On the function that virtual reality technology will play in the Metaverse, experts have expressed a variety of opinions.
Given its slow acceptance rates, analysts predict that virtual reality (VR) will ultimately have a position inside the Metaverse, but not in the near future.
Few things compare to the sensation of being nearly completely submerged in a virtual environment, which is why many people think the technology will naturally fit into the Metaverse.
With the introduction of Meta accounts, which the company claims will make it easier for customers to access its Meta Horizons platform using Oculus VR headsets, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is making a significant investment on this technology.
Mary Spio, the founder and CEO of the Metaverse platform CEEK, is another person flying the VR metaverse banner. In an interview with Cointelgraph, Spio makes the case that users need to be completely involved in a Metaverse in order for it to be effective.
Musicians and sportsmen may communicate directly with their following in a virtual environment with the aid of Spio’s metaverse platform CEEK.
Because “the benefits of the Metaverse cannot be completely experienced in the non-VR mode,” Spio claimed that her platform chose to prioritize VR immersion.
“Virtual Reality enables full immersion and creates that sense of presence, real emotions, and memories; no different than actually being at a time and place in real life.”
However, Spio acknowledges that before VR technology is widely used, content, usability, and accessibility must all be satisfied. This is why Spio’s metaverse must support both VR and non-VR accessibility.
For the Metaverse and VR adoption, she predicts a “quantum jump” within the next two to three years.
However, Janine Yorio, CEO of Everyrealm, a creator of the Metaverse ecosystem, disagrees. According to Yorio, Metaverse platforms and VR technologies should advance independently of one another without taking each other into account.
According to her assessment, only a very tiny proportion of Metaverse experiences are being developed for VR, such as CEEK, and she notes that it is unlikely that VR will significantly alter the course of history any time soon.
This is due to “technical hurdles” and people’s natural inclination for technology’s most informal uses:
“People typically game or engage with technology while they are doing something else. That is impossible when using a VR headset which effectively blocks out the rest of the world and makes the user physically vulnerable while using it.”
Statistics show that, according to Virtual Reality Marketing, the VR business will be worth roughly $4.8 billion in 2021, with just 2.4 headsets per hundred households. Compare that to Web 2.0 Metaverse businesses, which have a market valuation of $14.8 trillion, and the $7.1 billion value of the Metaverse token market, according CoinGecko.
Ricky Pearce, the creative and technical director of Human Park, adopted a neutral approach in the meanwhile.
Although he acknowledged that VR implementation “isn’t off the cards,” he told Cointelegraph in an interview that it may take five to ten years before VR becomes a Metaverse-ready item owing to developer-side restrictions and the multiple barriers to broad adoption.
According to Pearce, the headgear presents the biggest challenge, which Oculus has mostly overcome by making it more widely available. But for at least the next five years, connection and gaming will continue to be significant challenges.
According to Pearce, “physical limits that hinder those things from joining on a basic level” may make it impossible to overcome some of the integration problems with VR and Metaverse.
“When we saw VR kickoff, you could see that there was potential. But the mechanical components to be able to deliver a sustained enjoyable experience just weren’t there, and they still aren’t now.”
Although VR has not yet been included to Human Park’s platform, it is a potential future addition.
