Is Virtual Reality Going To Have An Influence On Video Game Technology, Or Is It Just A Fad?

The Virtual Boy gave the video gaming industry its first taste of virtual reality two decades ago. The device claimed “real 3D graphics” that would transport users to their own virtual world. It was destined to sell millions of units as a Nintendo product, just like the Game Boy and Super NES.

The Virtual Boy, on the other hand, was a complete flop. The absence of realistic images, additional colours, and head tracking were among the complaints levelled at the system by players. Its commercial failure would hound the industry for years, persuading companies to hold off on producing their own virtual reality gadgets even as technology progressed.

Let’s fast forward to the current times, when virtual reality is ever ready to take the industry by storm. The stage is set to see who will dominate a new market, with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift competing against Sony’s PlayStation VR and Microsoft’s HoloLens. At Gamescom 2016, Europe’s largest games fair, there will be more VR-compatible games to try than ever before.

However, how will the rise of virtual reality affect the way we create games? Game designers are already planning for the hurdles that producing an enjoyable virtual reality game will entail, much as they did when games transitioned from 2D sprites to 3D graphics. 
The possibilities in virtual reality have just just begun to be explored, according to Phoebe Elefante, chair of NYFA’s Game Design School in New York: “Because of the relative accessibility of VR equipment — especially through KitSplit — this technology is very accessible for artists, and it’s just as probable (if not more likely) that a three-woman studio from Poughkeepsie produces the ‘killer app,’ as seasoned game teams in major companies.” 

Having experience in the screen-based game sector isn’t always the best prerequisite for experimenting with this new technology, much like how movies transitioned from stage to screen. Because they don’t yet understand the medium’s possibilities, most game designers — particularly those translating games like Bioshock to VR — are creating stage-on-screen games.”