What Killed VR?
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,413 words · ~7 min read
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it all began with a topic on the WAN Show there was an article on venturebeat
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titled VR adoption among steam users has
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crashed to a halt lonus was all like
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what and I wasn't actually surprised and
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I explained my theory as to why it was happening but that doesn't mean I was
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happy about it I speculated that it was due to the marketing issues behind
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explaining the experience to people that were unable to try it for themselves the
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total cost of ownership being very high and finally that the inferior experience
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of the gear VR which Samsung is marketing like crazy has the potential
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to leave people unsatisfied with the gear VR and therefore uninterested in
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other VR experiences in the car a couple days later I heard a radio ad for the
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Samsung Gear VR this triggered some
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trains of thought through my brain first of which was concern for people that had
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the type-c connector with their Galaxy Note 7s and then going a little bit
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deeper I began to question my original rant on the WAN Show who or what
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actually killed VR who am I supposed to be mad at is it marketing is it cost is
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it Samsung or is it Oculus let's dig
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order to answer this question we need to establish some data points the main one
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of which being cost of Entry starting from nothing a gear VR ranges from about
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$470 for a Galaxy S6 and a 2015 version
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of the gear VR to about $1,000 for a shiny new Note 7 and a 2016
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version of the gear VR now one thing that hurts the install base for gear VR
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is that it is very unlikely that someone would buy a phone solely for the purpose
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of playing with their gear VR but in that same vein especially with Apple's
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so-called courageous abandonment of the
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headphone jack this also helps them as
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it is very likely that your next phone would be an S6 an S6 Edge an S6 Edge
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Plus a note 5 a Galaxy S7 an S7 Edge or
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a note 7 all of which are compatible
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with the new gear VR 2016 computers are
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similar in this way but scaled up a bit if you don't have a gaming PC yet you're
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probably looking at about $1,600 for a rig that meets the
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recommended spec and an Oculus Rift included slightly over three times the
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from nothing cost of a gear VR and the top end well if you've ever watched any
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of our videos I'm sure you know by now when it comes to computers the sky isn't
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the limit for cost it's more like galaxies far far away on top of that
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benchmarking VR is in its infancy so
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choosing a VR computer is not only prohibitively expensive but probably
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also rather confusing for most people now of course there are those of us with
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computers fast enough to support VR already but unfortunately that number
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whatever it is is assuredly much much
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lower than the number of people that will already have a Samsung phone and
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even a high-end one thanks to carrier subsidies and even if the starting
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install bases were equal that still leaves desktop VR at $600 to $800
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minimum for a headset versus 70 to 100
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for a gear VR now that we've established that I need a couple people that aren't
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me or anyone else at lineus Media Group I needed people with no experience with
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desktop VR beyond the Oculus development kit one but who can appreciate
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technology my plan was to have them try a gear VR paired with an S7 edge with
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dark net Temple Run and Eve gunjack give
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their Impressions to the camera and then try an HTC Vive with hollow point audio
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Shield raw data and Google tiltbrush now there are a couple problems with this
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test I could have changed the order that they tried the headsets in instead of
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having them go on a rising curve from the gear VR up to the HCC Vive I could
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have had them go on a falling curve from the Vive down to the Gear VR it's also
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heavily app dependent I didn't show them the Oculus Rift I didn't show them any
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seated experience and the game experiences aren't really Apples to
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Apples as in I should have had them demoed EV Valkyrie considering they
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tried gunjack but worst of all my sample
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size it's small and I should feel bad if
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this was a proper study it would have probably been a couple hundred people at
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least but this wasn't a proper study and I think we got our answer anyways it's
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surprisingly simple money it's just too
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damn expensive when all of a sudden and done all the experience improvements and
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health benefits mean nothing if people just playe can't afford it after
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everything when I asked them which one they would choose between the two they
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both chose to my utter dismay prefer the
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gear I have to give it to the Gear VR
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neither of my subjects had VR ready PCS also surprisingly they both had Samsung
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phones compatible with the gear VR $1600
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plus us is a hard pill to swallow when
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you could just pass over a hundred bucks and get part of the way there even if I
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would argue that it's not close at all
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in terms of quality of experience it's
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also not that close in terms of cost and you're able to shed the cable allowing
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you to take it with you on trips and stuff as well though to be fair I did
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hear from one of my test subjects that days later he was still thinking about
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tiltbrush he even went as far as to say that it left a fundamentally different
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psychological imprint but that didn't
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make him want to buy it that made him want to try it again I still think the
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lack of exposure for desktop VR and the overexposure of mobile VR are relatively
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large issues I still think the fact that the industry is generally calling them
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the same damn thing doesn't help matters
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either but if my flawed study is to be
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believed cost really is the root here desktop VR isn't dead it just had a bit
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of a false start here's hoping they can turn things around soon tunnel Bears the
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thanks for watching guys if this video sucked I completely understand I don't
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like saying negative things about desktop VR either so hit the like button
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also if you liked it hit the like button too because why not that'll it's I I I
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think I'm cheating here a little bit but that's fine get subscribed either way if
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you want to buy something cool check out Amazon we talked about a number of things in this video also in the
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description down below we have shirts I don't think you can buy this one anymore
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Get Wrecked but you can buy other ones which would also be cool you can talk
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about what I said in this video on the community Forum it's a fantastic site
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check that out also watch this video which is like my review of the Oculus
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Rift and in there I talk about some comparisons between the Vive and yada
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yada y yeah anyways see you next time