HTC defends VR industry in wake of falling sales figures

[midian182]

Bottom line: Despite HTC’s words, it’s hard to see the virtual reality market improving anytime soon. Many headsets, such as the Vive Pro, remain prohibitively expensive for most people—it costs $1400 for the complete setup. Virtual Reality as a technology is amazing, but it needs to keep on improving with more content, better devices, cheaper options, and killer apps if it ever wants to become mainstream.

The new wave of virtual reality was supposed to revolutionize not just the way we play games but also how we consume content. Yet two years since the launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, interest among consumers is waning and sales are reportedly falling. All of which begs the question: is VR dying? HTC doesn’t think so, and it has written a blog post explaining why.

"Have you heard the news? Analyst reports are in and apparently, it’s curtains for Virtual Reality (VR). Pardon us if we’re not heeding the alarms. News of the so-called death of VR comes once a year and is greatly exaggerated," writes the Taiwanese firm.

HTC highlighted a recent report from Digital Trends that looked at Amazon data for VR headsets, including the Vive. It showed all were experiencing sales declines, but HTC says it’s because of a depleted inventory. “VIVE has paced at its highest sales velocity of all time, for weeks on end, and we sold out. For a consumer electronic product in its third calendar year, this continued trajectory is nearly unheard of.”

“Don’t worry, though: we are ramping up production of the original Vive and units will continue to roll out to online and retail over the coming weeks," it said.

HTC claims the Amazon report doesn’t tell the entire story. It says more businesses are adopting VR solutions for entertainment centers and training purposes. “These numbers don’t hit consumer forecasts, and therefore, are not included in the reports.”

HTC makes no mention of why other VR headsets, such as the PlayStation VR, might also be suffering from falling Amazon sales, though it does note that phone-powered systems including the Gear VR are declining because of “units that were largely used as promotional devices for phone launches,.

HTC goes on to praise an International Data Corporation (IDC) report that places the Vive as the market leader in the virtual reality space. IDC states that HTC holds 35.7 percent of the VR market, while Samsung is in second with 18.9 percent.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/75699-htc-defends-vr-industry-wake-falling-sales-figures.html

 

[erickmendes]

VR isn't dead because it never lived... Sorry HTC.

 

[Reehahs]

For an average person it is a steep investment in both cost and technical knowledge. PS VR is in the right direction to drop both of these but other manufacturers need to do more.

 

[davislane1]

Why VR sales are slumping:

1. Entry costs.
2. Lack of worthwhile content.
3. Ease of use.

Let's compare...

PC/Console standard game launch: Click on game icon, play.
Oculus standard game launch: Click on Oculus icon, put on headset, adjust headset, feel around your desk for the touch controls, click on game icon inside Oculus program, re-calibrate for game-specific height settings, play.

That's the problem. To say nothing of the total cost of VR headset + hardware to drive it.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Why VR sales are slumping:

1. Entry costs.
2. Lack of worthwhile content.
3. Ease of use.

Let's compare...

PC/Console standard game launch: Click on game icon, play.
Oculus standard game launch: Click on Oculus icon, put on headset, adjust headset, feel around your desk for the touch controls, click on game icon inside Oculus program, re-calibrate for game-specific height settings, play.

That's the problem. To say nothing of the total cost of VR headset + hardware to drive it.

But that assumes the experience is equal. If VR was totally awesome, then these issues shouldn't be a problem. I've never tried a VR set besides the gimmicky phone adapters which were better at causing motion sickness then anything else. So I don't know if the experience is better or not.

If VR is done really well and is really cool - then we just need to improve the tech until the price comes down into the mainstream range.

 

[JaredTheDragon]

Until they jettison the headset and move towards VR glasses (wireless too) instead, I can't party with any VR/AR setups. I do not want to wear a stupid hat when I'm gaming, and masks are for criminals or Halloween.

 

[davislane1]

But that assumes the experience is equal. If VR was totally awesome, then these issues shouldn't be a problem. I've never tried a VR set besides the gimmicky phone adapters which were better at causing motion sickness then anything else. So I don't know if the experience is better or not.

If VR is done really well and is really cool - then we just need to improve the tech until the price comes down into the mainstream range.

I've tried the phone VR stuff and own an Oculus w/ touch controls. When VR is done correctly it is the best experience there is. However...the setup and costs make it too much work for anything other than occasional use, which is to say nothing of the fact that the number of titles that "do VR right" can be counted on one hand.

As for mobile VR vs desktop VR...

Think of this as the difference between a GameBoy Color and a Playstation 2.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

The bottom line on this article pretty much nails it. I don't think VR will die though, but I don't think it will ever become "mainstream" either. It is kind of a niche market for those more hardcore gamers. Casual gamers won't jump onboard because of costs and other complications.

 

[Trillionsin]

The bottom line on this article pretty much nails it. I don't think VR will die though, but I don't think it will ever become "mainstream" either. It is kind of a niche market for those more hardcore gamers. Casual gamers won't jump onboard because of costs and other complications.

Once it becomes more affordable and then more comfortable AND easier to use it will become completely mainstream.

Right now these are the limitations. The initial cost keeps people away... okay, then those who cough up the money finally get one, figure out how to set it all up... move furniture around for space and ready to go... oh yea, now I have to set up the sensors and set up the room area to play in, configure that and calibrate the controls... then ready? nope, have to purchase games... find a decent game, just to realize how short it really is... find another game... now you've realized youve spend an extra $100 on games... keep in mind that while you are playing you are probably going to have to keep the furniture moved out of the way or you take the VR headset down/sensors and then have to set it all back up again once you are ready to play.

In my situation, there is not enough room in my computer room/office... so I have to use the living room. I have to drag the PC out there, move furniture around, set it up(vr cables and adapters), set up sensors, calibrate VR headset and ready to go.

One day, I believe it will be possible to fit sensors into the headsets to make it easier to use, that will track the area in the room to detect your movement. This probably takes additional processing power, as well as space for the hardware into the headset making it heavier.

TLDR; Basically what I'm saying is technology still has a ways of going to make these easier and lighter to use... also, I'm still turned off by the screen resolution and size of the pixels... I have being able to see pixels. This is overcome when you finally get into games, but till then expect to be adjusting the headset in attempts to get it looking as good as you can, just to realize that's as good as it gets.

This all coming from a HTC Vive user, with a GTX 1080 installed in my PC.

 

[PinothyJ]

Why does anything needs to change, and why does VR need to mainstream? A good racing wheel cost a pretty penny, a flight sim rig cost a a damn ugly penny -- why would VR be any different than very specialised gaming peripherals?

 

[LNCPapa]

Why does anything needs to change, and why does VR need to mainstream? A good racing wheel cost a pretty penny, a flight sim rig cost a a damn ugly penny -- why would VR be any different than very specialised gaming peripherals?

That's true PinothyJ - I think that now it's more about social acceptance of the technology. When someone is playing a driving game, even the non-gamer would accept that it's more accurate and immersive to do so with a steering wheel but the idea of strapping on an HMD still seems foreign to most. I think as it gets used more and people (even those who won't be using the technology) understand how it works a bit better then there will be less of a push for it to become mainstream.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Once it becomes more affordable and then more comfortable AND easier to use it will become completely mainstream.

Right now these are the limitations. The initial cost keeps people away... okay, then those who cough up the money finally get one, figure out how to set it all up... move furniture around for space and ready to go... oh yea, now I have to set up the sensors and set up the room area to play in, configure that and calibrate the controls... then ready? nope, have to purchase games... find a decent game, just to realize how short it really is... find another game... now you've realized youve spend an extra $100 on games... keep in mind that while you are playing you are probably going to have to keep the furniture moved out of the way or you take the VR headset down/sensors and then have to set it all back up again once you are ready to play.

In my situation, there is not enough room in my computer room/office... so I have to use the living room. I have to drag the PC out there, move furniture around, set it up(vr cables and adapters), set up sensors, calibrate VR headset and ready to go.

One day, I believe it will be possible to fit sensors into the headsets to make it easier to use, that will track the area in the room to detect your movement. This probably takes additional processing power, as well as space for the hardware into the headset making it heavier.

TLDR; Basically what I'm saying is technology still has a ways of going to make these easier and lighter to use... also, I'm still turned off by the screen resolution and size of the pixels... I have being able to see pixels. This is overcome when you finally get into games, but till then expect to be adjusting the headset in attempts to get it looking as good as you can, just to realize that's as good as it gets.

This all coming from a HTC Vive user, with a GTX 1080 installed in my PC.

Well I hope you are right. Care to place a wager on it?