Imo the move towards standalone headsets is pretty cool. At first they were just alternatives to phone powered VR, but now it seems like they are an evolution of pc vr. Instead of investing a lot of money to create a wireless system that works without issue, why not just move the software to the headset? Then it has the added benefits of working room to room or outside.
These standalone headsets will probably be the big success story over the next three years. Makes VR so accessible and easy to use. It's kinda like magic.
Wired and wireless VR needs to focus on differentiating themselves. Better graphics, cheaper price if you already own a game system, better tracking, better vr quality, lighter headsets, colder headsets, less recharging, better game libraries, and multiscreen social aspects are pretty much the only potential ways these headsets can be better. Steam's VR headset is focusing on being a higher quality VR experience which could work. Other headsets could focus on being really cheap and beat standalone headsets that way.
A hybrid approach could be possible. A standalone headset that either has HDMI in or streaming support could try to cover both categories similarly to the Nintendo Switch. I'm not sure that is the best idea though because it would be very hard to get lots of software to support it. A problem with PC vr games is that a single SKU is designed to support multiple headsets. A hybrid headset would need dedicate ports and essentially not offer any of the benefits of a traditional wired/wireless headset.
Another important element is eye tracking. Right now the industry is really focused on the pros of VR without wires but I imagine eye tracking will quickly be just as valuable. Eye tracking in VR can be used for lots of things. FIrst off it can be cool in software. Many VR games require the player to point their head at things while with eye tracking they just need to look at things. Also can make NPC interactions more personal where the game reacts to eye contact, blinking, and other things like that. From a quality perspective, eye tracking enables foveated rendering. This greatly decreases the amount of pixels that need to be rendered and allows a VR game to have closer graphics quality to a 2D game running on the same hardware. Additionally, eye tracking can potentially be used to really increase the quality of the headset's optics. Bigger fov, less screen door, variable focus, etc. It can be really beneficial for headsets and could show up in the next few years if a manufacturer is interested in it.
I think manufacturers making the cheaper and accessible headsets will succeed. The higher quality ones will be great in a niche market and help next gen accessible headsets have better tech.
It's also kinda a side note, but standalone headsets will probably become the default next next gen. Streaming is incompatible with VR and standalone headsets are the only way the two technologies can coexist. I used to think VR would slow the adoption of streaming but instead it looks like that will not be as big of an issue.
These standalone headsets will probably be the big success story over the next three years. Makes VR so accessible and easy to use. It's kinda like magic.
Wired and wireless VR needs to focus on differentiating themselves. Better graphics, cheaper price if you already own a game system, better tracking, better vr quality, lighter headsets, colder headsets, less recharging, better game libraries, and multiscreen social aspects are pretty much the only potential ways these headsets can be better. Steam's VR headset is focusing on being a higher quality VR experience which could work. Other headsets could focus on being really cheap and beat standalone headsets that way.
A hybrid approach could be possible. A standalone headset that either has HDMI in or streaming support could try to cover both categories similarly to the Nintendo Switch. I'm not sure that is the best idea though because it would be very hard to get lots of software to support it. A problem with PC vr games is that a single SKU is designed to support multiple headsets. A hybrid headset would need dedicate ports and essentially not offer any of the benefits of a traditional wired/wireless headset.
Another important element is eye tracking. Right now the industry is really focused on the pros of VR without wires but I imagine eye tracking will quickly be just as valuable. Eye tracking in VR can be used for lots of things. FIrst off it can be cool in software. Many VR games require the player to point their head at things while with eye tracking they just need to look at things. Also can make NPC interactions more personal where the game reacts to eye contact, blinking, and other things like that. From a quality perspective, eye tracking enables foveated rendering. This greatly decreases the amount of pixels that need to be rendered and allows a VR game to have closer graphics quality to a 2D game running on the same hardware. Additionally, eye tracking can potentially be used to really increase the quality of the headset's optics. Bigger fov, less screen door, variable focus, etc. It can be really beneficial for headsets and could show up in the next few years if a manufacturer is interested in it.
I think manufacturers making the cheaper and accessible headsets will succeed. The higher quality ones will be great in a niche market and help next gen accessible headsets have better tech.
It's also kinda a side note, but standalone headsets will probably become the default next next gen. Streaming is incompatible with VR and standalone headsets are the only way the two technologies can coexist. I used to think VR would slow the adoption of streaming but instead it looks like that will not be as big of an issue.
