In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, former Epic boss Mike Capps compared virtual reality gaming to the downfall of 3D gaming which he think was contributed to the fact that players had to wear the 3D glasses. He thinks virtual reality headsets face the same problem which will be an even bigger hurdle to tackle given their hefty price point.
“There’s so little tolerance at the consumer level for that kind of an investment,” he said. “I think one of the things I’m most curious about – you look at 3DTV as a super easy to use technology that is really unfettered. Just a pair of polarized glasses and people didn’t use it because it wasn’t worth the trouble.
“The content difference was there. 3D Avatar looks way better than non-3D Avatar… If slipping on a pair of flicker glasses, is too much trouble – then the idea of, ‘Ok I’m going to put on my head mount rig and fire up my liquid cooled PC in order to make it happen’ isn’t likely to take off.”
“Any reports of nausea and vomiting and it’s game over in a hurry, as Carmack said in his talk, ‘We ship a bunch of these Gear VRs and have an 80% return rate and everyone’s throwing up and then that’s the end. It’s done. No one’s going to buy it next round.’
“So please, gosh, guys, don’t screw it up. Take all the time you need,” Capps said.
Capps was more interested in augmented reality, saying “just the fact that I could be using [AR] in the room with my kids, I could be keeping an eye on them while I’m playing, like I do when I’m on an Xbox, like I do when I’m on my iPhone.”
“If I slap a headset on, I’m no longer dad. So there’s a huge number of use cases where people cannot afford to shut out the world even though it’s a wonderful way to maximize your entertainment experience.”