Microsoft fires Mixed Reality Toolkit team and shuts down AltspaceVR – Gaming – News

It remains very chicken / egg for VR.
– There aren’t enough killer apps/games for the consumer to want to jump in.
– Market remains small
– Developers stay away because the market remains too small.
– There are no killer apps/games coming out for VR.
– Consumer stays away, because there is not enough to want to intervene.
– To infinity.

Some devs are trying, with the biggest names (still) Half-Life: Alyx, Resident Evil 7, and Star Wars: Squadrons. But it’s just that there isn’t really a thriving market for VR gaming, and there are tons of small-time games and apps that are fun for a while but are mostly gimmicky (Think of something like VR Arcade, or Blade & Sorcery*)

So the general public stays away, because 350-500eu for VR glasses is a very big price to pay for only a handful of games and only 1 real killer game in HL:A. And developers stay away because it takes more resources to add VR to their game, and so it comes full circle.

The largest market for VR will ultimately remain simulators. As an avid flight and racing-simmer myself, I am very satisfied with my G2. And especially in flight sims you can hardly do without either Track-IR or VR glasses, with how much peripheral vision you need.

But there you also run into the next problem, and that is system resources. I have an RTX3070 + 5600x and it heats up my room when I want to play DCS or ACC in VR, and I have to compromise on graphics for a smooth frame rate. That’s why I see that a lot of players around me are moving away from VR and going back to Track-IR in combination with a thick ultrawide. (better graphics, better frame rate, and still good visibility)

So yes, VR really remains a niche. I’m super happy with it, but when I look at the market I don’t see it growing until a few AAA developers step up to breathe life into this market.

*I recognize that B&S gets a lot of development and is very cool, but it’s not really a game that the general public is particularly eager for.