Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is a fan of new technology and the experiences they can offer, but he says that he is still on the fence about virtual reality and gaming. Reggie tweeted an infographic about gaming and virtual reality and commented by saying that virtual reality in video games will continue to remain a niche market until there is that “must play” experience that brings in the crowds and the cash. Sony has recently released its PlayStation VR2 platform and although it has received promising reviews, it doesn’t seem to have that key title that will bring VR to the mainstream.
Reggie still believes gaming VR is a niche market as no must play experiences
No must play experience, obviously hasn’t played “Mega Dimension Neptunia VIIR” Maybe they can make a VR Final Fantasy 7 title that would bring it to the mainstream, everyones always on that hype train. PSVR2 $400 and no exclusive must play titles!
Psvr2 is a gimmick. Who even wants to play with a wired headset that doesnt even have a buildin speakers. Limited to play on what will be released for a ps5 console.
Dont waste your money on psvr2 gimmick which is $600 (double of quest2) while quest3 with mixed reality (next big thing) and wireless play (airlink or native) and play any vr game (steam, oculus, sidequest, vr pr) comes out.
Idk about it having any must plays, but I’m not going to spend $500 for something I don’t hear people talking about on a yearly basis. With that money I’m going to buy a steam deck, but I still have to play more of my backlog before getting one.
Steam Deck is an entry level gaming PC for those who don’t wanna spend a lot of money on powerful gaming laptops or building/buying a PC.
On subject, i do agree with Reggie. also i don’t think Megadimension Neptunia VIIR is something the filthy casuals will wanna play, i do but not dem console peasants.
As I see it, the main problem with VR is still the inconvenience. I find the technology super fascinating, and it is able to deliver a lot of experiences that regular games can’t. However, putting on the headset still is super inconvenient, and it isolates you from everyone else, so it’s not a very social experience. Regular video games are just the more convenient option, especially if you only find little time to play. So I still see VR as just an alternative to regular games.
From a business standpoint hes correct. From a gamer standpoint there’s plenty of good experiences and growing. VR just doesn’t have the mass market appeal yet because it’s too expensive and bulky, the barrier to entry is too high. Samsung vr tried for a while but the experiences were pretty subpar. It’s still got a long way to go but the tech will only get better.
The term ‘Must Play’ is really the wrong phrase to use in this argument. No games are truly ‘must play’ it all comes down to your own personal preference. Some people would say that something like Elden Ring is ‘must play’ but for me personally that’s not the experience I’m after when playing a game. Some people don’t like playing games at all, so why would any of them view anything as ‘must play’?
With VR I think the main sticking point is the cost of the hardware, you’re basically shelling out double to play a VR game (cost of the console/PC & cost of the VR unit). Many people find the costs of new consoles daunting, and will wait well into a console’s life-span to purchase one once the price has come down. A decent enough PC to run VR games won’t come cheap either.
Until the costs of the hardware are more welcoming then VR won’t get the sales. That being said, new tech very rarely gets massive sales immediately. Look at games consoles in general – go back an look at the sales in the 20 years pre-PS1 and you won’t even find a handful that sold over 50m, compared to the regular 80m+ in the generations of the 20 years(ish) since.
But like I said, since VR is an additional peripheral to video games, it’s not going to become 50% of the market. Plus does that chart include mobile games as part of it? which is about 50% of video games on it’s own…I think the chart doesn’t tell the whole story.
I agree. It’s like cloud gaming or even the 3D effect on the 3DS. It’s just not going to stick with the majority of people.
Which is quite a bummer, IMO, because unlike VR, the 3D effect on the 3DS was quite simple and convenient. It didn’t require any extra effort, except for holding the sweet spot (which was a problem the New 3DS solved). I loved it a lot and think it added quite a bit to games, but unfortunately the broad masses didn’t agree, so it was ultimately a short-lived gimmick.
I guess if nothing else, this makes the 3DS quite fun to go back to. The 3D effect in some of those games still manages to impess me when when I pick it up again after a long time.
I always figured Nintendo refused to adapt VR because of the age restriction that VR has, and how half of Nintendo’s base is children. It’s perfect for Sony and all it’s dude bros, but VR is terrible for the developing eyes in children.
Half of Nintendo’s base is children? No, they are mostly people who were children in the 80s, 90s, and 00s.
Ok I shouldn’t have said children, but from the graph they showed us last time, a 3rd was children 18 and under, and the rest was everyone from 19 to 60 years old. But even then, that’s a huge chunk of your fanbase to ignore with something that’s still a gimmick.
If Reggie wants to see VR be a thing on consoles including Nintendo consoles, then that can possibly change the face of gaming if they are interested. Besides the 3DS was quite almost like a VR too me when I played that face rider game since it has that 3D depth slider on the side which impress me a lot in that era.
Pffff… He says so because he can’t afford PSVR2.
As one who has VR, I can see the crazy potential. Games like Half Life Alex gives me hope and experiences like Accounting + and Job Simulator really show us the potential of an immersive experience. I agree its still only a niche audience that plays VR games even with the Oculus making it fairly affordable and PlayStation pushing some of its big IPs into VR experiences. But I do think its only a matter of time before the technology improves enough and becomes affordable enough to reach a wider audience.
I still say VR is the new 3d tv, motion controls, cloud gaming, etc. It might make waves at some point, but in general, it’s trying to sell itself too hard to a general public that doesn’t have much interest beyond a curiosity. People have their faces buried too much in phones as it is, why would you want to strap one of these things on your head too? Besides, nintendo already got burned with headsets with the virtual boy. But on the other hand Reggie never did give the ok for localizing Mother 3, so…