14 DAY TRIAL // Games industry analyst Michael Pachter has shared his thoughts about virtual reality gaming and how it's going to be a fad, similar to the Kinect, as there won't be enough games to justify buying an Oculus Rift or a Project Morpheus headset.
Virtual reality has swept the games industry in recent years after the big success of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, and this trend has been validated by the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook and by Sony's prototype Project Morpheus headset.
Even so, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter remains unconvinced of the prospect of virtual reality, at least in terms of gaming, as it could end up having a bigger impact on other industries.
"I think it’s going to be a fad," he told GamingBolt. "I think that no one solved the vesticular motion problem which is where you get disoriented because your eyes are seeing something that the rest of your body isn’t experiencing. I think it’s an interesting concept, don’t get me wrong, and I think Facebook is right, there is potential for it beyond gaming."
"I mean, gaming is a fun reason to buy something, especially a device like Oculus Rift, but the truth is that maybe virtual surgery, or something like Ender’s Game or actually doing anything that way, there’s huge potential beyond gaming, but nothing as far as gaming goes."
Pachter went so far as the draw a parallel to the Kinect motion sensor from Microsoft, saying that the device still isn't taking off due to the limited amount of games made for it.
"Just like there aren’t very many compelling Kinect games, other than maybe sports or dancing, that anyone actually says amount to much, similarly I think there will be a few virtual reality games that will be compelling and great, but a hundred? I doubt it."
The analyst has emphasized that it's hard to develop a game for virtual reality and that, without a large install base of potential consumers, very few developers are willing to make an investment into building games for such headsets.
"It’s hard to develop for, people aren’t going to develop for it unless there’s a large install base, and it’s too much of a niche for a large install base to ever show up without software. So I’d say fad is the right term."
Even with Pachter's disapproval, Oculus is forging ahead thanks to the money from Facebook, and Sony is quite confident in Project Morpheus.