Can PlayStation Bring VR Home?

Michael Cable, VR technical director, Framestore

Currently VR is very much an early adopter’s technology, and as such people are willing to go the extra mile to get new hardware and deal with the friction of using a new device. But I think the vast mainstream need an out-of-the-box solution which is something that only the PS VR supplies at the moment. It's definitely going mean more people try VR than before and that can only be a positive thing.

Mostly the challenges now are creative ones. We saw this with mobile phones a decade ago where the initial ideas were replicating desktop experiences (and VR has the potential to be a much bigger innovation than the touchscreen). VR has its own language and we are barely beginning to speak it.

Sol Rogers, founder/CEO, REWIND

The PS VR is going to be instrumental in bringing the concept of ‘true VR’ to the public consciousness. Its greatest strength is that the system runs on a standard PlayStation 4. Suddenly VR could be in 40 million homes worldwide.

Until now, real-time games engine-driven experiences have generally felt out of reach to the general public, as they have required high-end PC systems and a certain level of technical know-how to run correctly. They also require a lot of investment, both financially and in terms of time. At the other end of the scale are mobile operated devices, whilst these bring 360-degree video to the masses they don’t offer full immersion. The arrival of PS VR, finally makes the middle ground accessible and to great effect.

Alex Wills, executive director - Content Studio, R/GA

It's worth being a little cautious talking about VR as the future platform of entertainment, with the introduction of any new medium (radio, TV etc.) it’s tempting to talk it up in this way but like those mediums, VR will carve out its own unique and revolutionary place in the entertainment and broadcast space.

Due to its relatively low price point and already massive global user base, Sony only need to convert a fraction of these users to have a seismic effect on the amount of people able to experience full (positionally-tracked) VR in their homes.

The lack of quality, widespread and innovative content across current VR platforms is a cause for concern among the industry and represents the classic chicken and egg scenario, but once Sony establish a sizable, global audience and connected ecosystem then the amount of quality content and experiences should grow exponentially have a halo effect across all platforms.

It’s hard to completely see how this medium will develop in the long term future but one of the best places to go to get a glimpse is in sci-fi; books like Ready Player One, Neuromancer and Snow Crash all contain detailed examples of the possibilities and it’s no coincidence that Neil Stevenson (author of Snow Crash) is now chief futurist for Magic Leap.

I think one of the biggest challenges is trying not to use existing practices, ideas, language and approaches from current mediums (film, TV etc.) for what is in essence an entirely new medium. Too many developers are defaulting to what they know or what has been developed for other mediums and this is always going to result in sub-par experiences.

Luke Ritchie, head of Nexus Interactive Arts, Nexus Productions

VR has a future as a platform just like our mobile or television does. Let's not presume we'll all be wearing some sort of headset or contact lens, it will be a very relevant and integrated part of some of our digital lives but as each industry adopts new hardware in different ways. I expect VR to simply be more useful in one arena than another.

In advertising we'll be using it as a storytelling platform (and I suspect mobile VR will be the biggest for us) just like we use websites, television or installation/live experiences - but in the short term it is technology/platform of choice until then next big thing comes along.