MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Research from the SuperData XR Q3 2019 update has found that more businesses are beginning to see the potential of virtual reality, with enterprise revenue expected to leap 69% this year.
The research found that businesses are adopting VR for areas such as employee training as well as automotive design, giving them new insight into how to approach such matters.
That’s not the only place where VR is building strength, with consume VR software revenue expected to rise by 16% this year, thereby passing the all-important $1 billion threshold. The study found that much of this is thanks to the rise of location-based entertainment which bring theme-park quality experiences to consumers in venues such as shopping centres. They’re set to earn roughly half the aforementioned total.
There are also strong figures for location-aware games such as Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Interestingly though, while Pokemon Go had its second best month ever in terms of revenue in August 2019, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite only earned 1% of the revenue that Pikachu and the gang did from June to August.
Elsewhere, the Oculus Quest enjoyed a strong launch with the report suggesting that it’s ‘poised for a strong holiday season as one of the most giftable VR headsets around’. That’s in part thanks to it selling 180,000 units during the quarter, nearly double the combined sales figures for the Oculus Rift S and Oculus Go.
For now though, the market leader remains the PlayStation VR headset with sales of around 300,000 for the quarter, bringing its lifetime sales up to 4.7 million – over three times the number of sales that its nearest rival, the Oculus Rift, has achieved.
Story by Jennifer Allen.
