A Microsoft representative said its line of Windows VR headsets has not performed to expectations.
Greg Sullivan, director of communications for Microsoft’s Mixed Reality arm, said in an interview with UploadVR: “Interestingly, the immersive VR headsets were pitched as consumer devices and I think did not meet, in general, the high expectations that were set for them there,” he said. “But what you’re seeing now is more and more commercial applications for those types of experiences.”
Sullivan didn’t share sales statistics. He did say that the wider VR industry had experienced the same kind of growing pains. “I think everybody got very excited about the prospects,” he said. “But we’re still seeing some of the realities.”
Microsoft partnered with the likes of Dell, Lenovo and Samsung to launch these devices in late 2017. They utilized inside-out tracking for VR that didn’t need external sensors. They also ran on the new Windows Mixed Reality platform and support SteamVR too. Around a year and a half on from launch, though, and these headsets are still a distant third to Rift and Vive in Steam’s monthly hardware survey reports. The Microsoft Store, meanwhile, has just 42 apps listed in its mixed reality section.
Sullivan reasoned that these headsets might find a new lease of life in the enterprise space. In our talk, he pointed toward the new HP VR headset that’s in the works as well as the numerous VR devices on the MWC show floor. “It happened with the original PC, it’s happened with cell phones and radios and microwave ovens and any number of technologies that were innovative but initially expensive, that found really strong return on investment and value in commercial scenarios and over time become consumer,” he added.
Despite the slow start, Sullivan insisted Microsoft remained committed to VR. From the sounds of it, though, most of its efforts will be centered around HoloLens 2 in the near future. “One of the things that we think is unique about our approach to this space is we don’t think about AR and VR as distinct categories, we think about them as two sides of the same coin,” Sullivan said. “They’re really two ends of the same continuum.”
Microsoft’s partners are iterating on Windows VR on their own, though. Samsung last year launched the Odyssey +, an improved version of its first headset with a better display. But we wouldn’t expect any sort of official ‘wave 2’ of Windows headsets anytime soon.
“You’ll see us focus a lot on HoloLens 2 in the commercial space in the near-term,” Sullivan said. “But it is not divorced from and is, in fact, it’s relatively coupled to those investments.”
Tagged with: mixed reality, windows VR
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via Mint VR