EVE online CEO: “We expected VR to be 2-3 times as big as it was”

[Axisofweevils]

Late last year CCP announced that they were shutting down all of their VR projects: a decree that was so explosive that they actually closed down their Atlanta and UK offices. According to a statement at the time, "the EVE Online development team was not impacted at all" but the ordeal clearly impacted the company as a whole.

This week I spoke to CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson about where VR already went and where it was going at EVE Vegas.

Pétursson begins with a staggering statistic: "we expected VR to be two to three times as big as it was, period," he muses. "You can't build a business on that." There is a new hope though, as Pétursson mentions the Oculus Quest as a potential savior in multiple ways. It's something we both agree on. While I'm no soothsayer and have no idea of the mass market will actually take to it, the six degrees of freedom and tether-free VR experience is vastly different than the generation we're in currently. Just popping on the headset and walking around a room with a baked-in gaming PC is going to be night and day compared to what's on offer now.

If that era of resplendence comes, Pétursson and his company aren't going to necessarily jump back in right away. "If it does take off, and I mean if, we'll re-assess. The important thing is we need to see the metrics for active users of VR. A lot of people bought headsets just to try it out. How many of those people are active? We found that in terms of our data, a lot of users weren't."

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https://www.destructoid.com/eve-onl...to-three-times-as-big-as-it-was--527858.phtml

 

[Noodle]

Soz.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/cc...udio-you-cant-build-a-business-on-that.76296/

 

[Godzilla24]

I'm seeing more and more articles like this recently. What's going on with VR?

 

[ResilientBanana]

I'm seeing more and more articles like this recently. What's going on with VR?

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It needs to be cheaper. The average user doesn't want to drop $1,500 - $2,000 on a PC or $400 on a PS4 then have to spend another $300 - $600 on the gear, then there is setup time.

 

[no1]

I'm seeing more and more articles like this recently. What's going on with VR?

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Too many companies dumped cash into these games because they expected it to blow up sorta like the switch.

But that's not going to happen till it's completely mainstream. Nothing is really going on with VR we are prepping for a new gen of devices from Oculus and Vive is silent atm.


Basically wait for the Oculus Quest

 

[VallenValiant]

I'm seeing more and more articles like this recently. What's going on with VR?

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Nothing unusual. You might as well ask why mobile phones didn't make it big in the 1980's. It works, it is just expensive.

 

[Fisty]

Why would you think that lol. Their VR games didn't offer much from what I experienced. Lots of microtransactions though!

Like any new technology, you make something with legs that gets people to pick it up even if they buy the hardware 5 years late.

 

[Cyanity]

Sounds like a bunch of companies threw way too much money into VR development in the hopes that it would instantly take off. All despite the fact that most people KNEW VR would take years to reach the price point and ease-of-use required for mainstream adoption.

 

[Iwao]

I'm seeing more and more articles like this recently. What's going on with VR?

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It's a growing medium with continued investment from the major players, but still a large amount of apprehension from devs. You have to design games by throwing out the old rulebook, and that's risky with a relatively low install base. Lots is happening with it currently, but it will be a while until it reaches a point where it's viable for the mass market.

Edit: i thought I recognised that username... ugh why did I entertain you again? you bumped another negative VR thread with a useless comment that got a mod warning for being a low-effort drive-by post. Now is basically, the same comment in a new thread with the exact same intent. Real shame.

I didn't want to create a new thread so I decided to just bump this up. What ever happend to VR.

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[gozu]

I'm seeing more and more articles like this recently. What's going on with VR?

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Headsets need to be lighter and more comfortable, and wirelessly communicate with your beefy GPU, and the images need to be sharper.

The tech is simply not ready for mass adoption until those 3 things happen.

The foundations are solid though. VR is definitely the future.

 

[Reinhard]

VR failed to catch on because of the massive hardware limitations in both standalone and tethered experiences right now. In addition, there isn't a huge audience so developers aren't going to make AAA experiences other than a few from Oculus Studios and Sony. VR is something people are wowed by the first week they own, then slowly over time realize it isn't really ready for prime time and then sell it a few months later because it mostly is collecting dust. With PSVR, you pretty much needed a Pro or the graphics were especially subpar, there were 10 billion wires and V1 didn't even support HDR, the Move controllers are one of the worst ways to experience VR, but there was an advantage of no God Rays and being very comfortable to wear. Rift and Vive had far better controllers and graphics, but they require very expensive PCs, have screen door effect and annoying God Rays. Neither PC or Sony was and ideal way to experience VR, and the standalone headsets are an absolute joke until Oculus Quest and the Vive one currently only in China.