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Former PlayStation VR veteran Dr David Ranyard says that the excitement around VR is ‘slightly over-heated’.
Speaking during the MCV and Develop Podcast, Ranyard, who has worked at Sony London on a string of VR projects and has just set-up his own VR studio, believes that some companies might find VR’s initial few months anti-climatic.
It feels, in all honestly, slightly over-heated,” he told us during the 30-minute chat, which you can listen to below or download via iTunes.
I am super into VR, so I’m very excited about it. But everybody is chasing it at the moment, so there might be an anti-climax for some people who perhaps don’t have quite the right skill that is needed at the moment, and it doesn’t quite work about it. But it is still super-exciting to see everybody talking about it.
He adds: My view is that there is a lot of anticipation and a lot of demand as a result of that. It will be exciting, we’ve experienced some great stuff [during GDC], so it is a big step-change in the kinds of the experience you can have, but in terms of the business-side, my personal view is that there will be a boom, particularly towards the end of the year, I think the PlayStation one will do very well because the price is very good and it is very entertainment focused. This time next year, it might be a bit of an anti-climax. But actually after that, I think it will build slow and steady. I do see that VR will impact our lives in a number of different ways. Entertainment and gaming will push forward, as it has done in other spaces, but what you can do with it in health, education and business-to-business communication are incredibly valuable and productive things. As people learn more about it and the costs go down, I think it will impact our lives. I don’t think it will replace anything, but it will positively impact our lives… it will just take a little while to get there.”
Do check out the MCV & Develop Podcast, the first of new audio shows. It’son iTunes, YouTube as well as Android apps Pocket Casts and Player FM (amongst others).
