Are you eager to find out about the future of VR? Virtual Reality has progressed to the extent that it sometimes becomes a hassle to set apart the actual reality from the virtual one. But what is unique about VR that reality lacks?
Well, you can use VR technologies to immerse yourself in a different reality. Maybe a more adventurous one? The whole purpose of VR is to make your mind float away and conduct trainings — for example, a training course for beginning pilots. Or maybe you need a more gripping gaming experience? VR has your back.
VR has come a long way and continues to grow exponentially as technologies advance day by day. In the future, VR will be even more accessible to the public. From what we’ve seen so far, in the next decade, VR can offer you a more immersive and impactful experience, unlike anything we have seen to date.
In this article, we’ll talk about the evolution of VR and future VR trends. We’ll also discuss the challenges startups face today in the sector. So, let’s dive right in and start by exploring the evolution of VR.
Evolution of VR
The history of VR dates as far back as the 1830s when Charles Wheatstone first introduced the stereopsis. And now, almost 200 years after the first models were introduced, a lot has changed. VR has grown over time and does not cease to grow.
More than a century after the advent of stereopsis, Milwaukee introduced the first interactive VR platform — VIDEOPLACE in 1975. It employed computer graphics, projectors, and video cameras so users could see their computer-generated silhouettes.
Only a decade after in 1985, Jaron Lanier and Thomas Zimmerman created the first-ever VR goggles and gloves. Four years after that, Crystal River Engineering Inc. developed a VR training simulator for astronauts. And now in 2023, Apple formally announced its entry into the VR sector.
Apple’s mixed-reality headset, Apple Vision Pro, is sure to make you leave the reality behind and immerse yourself in a different one. Now, let’s talk a little about the current state of VR.
Understanding the Current State of VR
Over the last decade, VR has undoubtedly taken off. More than 170 million people today use virtual reality for different purposes — entertainment, training, and so on. Architects can visualize buildings, astronauts can undergo space missions, and beginning pilots can fly a plane without actually doing so in the real world.
Also, VR headsets are now more affordable, comfortable, and technologically advanced. The use of virtual reality has also expanded in 2023, especially in gaming, health, education, tourism, and so forth. Only recently has Apple released its first batch of Apple Vision Pro and many people are already obsessed with the headset.
It blends digital content and apps into your physical space, allowing you to navigate with your eyes, hands, and voice. This is a significant breakthrough in the VR industry. It gives a glimpse into what the future of VR may bring forth — and it is mindblowing.
Future Trends in VR
VR trends in the future are certain to amaze you with their features. The future of VR will bring us even more enhanced immersive and sensory experiences and Apple Vision Pro’s features are just the beginning.
VR is entering a new phase in advancement which will affect many industries such as healthcare, education, and aviation, providing workers with effective training before taking on their tasks in the real world.
We also predict that the business world will start adopting VR for a wide range of purposes — from employee training to prototyping. Now let’s take a look at these VR trends in more depth.
Social VR Experience
One of the definite changes the future of VR will bring forth is enhanced social interaction. From what we have seen, virtual reality trends suggest that we’ll see even more interactive social VR platforms that will help users collaborate on various projects, share experiences, and build communities and connections.
These social VR experiences are advancing and becoming more immersive every year. You might even find more comfort in the virtual world, as the future of VR might allow you to hang out with your friends and family who are physically far away from you. It is even scary to think that virtual hangouts may substitute real, face-to-face interaction.
Immersive Learning and Training
You may not be surprised that one of the major focuses of future VR trends is education and employee training, as it is already very prominent today.
VR plays a crucial role in training new employees in various industries. For example, pilots undergo vigorous VR training before fastening their seat belts in a real plane.
Many doctors undergo surgical training before performing responsible and extremely dangerous tasks on people. So, it’s clear that the future of VR is not only focused on delivering immersive gaming experiences, it also aims to better professionals’ skills as well.
That being said, what can the future of VR do for students at schools and universities?
With this rapid progress in the VR industry, the future of VR technology may allow students unorthodox learning experiences. What I mean by that is there might not be lengthy and dull readings about history, as students will witness the events by going back in time with their VR headsets.
This might make the learning experience much more productive and memorable — that will stick with you in the long run. Let’s be honest, most people don’t remember 50% of what they read in textbooks a day or two later.
It is simply not practical, and future VR trends may help us overcome this challenge and make the overall learning experience much more fun and valuable. And this does not apply only to history, but all the other school subjects as well.
Healthcare and Therapeutic VR
In the future, we will witness how VR will advance in the healthcare industry as well. These changes entail enhanced virtual surgery training, pain management, physical and cognitive rehabilitation, and more.
VR applications allow healthcare professionals to examine a patient before a procedure virtually. The future of VR will bring forth even more advanced and meticulous features as the hardware is evolving day by day, allowing medical staff to train in even more life-like simulations before they take on real tasks.
Also, as VR is used by healthcare professionals for diagnosis, the future of VR holds the potential to make diagnoses even more precise.
Augmented Reality (AR) Integration
There’s hardly anyone who is not fascinated by augmented reality. If something can make your day easier, then why would you not like it? It is a digitized, interactive expansion of your reality, if that makes sense.
Nowadays, we use AR glasses, software, and apps to enjoy augmented reality, enriching our days with more opportunities. Augmented reality is an integral part of VR trends, and in the future, it is sure to evolve, providing us with even more useful features to make our days a little easier.
In 2024, we might witness the beginning of a new stage for virtual reality trends. The future of VR promises to provide us with more realistic avatars and realistic experiences. These avatars are called Spacial Personas. Apple, for one, uses machine learning to display more precise body language and face tracking for AR/VR interactions.
Wireless and Standalone VR
I’m sure many of you have seen TikToks or YouTube videos where people become so immersed in VR games that they accidentally hit their TVs and accidentally break the objects around them. It’s quite funny to watch, isn’t it? But not quite as funny for those people who break their vases or TVs due to the lack of advanced warning features in VR headsets.
These instances of people breaking things have taught us that these VR headsets lack something. Maybe in the future, VR will produce headsets with alerts for when players approach an object while playing a game.
So, what future VR trends should we look for in this section? As VR headsets become more accessible, the market is bound to proliferate. Which simply means — more demand, more advanced features, more immersive experiences.
One significant advancement in the future of VR is the development of wireless and standalone VR. We will witness enhanced display resolution and sensory experiences, and, of course, a further development of AR (Augmented Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality) experiences.
AI-Driven Personalization
Another great VR trend that the future will bring forth is enhanced AI-driven personalization. In this era of artificial intelligence, it is hard not to integrate it into anything tech-related, right? And AI-driven personalization in VR is no exception.
Artificial Intelligence uses object recognition and tracking to enhance our VR experiences. This, in turn, allows us, VR enthusiasts, to carry out interactive and responsive experiences. Let’s elaborate on that a bit more. AI-powered object recognition enables virtual characters to respond to our gestures and movements, making our experiences even more fun.
The Future of VR promises to deliver hyper-realistic simulations and graphics, enhanced voice recognition, and language processing. This will allow you to interact with virtual characters using natural language.
In a nutshell, the features of future VR trends will make you dive even deeper into virtual reality, making your experience even more fun with the power of AI.
Immersive Commerce
So how can the future of VR impact e-commerce? Well, in a number of ways actually. If you do not have the time to go browsing in malls and trying on hundreds of clothes, this VR trend is sure to save the day.
The future of VR will equip us with the necessary tools to browse “shelves” at our leisure, try on clothes, and compare prices. But this time, all of these features will be available online. Again, this is not to say that online shopping is better than traditional shopping. It’s up to the individual, I guess.
But what even traditional shoppers will appreciate about this VR trend is that they can shop for clothes when they are tight on schedule and cannot make it to the mall every time they need to purchase something.
The future of VR is sure to grant you features allowing you to find clothes that will fit you just perfectly, you’ll be able to find the right furniture for your place, and so much more.
Enterprise VR Applications
VR has found its rightful place in business as well. Although, I should note that using a VR headset for work might most often result in fatigue and headaches. Now, the question arises. Will the future of VR solve this issue and bring joy and productivity, and not headaches?
With this rapid progression in the VR sector, we might witness a full business integration in the coming years. VR in enterprise applications promises to improve performance and achieve a higher ROI.
The future of VR will bring forth even more user-friendly headsets with features that will make workers less fatigued of constant use. This will change the way enterprises operate forever, making both employers and employees more productive.
Current Challenges Faced by the VR Industry
As with all rapidly evolving industries, the VR sector also faces challenges today in 2024. In 2023, there were massive shipments of AR and VR headsets for commercial use and millions of shipments for consumer use. The global extended reality (XR) market is predicted to exceed $100 billion by 2026.
I know these numbers are impressive, but they prove that the VR sector is not an easy space for innovators to build long-sustained businesses. The competition is very high and startups often face many unforeseen challenges
For one thing, high-quality content production is a notable challenge in the sector. Users expect VR companies and startups to produce content with high character quality, visual consistency, and viewpoint control. It is no secret that these things are costly and they do pose a challenge for many innovators.
The next major challenge is headset accessibility. VR headsets are expensive, bulky to ship, and uncomfortable for users to wear for prolonged periods. It is often a challenge for startups in the VR sector to manufacture their products to meet users’ expectations. And if you fail to address these things, your product is bound to fail.
Also, if your startup’s product focus is VR headsets, then it has to undergo market validation before it is launched. Let me tell you why.
Market validation is a must in these highly competitive times for startups. The number of startups is increasing every day, and you need to offer headsets with unique features to captivate your audience.
Before launching your product you need to make sure that consumers are really interested in what you are offering. Test your ideas, validate your product, and then launch it. That’s the rule today.
Again, this is not to say that your product will not succeed without market validation. But if you want to play safe, here’s where Prelaunch.com comes to the rescue — the world’s #1 market validation platform. Many startups have failed due to a lack of market research and unrealistic expectations. With market validation, you will not encounter these complications.
Future Technological Developments
The future outlook of VR looks promising. With this rapid progression in the VR sector, we will witness VR headsets allowing us to fully immerse ourselves in virtual reality. The sensory features will definitely advance. We might be able to smell the environment around us.
VR devices will also become thinner, lighter, and overall, more user-friendly. This will, in turn, promote prolonged use of VR headsets. Businesses will also adopt these headsets once they are lighter and overall more comfortable to wear. It will increase productivity among employees and make task completion even more enjoyable.
Also, with the advancement of AI alongside VR, one of the major technological transformations in the VR sector will be providing you with truly personalized and immersive adventures.
Conclusion
With more technological advancements, the future of VR will most likely provide you with features worth going for. The world of VR gaming is bound to undergo major transformations, making the experience even more immersive and fun.
Healthcare and Immersive Learning will advance, making professionals more prepared to undertake dangerous and responsible tasks. All in all, these VR trends are set to transform the way we perceive the world for good and for the better, providing us with more immersive and sensory experiences.
