Depending on who you talk to from the virtual reality (VR) industry they’ll either be wildly supportive of the technology and its future or at least optimistic that it’ll see mainstream success, and as such more profitability for studios involved. In a recent interview Tony Parisi, Unity’s Head of VR, remains positive whilst acknowledging there’s still some hurdles ahead.
Talking to PCGamesN, Parisi see’s getting into VR development as a passion rather than an easy way to make money: “If I could recommend anybody to make a game in VR I’d do it on the basis of getting into this field. Not on an economic argument. We believe in the long haul, we don’t know how long it’s going to take, we believe in the long-term success of this technology. But, in the meantime, I can’t make an economic recommendation. It’s down to individual developers and it’s got to be around the passion and desire to get into it.
In terms of those already in the field and trying to make a profit: “I have to figure out how I answer that,” Parisi says. “You should be able to make a VR game if that’s what you want to do. Going with the evolution of the industry, any one of us could say ‘Jump in – there’s a gold mine here’, but we’re still in the place where we’re climbing up that mountain.”
Some developers have already seen success with studio’s such as Survios with its first-person shooter (FPS) Raw Data or Owlchemy Labs with Job Simulator.
But Parisi remains cautiously optimistic, and that building an industry from scratch takes time and effort by all of those involved. “We have an expectation as an industry that it should all happen at once, but in reality, these things take time. The hard work goes into the iteration side – Unity is coming on board now and it’s nearly fully optimised – and developers are learning all the techniques, finding out what works and what doesn’t. Each platform is going to have its own set of challenges and its own set of opportunities.
“In the long-term, we believe this is going to be huge. We don’t know what’s going to happen between now and when we get there.”
As the VR industry continues to go and develop, VRFocus will continue keeping you up to date on the latest news.
via Mint VR