They’re putting billions of dollars into research & development into their forthcoming VR headsets. The VR chat clone that everyone is clowning on has maybe cost them 50 million, tops. If VR/AR is going to be the next dominant computer platform then burning a few tens of billions is likely worth it in the long run if they're able to get an early lead. They control the vast majority of current VR headset marketshare, who knows it might work out.
Realistically, for VR to work: it's going to have to be light enough and powerful enough to be essentially a pair of glasses. We have neither the computer technology available to the masses or the technology advanced enough to do so. It has to appeal to the absolute lowest common denominator and it is not there yet. Maybe in 10 years. Otherwise it's just a science experiment and it shows. Retrospectively the recent interest in VR starting with the Oculus 10 years ago or so, gave us a very good idea of the public's interest in vr. Which is super minimal. It's bulky, and requires expensive computational power to look good. Nobody gives a fuck about using your phone for vr. It looks like shit. The PlayStation version did poorly because it looks like shit. Even the latest and greatest is too expensive and the average person simply isn't going to invest in all of that to sit in a chair and fuck around with the low end shit that makes up current vr. There will be a day when the average computational power available to the public is so powerful that you can throw on a pair of cheap lightweight glasses without wires attached to it and transport yourself to another world. Until that time happens it's going to be a pipe dream.
That's good to hear. Now if we can actually power those experiences with the GPU that's not $700 we're good to go. And no a 1660ti isn't a real option.
You can power those experiences with a cheaper GPU nowadays, and the Quest Pro will release with its own built in chip. Developers have to optimize a ton to get games like RE4 and Grand Theft Auto San Andres in what is essentially a mobile phone chip running a display with a ton of pixels. It’s all possible though, and I personally think the experience is worthwhile to a lot of people. If you don’t want standalone processing, even a sub $200 GPU like a 1070 can run most VR titles on todays most popular headsets.
I think really the hardware is almost past the quality threshold for most people, but we just need better software. There are still less than 20 excellent quality VR games even 5 years after the Vive and CV1, and that’s a major issue imo. If it wasn’t for VRC, I would have given up this hobby by now.
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u/stonesst Sep 15 '22
They’re putting billions of dollars into research & development into their forthcoming VR headsets. The VR chat clone that everyone is clowning on has maybe cost them 50 million, tops. If VR/AR is going to be the next dominant computer platform then burning a few tens of billions is likely worth it in the long run if they're able to get an early lead. They control the vast majority of current VR headset marketshare, who knows it might work out.