VR continues to struggle in video entertainment

In its report, Virtual Reality: The Evolving Ecosystem, the firm found that consumer-reported familiarity with VR technology has stayed at approximately a quarter of US broadband households between 2017 and 2018, with gamers most likely to be familiar with this technology. Among consumers who own or are familiar with VR, 54% use their headset or would use it for gaming."Sixty-two per cent of US broadband households play video games, and while gamers are a passionate market segment, they can be limited in scope, which has stalled adoption of VR to a wider audience," said Billy Nayden, research analyst, Parks Associates. "There has been some notable video content developed for VR, such as Alejandro G. Iñárritu's short video experience Carne y Arena, which won an Oscar, but overall lack of quality, non-gaming content is inhibiting broader adoption."The report also found that content quality remains a challenge for VR headset owners, with 55% of VR headset owners feeling that content for their device has remained the same since they bought their headsets; 3% believe it has gotten worse. The report noted the main barriers for VR content development are costs, the demand for interactivity and limits on content length.