The race to take the early lead in the virtual reality headset market is warming up. Sony announced Tuesday at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that its PlayStation VR will go on sale in October. The Oculus Rift, made by the Facebook-owned Oculus VR, will go on sale March 28. Other virtual reality headsets like the Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard are already available. Though these companies are working hard to push out a quality virtual reality product, it will take a while for the technology to take off, if it ever does at all, according to a recent study.
Horizon Media surveyed the 3,000 Americans who make up the company’s “Finger on the Pulse” research community, and found that there is a decent amount of public intrigue—just over a third of the participants said they would consider purchasing a virtual reality headset. The majority of support came from men or boys—nearly half of that group expressed interest. The level of interest is no doubt impacted by a lack of public awareness in the technology, as just a third of the respondents had what Horizon described as an “unaided awareness” of the technology.
Less than a third of the men or boy respondents surveyed said they would pay $250 or more for a virtual reality headset, while just 16 percent of women or girl participants said they would pay the same amount. The PlayStation VR is expected to have a starting price tag of $399, while the Oculus Rift will cost $599 when it’s released March 28. The Gear VR and Google Cardboard are well within the price range, as they sell for $99 and $15, respectively.
“Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard are low-cost alternatives that lower the barrier to entry,” explained Kirk Olson, VP of “Trendsights” at Horizon Media, in a media statement. “That benefits marketers because the sooner we see more consumers using VR devices, the sooner we’ll understand what they’re truly good for. Not just what they can do, but what they can do that consumers care about. The ‘caring’ part is the key to creating meaningful and effective consumer connections.”
Though Horizon’s findings suggest that the general public lacks both awareness and interest in virtual reality headsets, the technology seems to have a greater fan base than the Apple Watch had before its release. When asked if a virtual reality headset would be “an exciting new innovation to own,” 82 percent of the Finger on the Pulse community said, “yes.” In comparison, just 44 percent provided the same response when asked about the Apple Watch. More than half of the research community said “yes” when asked if virtual reality headsets would become a technology that “everyone is going to wish they owned,” compared to a 24 percent response to the watch.
The success of virtual reality headsets won’t just be judged on how well they sell at first, but how well they’re selling several years from now. When it comes to the later criteria, it appears the technology has hope. More than 80 percent of those surveyed believe between a quarter to a half of Americans will own a VR device five years from now.
