A new study by Juniper Research, an analytics provider to the hi-tech communications sector, forecasting the virtual reality market until 2021, suggests the technology will attract high interest from FEC and arcade customers.
The paper was written by James Moar, senior analyst at Juniper Research. He said: “For more immersive experiences the technology is going to be more expensive and a business could absorb that cost and offer quality VR, where as home gaming, while more affordable, won’t be able to offer as much.”
He expects the games to become more advanced very quickly as the technology grows in popularity. “We’re going to see a lot more collaborative co-op gaming, incorporating treadmills and things like this.”
Universal Space recently announced its new VR game Omni Arena, which incorporates a platform on which players can “run” while wearing shoes that slide on its surface with the player remaining stationary.
However, Moar said that as people will be familiar with the technology – Playstation has already launched its own VR home-gaming system – customers will be unlikely to spend large amounts to use the facilities.
“We are going to start seeing VR in a lot more arcades and theme parks and the cost shouldn’t be too high because people are already familiar with the concept from home gaming and probably won’t be willing to pay £60 or £70 a go,” he said.
As well as gaming, Moar believes tours are going to become more prominent at parks and FECs. “These are going to be short add-ons as part of larger events, we don’t foresee people immersed for hours and hours for quite a while.”
