Gaming

Often touted as the key driver in mass adoption of VR, I disagree. Whilst important, I actually think it’s part to play is smaller than cinematic VR. Last year Samsung made public their figures that 50% of the content viewed on their headsets is gaming, and 50% 360 video. According to Armando Kirwin, in his brilliant series on VR, the figure for gaming is now actually lower – around 35%, a trend that I see continuing in favour of 360 films and experiences.

One of the most important aspects of gaming VR though is it’s multiplayer ability – making VR social – something I’ll come on to in more detail and one of the most vital parts to the route. Allowing people to communicate and play together, virtually, takes away one of VR’s biggest achilles heels – isolation. You’re still isolated from the real world but you’ll be so deeply connected to other players that the collaboration and sense of camaraderie created will be deeply memorable.

Mobile

For VR to reach the masses it has to be on mobile. Phones will continue to get more powerful, to the point that they are good enough to deliver high end, interactive VR experiences and volumetric content. For this, the phones need to be able to track their environment, allowing users to walk around the physical and virtual space, just like on the Vive now. This ‘inside out’ tracking is what is used on project Tango and is currently unique to only a couple of extremely powerful handsets. Spending <£100 on a VR headset as an addition to an existing device like a phone is a way that we are going to encourage mass adoption.

Cinematic VR

There has been a messy, and entirely pointless argument about whether 360 video is VR. The pedants argue that it’s not, and by the dictionary definition they may be right. As far as I’m concerned, who cares. I can watch a 360 video in a VR headset and get as much pleasure & value from it as if I am playing a game. We watch films on our iPads, as well as playing games and other applications, so why does anyone care if we watch 360 videos in a headset?!

Hollywood is experimenting with 360 content too. Titles including Wild, Jurassic Park, Jungle Book, the Martian have VR taster experiences. Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of the Revenant (and a host of other top Hollywood films), has recently launched a VR experience at Cannes which goes beyond a simple 360 video and allows you to walk around a physical space as part of the film. By doing so it ceases to be a film and moves into the realm of an experience, blurring the lines between 360 and VR.

Ready Player One

A book by Ernest Cline about a dystopian future where people escape reality into a magical and boundaryless ‘metaverse’ has been essential reading for those of us in the industry for a few years. Ready Player One is being made into a film by Steven Spielberg, set for release in spring 2018. It’s going to be a huge title with a massive launch and accompanying VR experiences.

I think this title is going to singlehandedly have a massive impact on adoption in VR – mainly because it exposes the potential, sense of magic and also practical range of ways that VR can be used in the future.

Retail

I did a talk for Wired a couple of years ago on the future of VR in retail. I still feel like this will be one of the biggest aspects of the future of VR, both from a revenue generation perspective and also from a popularity and practicality perspective. Already automotive marques such as Audi have been grasping the potential of VR to sell their cars and Thomas Cook have also seen massive ROI on using VR in retail, selling 190% more holidays when they use it. I recently wrote an article about ROI in VR here.

People will be inspired to buy into VR if they think they can have shopping experiences that are better than they can online or even in person. You can’t instantly change the colour of the car in front of you, or try different wheels in the real world, at the click of a button. Sure, there’s a lot that’s never going to be as good as the real thing, but there is so much time you can save and so much iteration of choice you can have in the virtual world.

B2B

Whilst not the glittery front page of companies’ communications, there will be a huge number of B2B virtual reality applications emerging. Training in VR is already proving itself strongly, saving companies cash and improving engagement of staff being trained. Companies will also increasingly use VR for design, collaboration, and education. Whilst not a big driver in adoption, it will certainly help drive awareness.