After the overestimation of the first commercial desktop viewers, the new freelancers will reduce the barrier of entry and change everything.
Alvin Wang Graylin, HTC China’s GM, commented in an interview with Mobile World Live (at MWC Shanghai), which has been transcribed by UploadVR, why virtual reality last year left a small disappointment in terms of sales figures for the first commercial VR viewers, such as Vive, Rift and PSVR. Alvin says that the problem was the overestimation that many analysts made and that, as we will remember, some of them even had to adjust and reduce in a short time.
“I think when HTC first introduced the HTC Vive, and Oculus launched the Oculus Rift, back in 2016, they were probably overestimated. And because of that, in 2017 there was a bit of disappointment because most of the growth expected by the people of that hype did not happen, but 2018 and beyond, is coming, I guess, to a new trajectory, given that all the devices have moved to the second generation and there are products like this that I hold in my hand (referring to Vive Focus).”
Since the arrival of Vive in April 2016, the Taiwanese company has launched the new Vive Pro and the standalone Vive Focus that will arrive this year in the West. Regarding the latter, users can get a” premium experience ” with absolute positioning in a simple way, which eliminates some entry barriers such as the need to acquire a PC to make the leap.
“It was kind of hard to explain before, as people had to go buy a big PC and set up a lot of cables, so nobody did. Now it is very easy to get, and people can take it home and try it and be on it right away. That’s gonna change the whole game completely.. The friction that used to exist when entering the RV disappears, because in a few seconds you put it in and you are in a new world or you are underwater or you are in space, and you travel with your family that is in another place of the world. This is the kind of thing that excites people.”
The words of the head of Vive en China coincide with those of the president of Sony, who already commented in May that the growth of the industry was below market expectations. In turn, they are also in the line of some analysts who claim that autonomous viewers will be key in the growth of the market.
