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This is 100% anecdotal and I'm sure other people have different experiences and ultimately it may not be directly relevant to the fact being pointed out in this

This is 100% anecdotal and I'm sure other people have different experiences and ultimately it may not be directly relevant to the fact being pointed out in this linked tweet, but... As a gamer with a lot of gamer friends (split among PC & console, though more console than PC, I play on both) I know quite a few people (close to 10) who bought both VR headsets (some Oculus, some not) and Xbox Series Xs over the past year and a half. Every single person I know including myself used the VR headset a lot for about 2 weeks and then barely touched it except for occasionally pulling it out to show friends/family. Meanwhile we all play games on the Xbox nearly nightly. I love a good VR game but it just feels like though the headset hardware is pretty close to "there" that its still really difficult to deliver good experiences in a flexible way due to input/tactile feedback (or lack thereof) concerns. So most people that try out VR will play a lot of beat saber, tool around with a shooter like Arizona Sunshine, and then go back to playing traditional non-VR games.

innocentoldguy 5y ago
This is exactly what I did with my Playstation VR a few years ago. I played it for a couple of weeks and then only turned it on to show friends and family. Today, though, I only play games on my Quest 2 and Valve Index. I don't even own a console anymore. Admittedly, this is partially due to console availability issues, but now that I've been using my VR systems for almost a year, I find I'm not really motivated to buy a console. Maybe this is just a case of "settling" because neither the Playstation or Xbox systems are readily available. I'm not sure. Perhaps I'll feel differently when I can actually go to the store and impulse-buy a console, but for now, I'm content with VR.
throwanem 5y ago
Most gamers who try VR will do that, sure. They do like their comfort zone. Most people, though? That's a different question. Who ever said VR was, or even should be, for people who identify as "gamers"? It's a wholly different interaction style, and there's no obvious reason why anyone should expect "gamer" games already highly optimized for their existing platforms to fit it. Aiming a gun precisely in VR is a pain in the ass, but you just can't do anything that feels like Beat Saber anywhere else. Too, the "gamer"-identified market is both deeply saturated and extremely whiny, typically demanding an endless stream of trivial iterations on existing franchises while broadly spurning on this ground alone anything that dares to attempt novelty. EA and Ubisoft are exactly what the "gamer"-identifying market deserves, and also the world leaders in being EA and Ubisoft. Try to disrupt that and you just rehash Windows phones vs. Apple and Android. And, in both cases, why should this be something you want? Look at the Wii, which had no more use for "gamers" than they had for it, and profited handsomely by that disdain. If I were trying to get a VR studio off the ground, that's the kind of lightning I'd be chasing - try to win by doing something new, and happily leave the "gamer"-identifying niche to the more-of-the-same it so loudly insists upon.
plutonorm 5y ago
This is true of most consumer electronics. As another anecdote - I haven't played computer games for 15 years, but the Quest 2 is a complete game changer, the level of immersion breathes real life into games. I now play 1-2 hours a day, every day and have done for nearly a year.
2-718-281-828 5y ago
I'm pretty sure the reason is that VR is not just regular games but in 3D. Instead the games have to be different in many aspects. Most people cannot play with those goggles for longer than half an hour. You have to address that. Also rendering 3D with comutation constrained to what's in the goggles is placing serious limits compared to rendering (3D projected onto) 2D using a much heavier hardware requires game development to rethink the entire design of a game.

innocentoldguy 5y ago

This is exactly what I did with my Playstation VR a few years ago. I played it for a couple of weeks and then only turned it on to show friends and family. Today, though, I only play games on my Quest 2 and Valve Index. I don't even own a console anymore. Admittedly, this is partially due to console availability issues, but now that I've been using my VR systems for almost a year, I find I'm not really motivated to buy a console. Maybe this is just a case of "settling" because neither the Playstation or Xbox systems are readily available. I'm not sure. Perhaps I'll feel differently when I can actually go to the store and impulse-buy a console, but for now, I'm content with VR.

throwanem 5y ago

Most gamers who try VR will do that, sure. They do like their comfort zone. Most people, though? That's a different question. Who ever said VR was, or even should be, for people who identify as "gamers"? It's a wholly different interaction style, and there's no obvious reason why anyone should expect "gamer" games already highly optimized for their existing platforms to fit it. Aiming a gun precisely in VR is a pain in the ass, but you just can't do anything that feels like Beat Saber anywhere else. Too, the "gamer"-identified market is both deeply saturated and extremely whiny, typically demanding an endless stream of trivial iterations on existing franchises while broadly spurning on this ground alone anything that dares to attempt novelty. EA and Ubisoft are exactly what the "gamer"-identifying market deserves, and also the world leaders in being EA and Ubisoft. Try to disrupt that and you just rehash Windows phones vs. Apple and Android. And, in both cases, why should this be something you want? Look at the Wii, which had no more use for "gamers" than they had for it, and profited handsomely by that disdain. If I were trying to get a VR studio off the ground, that's the kind of lightning I'd be chasing - try to win by doing something new, and happily leave the "gamer"-identifying niche to the more-of-the-same it so loudly insists upon.

plutonorm 5y ago

This is true of most consumer electronics. As another anecdote - I haven't played computer games for 15 years, but the Quest 2 is a complete game changer, the level of immersion breathes real life into games. I now play 1-2 hours a day, every day and have done for nearly a year.

2-718-281-828 5y ago

I'm pretty sure the reason is that VR is not just regular games but in 3D. Instead the games have to be different in many aspects. Most people cannot play with those goggles for longer than half an hour. You have to address that. Also rendering 3D with comutation constrained to what's in the goggles is placing serious limits compared to rendering (3D projected onto) 2D using a much heavier hardware requires game development to rethink the entire design of a game.