We ask our industry panel - the brightest and sharpest VR professionals from around the world - one question about the VR industry, business, technology or trending stories every week.
It's the last Focal Point of 2016 and we're already looking forward to next year, so what are your predictions for the VR industry in the next 12 months?
James Morris-Manuel, EMEA Sales Director at Matterport
“VR will become more accessible and integrated into a variety of business sectors and customer households. VR has a vast application and I believe we will start to see the potential of the tech.
“The price point of headsets will decrease as consumer demand increases making it more widely available, from gaming, to e-commerce, to experiencing a property in 3D, headsets will become the norm.
"Demand from consumers will see VR permeate into businesses wanting to utilise VR to increase sales, transparency and efficiency. Outside of gaming, take-up will be quickest in the property sector, where it will become standard to first view a property through VR from the comfort of your own home, with the travel sector closely following suit.
“With increased popularity of VR there will be saturation of the VR market, particularly at lower price points, causing consolidation of companies towards the tail end of 2017.”
Tommy Palm, CEO at Resolution Games
"Just like we said this time last year, VR still has quite a way to go before becoming mainstream - and that's still true. Even though we've made some great headway and proven there is an interest in VR from consumers with better than expected uptake in 2016, 2017 will still be very much about continuing to build the foundation for the true mass adoption to come.
“Most importantly, there's a long way to go to get enough quality content out there before VR is truly ready for mainstream. Beyond that, we'll see some of the larger tech hurdles being overcome, and hopefully prices coming down and processes for setting up systems becoming less complex."
The next two years will be a bloodbath for start-ups.Stephanie Llamas
“The next two years will be a bloodbath for start-ups as the last of the investments dry up. Large corporations will swallow up promising IP like that of the FOVE or Leap Motion, creating healthy competition within the marketplace.
“HTC Vive will launch a second iteration of its first-device, though it won't be untethered (no device will be just yet). PS VR will exceed 1M sales, though the Vive and Oculus combined will not. PS VR will continue to be far and beyond the leading console VR device as Microsoft's third-party devices will disappoint.
“Enterprise will quietly overtake consumer content demand for VR, while Facebook will make Social VR more visible, allowing different approaches from companies like High Fidelity and Altspace VR to showcase ways to interact in new social spaces.
“Google Daydream's device agnostic compatibility, well-designed headset and streamlined controller means 2017 will be the year of Google Daydream.”
Bertie Millis, MD at Virtual Umbrella
“I have some predictions for 2017: Oculus won't appoint a new CEO; leadership will be structured under the Facebook CTO or maybe even directly under Zuckerburg, considering how keen he is for VR.
“Twitter will FINALLY integrate 360 photos and video into its platform. They’ll also background check applicants before hiring another project lead for VR. Lastly, Intel will aquire more of their investment portfolio in efforts to create a wholesome VR proposition.”
2017 will definitely see more sales of high-end sets and a proliferation of mobile untethered HMDs.Jonathan Wagstaff
"Contrary to the over-optimistic predictions for 2016 and VR from some research houses, it was clear from the outset that this year was going to be one of democratised VR (affordable entry-level and high-end technology) with a decent array of launch titles, but not the year of mass adoption.
“Due to the hardware requirements for the Rift and Vive, only those of us who were lucky enough to try the technology in development phase or access it at an event were ready to fork out upwards of $1000. Thanks to cheaper affordable VR headsets many people who never experienced the tech have gained a sense of what it can do and might look at forking out in 2017, particularly given the price-point and hardware requirements of PS VR, not to mentioned highly anticipated AAA games.
“2017 will definitely see more sales of high-end sets and a proliferation of mobile untethered HMDs. I expect to see the first 5k headsets announced, as well as more wireless technology. It should be a very exciting year!"
Dean Johnson, Head of Innovation at Brandwidth
“The next 12 months is when the conversation moves from ‘experts’ to consumers (and mainstream press) and they have real opinions, rather than the inwardly-focused conversation we’ve been having for the last three years.
“The Daily Mail will have a crusade against virtual immigrants, the Sun will champion virtual sport-loving couch potatoes and the top global headline will be about Prince Harry catching eye herpes.
“VR will begin to prove its worth in education. The music business will deliver a killer app and 2017 finally heralds the dawn of the VR sex robot. Happy New Year!”
Finally, I believe we'll see something big for VR coming out of Valve!Oskar Burman
“I'm not expecting any big hardware updates next year, but we'll see the first glimpses of next gen Rift and Vive. We'll see an increased push for PS VR from Sony, once they've sorted out the production issues and startied building up for their second wave of VR games coming.
“Microsoft will enter the market and I expect them to present a lot more that we’ve already seen at GDC. We'll see a bunch of deeper VR games - something the market is really lacking right now. Finally, I believe we'll see something big for VR coming out of Valve!
