Wow, who could have guessed this when Facebook purchased Oculus
I mean, it makes sense in a lot of ways:
1. VR is amazing, but not perfect...yet. They've cracked the code with the Oculus & even moreso with the Vive & the infrared Lighthouses. Another generation or two & the wireless transmission systems will be perfect. Graphics horsepower needs to grow in leaps & bounds to support. They need to get to Retina-level screens so that you can't see the pixels. The upcoming Quest's system of wide-angle radars with no Lighthouses is going to be some amazing first-gen wireless 6DOF technology.
2. But, the market isn't huge. It's expensive right now. The code is cracked, but the resolution & pixelization leave a lot to be desired.
3. 6DOF is where it's at. I have a 3DOF Oculus Go & it's just not nearly as fun as the Vive is.
4. Most people don't really want to wear a headset. Most people access Facebook on their phones. Others use a laptop, and some use a desktop. If they can figure out a slim headset with a long battery life with AR features & fix the resolution problems, then yeah,
maybe it will take off, but you also need a whole ecosystem in the same vein as Ready Player One for people to really dive into. If they can combine that with like, the Sims, then that'd be a promising start.
I don't want to see VR fail, but HTC is having a rough go at things financially, Facebook isn't really pushing progress, Pimax is working enhancements as best they can, and only a few developers have really committed to making amazing, wonderful games for VR. I think VR has huge potential for entertainment, for training, and especially for more-fun exercise, but like in the case of Virzoom (VR bike), they only sold like 2,000 of them, ran out of money, and had to go get funding to do gym bike VR systems to keep going.
What VR needs is a huge cash infusion to push the hardware & to get some "killer app" games developed. I know Valve is working on a few games; if they release HL3 in VR, like specifically tuned for VR where you HAVE to get it, then it will explode. But it's the same problem with the Nintendo Wii...a super revolutionary controls system that could still be developed to this day, but after just a handful of amazing games, they up & quit. imo, Nintendo should have fostered a triple-A game release every month for 24 month to keep the interest alive...instead, nobody had anything to look forward to, and the Wii U was even worse off.
The Switch is proving to be successful, but not because of the Wiimote-style controllers, rather because of the portability. Same thing for the Xbox Kinect...I have Just Dance, Shape Up, and that's probably about it. That could have been a huuuuuuge platform if they kept developing it, but it's dead - they quit making the Kinect at all, which is sad because it's a really amazing platform!
So while I think Facebook should really take the lead on VR, especially with how much money they could throw at it, I understand why they're going the route they're going. I just hope VR makes it through the sophomore slump...when you play games like Lone Echo or QuiVR or Jet Island, you can see so much amazing potential in the platform, potentially that is largely being wasted right now.