Virtual reality is spreading its wings to transform our interaction with the world around us, whether in the education sector, healthcare, consumer market, or gaming world. However, as the technology is new in the market, several issues, such as privacy and security of data, cost, health issues, user experience, and cultural barriers, need to be addressed to give a significant boost to the growth of the virtual reality market.
Brief Overview of the Virtual Reality Market
Apple is currently leading the virtual reality industry with its advanced hardware, software, and content, which is available through Vision Pro, launched in February 2024.
However, Apple is not the only one in the race, the virtual reality market is continuously touching different major industries including education, remote therapy and health department, engineering and manufacturing areas for 3D models, and planning of different productions.
Statistical Details of the Virtual Reality Market
According to ABI Research’s updated statistical analysis, the VR market lies at $16.6 billion in 2023 based on its software, hardware, and other services in the market. These VR hardware and software include devices like VR head-mounted displays (HMD), such as Meta Quest Pro and other products like Apple’s Vision Pro.
Moreover, economic analysts expect to see a significant overtake of VR in the education sector leaving the consumer market behind with a shining opportunity of $17.3 billion in revenue in 4 years.
The reason is that the consumer market is limited to games, whereas the education sector has a wide range of applications for virtual reality. With this continuity of growth, analysis anticipates that the education sector will be the biggest revenue generator with US $62 billion by 2030.
The virtual reality market is prone to growing as the world focuses more closely on developing the metaverse, which could lead to virtual offices, virtual training, and VR retail.
However, several factors that need to be countered first affect the VR market’s growth, which we will discuss further in the following sections.
Different Factors Affecting the Growth of the Virtual Reality Market
Virtual reality can revolutionize various industries with its widespread applications in entertainment, education, healthcare, and manufacturing areas. Despite its huge potential, several problems are blocking the growth of the virtual reality market on a mass level.
Let’s explore these key factors and strategies to overcome these issues.
1. Cost Related Issues
One of the biggest hurdles in adopting VR at a mass level is the initial investment by the users. This cost can be further divided into two areas as given below:
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Required Large Investment
Initially, the user requires a large amount to purchase expensive VR hardware and software, including VR headsets, glasses, controllers, and other associated hardware, to get an immersive experience while interacting with virtual reality. No wonder it is not possible for everyone to afford this expensive technology, especially people from developing countries.
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Additional Cost for Software and Accessories
Other than the initial purchase, consumers may need to spend a lot on additional software and accessories to enhance the user experience and fully utilize VR technology. Similarly, the user must have a high-power processing computer to streamline the VR software and hardware and get it working.
The cost of VR is high as the phenomenon is new in the market, but like other technologies, such as Oculus, the purchase price is likely to be reduced with time. Similarly, cloud space can also sort out high-power computing and processing needs.
2. Technical Challenges
Modern technology is still evolving, so there are inherent limitations to building seamless and highly advanced VR hardware. Moreover, VR requires experts to create complex programs and devices to support an enhanced user experience with virtual reality.
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Less User Interaction due to Hardware Limitations
Due to hardware limitations, consumers are not able to fully enjoy flawless user interaction. These technical limitations and the need to deal with a complex 2D graphical representation are frustrating for consumers, leading to a lack of consumer interest in VR technology in the market.
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Resolution, Latency, and Motion Sickness Challenges
Several other challenges the consumer may face include limited resolutions, latency issues, and motion sickness. The latency issue is one of the biggest reasons behind the lack of user interest. It occurs when the consumer moves his head and the headset does not change the display around immediately, resulting in a significant delay. Consequently, the user’s brain rejects the virtual world around him.
To counter these issues, significant innovation in hardware with enhanced capacity, resolution, and optimized designs is needed. Moreover, advancements in software are also required for a seamless VR experience.
3. Health Related Concerns
Researchers also state that VR has the potential to cause several health problems that can impact the growth of the virtual reality market to a great extent.
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Medical Issues Due to Prolonged VR Use
Consumers may face several medical issues due to prolonged use of VR as they can lose track of reality. It can cause nausea, motion sickness, neck and shoulder pain, and muscle fatigue for VR consumers.
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Eye Strain and Other Issues
Similarly, VR can also cause several eye problems including eye strain and headache.
Speaking of health issues, research is still underway to determine the right causes and solutions to these problems. However, reducing the amount of radiation reaching the human eyes while interacting with virtual reality can limit the chances of eye problems.
4. Lack of Social Acceptance
Social acceptance is another reason behind virtual reality’s limited adoption in the global market. Some people also believe that VR has the potential to isolate its consumers from the rest of society and create a space between the real and virtual worlds, which is not good for personal interaction.
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Presence of Stigma and Skepticism
The use of VR is limited because of the social stigma that it can disturb the social and physical relationships of human society. This may lead the consumers towards less social interaction and addiction further leading to several mental health issues.
Proper education and training for consumers about the healthy use of VR are needed to protect society from these problems. Moreover, this healthy awareness will also outshine the advantages of VR and develop consumer interest in it, which is good for the virtual reality market.
5. Concerns Related to Regulatory and Legal Consideration
There are several legal and privacy issues that are related to the use of VR including the sharing and storing of the personal data of any consumer. As technology evolves, hackers can attack the system to steal important information.
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Need for Updates in Regulatory
It is important to update the rules and regulations concerning cyber security and data privacy to protect the private information of consumers or other data while interacting with virtual reality. Therefore, policymakers must add new rules and spread awareness about the updated regulations in society.
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Changes in Safety Standards and Data Privacy
Similarly, safety standards from software development companies and the hardware industry must also be updated according to the needs of technology, so the device or software can counter any potential cyber attack. These advancements will enhance consumer confidence in VR technology which is good for its marketing.
6. Market Fragmentation
There is already a huge competition in the market among manufacturers of hardware and other devices, software developers, and content creators. On the other hand, VR is new in the industry and faces several issues in competing for dominance due to market fragmentation.
This fragmentation leads to slow virtual reality market growth which can be countered by facilitating the mass adoption of VR with enhanced user experience and a standardized VR ecosystem, which is affordable for a large community.
7. Cultural Issues
Applying VR technology to cross-cultures and different regions of the world is also a huge hurdle to overcome for increased growth of the virtual reality market. As you know, people from different regions have limited knowledge of technology and show less interest in using advanced equipment due to cultural barriers.
However, to overcome the cultural barriers, it is essential to create VR experiences for diverse audiences and spread awareness and education about VR’s use in different areas of the world. Moreover, developers and companies must also consider cultural sensitivity during content creation as it can bridge the gap between cultural issues and VR adoption globally.
8. Presence of Alternative Technologies
VR is not just facing market competition from other manufacturers and developers; other emerging technologies are also giving the virtual reality market a hard time. These alternative technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR), offer different advantages and unique usability opportunities for efficient user experience in the virtual world.
However, by developing collaboration and integration between VR and these technologies, developers can drive broader innovation which can kick the growth of the VR market to the next level.
Conclusion
Virtual reality has extensive potential to transform our daily lives with its immersive technology and enhanced user experience. However, to build a healthy environment for everyone, it is essential to address all the dangers or problems that it can potentially create. Moreover, reducing risks and issues will also enhance the chances of growth for the virtual reality market. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize collaboration between different industries, manufacturers, developers, and policymakers to clear the path toward an inclusive future powered by virtual reality.
