5 Succes Stories From the VR Industry
The beginning of this decade was marked by stunning inventions, one of which is the VR oculus rift display, which became available on all continents for mass commercialization and use.
What started as a new way of visualizing cinematics and video games, took the events industry by storm, and now we have a whole new branch dedicated to this gadget-based viewing experience. Facebook’s initial vision for VR was far grander than games. It thought cinematic virtual reality would be a breakthrough application, but it turned out that it was a bigger investment than needed.
Before you hurry up and click the “buy” button on the first electronics website you find, let us have a short walk through the 5 most notable moments in the history of the VR industry. These milestones are the first successes it registered as it followed the road to mass usage:
1.Creation of the 1st VR “headset”
In 1968, Ivan E. Sutherland, an American computer scientist, and Internet pioneer, and his student Robert Sproull created the first VR / AR head-mounted display (Sword of Damocles) that was connected to a computer and not a camera. The inventor had many contributions to the domain and this one remains one of the first steps that was taken before ushering the VR.
2. Mass Acces: Introducing VR To The General Public
At the beginning of the ‘90s, in 1991, the Virtuality Group released a series of games and arcade machines bringing VR to the general public. Players would wear a pair of virtual reality goggles and play immersive games in real-time.
3. The 2nd Attempt At Releasing The VR Console
Sega, a Japanese multinational video game developer, and publisher, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, attempted to bring a similar gaming experience to homes with its VR console. The company never released the Sega VR headset accessory because developers were truly worried it was too realistic and users would get hurt. So much care for their customers!
4. 2010: Prototype For The Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset
In 2010, Palmer Luckey, revived the VR industry, by designing a prototype for what would become the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Facebook bought Oculus VR for around $3 billion four years later, in 2014.
There was even a bit of controversy created, just after the first shipment of kits went out via the Kickstarter campaign – there was a lawsuit filed against Facebook and Oculus for taking company secrets out. This prototype constitutes the base for the actual current model, the VR headset that supports an entirely virtual event marketing industry.
5. 2014 – Playstation VR From Sony
Another milestone that was touched in 2014 was the one coming from a big competitor in the tech industry. In 2014 Sony unveiled Project Morpheus, aka PlayStation VR, for the PlayStation 4 video game console. This initiative was welcomed with high enthusiasm by the gaming community.
“Nothing delivers a feeling of immersion better than VR,” said Yoshida, the president of Sony Worldwide Studios, “VR has been a dream of many gamers since the computer was invented. Many of us at PlayStation have dreamed of VR and what it could mean to the gaming community.
In the future, VR headsets will slim down to look more like sunglasses, as they evolve and become available for more and more virtual reality lovers around the globe. The current design is already an advanced version but as with all inventions, there is still room for improvement and customization to match everyone’s preferences.
Final Thoughts
When we look back at how things started and how they evolved in the present, it’s easy to see how far this industry has made it and what it’s useful for. The trends of the future predict that the VR headsets will slim down to look more like sunglasses and that is one thing to look up to. In the meantime, we can all rent or test some models in the IT showrooms.