The recent launches of headsets including the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR suggest that virtual reality is the next big thing in tech – but Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, isn’t convinced that the technology is close to gaining mass appeal… yet.
In an interview with Stevivor, Spencer said that he thought well of “the technology behind VR”, but admitted: “I don’t think the creators in the game space have yet found – well, they haven’t obviously perfected the craft of building VR games”. He added: “It’s so early, I think we’re a couple of years before we’ll really see that hit mainstream.”
Nonetheless, Microsoft is clearly planning ahead for the future. Opining that “VR will find its spot in gaming; I would make that bet”, he pointed out that Scorpio, the significantly beefed-up version of the Xbox One due for release next year, was designed to be VR-capable.
He said that delivering “a long term engagement” for gamers remained a challenge for purveyors of virtual reality games, adding: “Most of these things I’m playing now feel like demos and experiments, which I actually think it’s absolutely the right thing to have happened. That’s not a criticism at all, but should be happening. But I think it will take time.”
The PlayStation VR, pictured above and released last month, has been critically acclaimed, but it remains to be seen whether this will translate into major commercial success.