I have been a long time fan of VR. Back when the oculus mk1 came out I was running a mac mini and lacked the disposable income to get into the niche world of VR. I saved up and bought an HTC Vive as soon as I could a few years later. Growing up in Ohio I think that the most enchanting facet of VR was the possibility for escape from the endless miles of corn.

It seems that now, a few years later that 2016 was the high point of VR. Many people say that VR failed to live up to it’s expectations but I think that is only half of the story. If we investigate a little bit further I think it might be helpful to put this in terms of supply and demand. At the beginning there was astronomical demand. VR had been so hyped that for many it was seen as the next revolution in gaming. However with such high prices and low fidelity graphics that demand curve was bound to come back down to earth.

Now I believe that we can see that this won’t be a revolution, but rather a slow transition. There is no doubt demand for escaping to the cockpit of a fighter jet, but the demand is not high enough to convince people to go through the hurdles of joining the VR community. I was thinking about this because of the new $300 oculus headset that came out. While the fidelity is abysmal, the product itself is the most low friction VR device yet. It is both cheap and extremely simple to set up. Imaging VR a decade from now I don’t see a way that we wont have a high fidelity and low friction headset. Once that comes I doubt VR will remain “dead”.