monitor or suspend the monitor right in front of my face – without blowing a bunch of battery power, that’s interesting to me. Existing VR headsets aren’t really aimed at that, as they blow pixels on peripheral vision, and tend to use a fair bit of battery power. The thing should be able to reduce power usage relative to a laptop, given that it had to emit less light to get a given brightness.
I’m fine with it burning power in VR gaming, but not when it’s just being used as a monitor. I want it to be comfortable enough that I can have the thing on my face for eight or more hours.
Like, if I get a VR headset, I want it to be because I’m ready to use it as my primary display device, not just as a neat game peripheral that I haul out when I’m playing a game. I do own a bunch of neat game peripherals, like a HOTAS rig, and my experience over the years has been that they tend to gather dust, aside from a decent gamepad…and gamepads benefit from games being developed for the console market.
If I get VR as an extra for gaming, that’s nice too.
I’m not terribly price sensitive as long as the thing is something that I’m going to use for a long time – my experience has been that I normally use a monitor for a long time, so the cost per year is low relative to the unit price. I doubt that existing VR headsets will do that, as the technology isn’t mature.
I don’t know if that’s what the broader market would care about, though – a low-power, 2D monitor replacement.