Last year was so VR is so next year. This year is so VR is so fail. Take this Re/Code article with the attention grabbing headline of “VR Is Still Not Ready For Primetime”. In the article, the author (who I enjoy reading, btw) posits that VR is only ready for niche consumer adoption. The argument goes like this: VR in the 90s was a joke (true) because the tech was shit (true). VR in the teens is a joke because, while the tech is great, it is only for nerds for a host of reasons (content, cost, image, etc). These two arguments are apples and oranges.
My issue with the clickbaity article boils down to how we define “Prime Time”. The article defines Prime Time as 300 million devices. Well, okay, if that’s the definition of Prime Time then I guess microwaves aren’t prime time yet. VR is going to happen. It’s going to be “big”. It probably will never be 300 million big (roughly 2 per US household), but it will be at least 20 million big within 10 years in the US alone. That seems like prime time to me.