2021 media and entertainment industry outlook

More Than 1 Million Steam Users Now Have A VR Headset: Here’s Which Ones

Article | April 1, 2020

More Steam users have a VR headset than an RTX 2080 Ti or than use Linux. At current growth, it shouldn’t be long before more Steam users use a VR headset than have a 4K primary monitor. Consumer VR is still a relatively new technology. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released just four years ago, with the latter launching at $800 including controllers. Today you can get a similar experience for $400 or even lower. As hardware gets cheaper and better and more must-have VR games emerge, this percentage should steeply rise throughout this decade.

Google Stadia vs. GeForce Now vs. PlayStation Now vs. Project xCloud: Who will win cloud gaming?

Article | March 1, 2020

The very future of gaming could be decided by which service wins the battle between Google Stadia vs. GeForce Now vs. PlayStation Now vs. Project xCloud. Every 15 years or so, the games industry goes through a big shift in how it delivers its titles. Cartridges gave way to discs, which gave way to digital downloads. Now, the industry stands ready to change once again with the advent of cloud gaming services. This is not a theoretical vision of the future: This is happening right now. Services like Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now provide instantaneous streams of big-budget games — no expensive console or cumbersome PC required.

Patents Demonstrating PS5 Can Give Gamers Tips During Play

Article | March 31, 2020

We knew that Sony plans to develop interactive widgets for use in games to improve the PlayStation 5 experience. In order to play games on current consoles, you have to choose to play multiple games before installing a game and entering the match. It is said that this will change in new generation consoles and you can choose what you want to do directly from the user interface in the system without having to deal with in-game menus.

PlayStation VR on the PS5 could ditch Move controllers for finger-tracking

Article | February 19, 2020

Sony got good mileage out of its PlayStation Move motion controllers, which it introduced for the PS3 generation. But it could be moving to something more akin to the Valve Index controller for the upcoming PlayStation 5. A patent application published this month suggests finger-tracking technology could come to the system, possibly for use with PlayStation VR. The application, which was first filed in 2018, is for a hand-worn device that includes sensors to detect individual fingers. A “sensor support” unit is located in the middle and is adjustable to accommodate different hand sizes.