The saddest thing about these VR companies (or any other hyped yet insubstantial new thing for that matter) to me is the fact that they got acquired too quickly that one cannot short them on the stock exchange...
Calling VR insubstantial is absurd. Just because VR helmets won't be as popular as mobile phones doesn't make them so. It's like calling an Xbox insubstantial.
What VR lacks in game variety, it makes up for in how unique the experience is. VR consoles will be able to get new games and apps, while "regular" consoles won't get more unique without releasing new models.
Gaming in VR is also a lot more beginner friendly. Console Controllers are not intuitive, whereas VR controls almost always are.
In short, VR is already very viable and its future is extremely promising. But if you want to short stuff, be my guest.
I get your point. But with all due respect, the comparison is unfortunately off by a substantial magnitude: overall VR devices sold world wide in 2019: <6M (https://www.statista.com/statistics/671403/global-virtual-re...)
xbox sales alone are quite constantly at 50M per month (!!!)
Then it sounds like you're not really getting my point.
VR as is today is a new tech. The Quest 2 is a recent release, second model of a new lineup. Xbox 360 was released in 2005 so look at xbox sales in like, 2006 instead. Which… checks numbers, hey look, 4 million units.
> Console Controllers are not intuitive, whereas VR controls almost always are.
Almost all console controllers follow a similar control scheme for decades (minus the front buttons like "share" or the touchpads). I don't see them as unintuitive.
They are for someone who hasn't ever played a game, easier to get them to learn how to do stuff with vr controllers than with a console controller, vr incorporates far more normal movements that everyone already knows how to do, like picking stuff up or aiming a gun/bow, shooting is easy it is aiming it that is hard.
The experience of VR gaming and desktop gaming is not interchangeable. I tried a modern VR headset very recently and I was blown away by the level of immersion. So many early teething issues from several years ago were actually solved problems. Living room space was a biggie, for instance.
Even if you could, you won't make money shorting on the stock exchange because you think stocks are more expensive than they should be. You can only make money shorting things on the stock exchange when you guess that other investors will think the price is too high relatively soon.
What VR lacks in game variety, it makes up for in how unique the experience is. VR consoles will be able to get new games and apps, while "regular" consoles won't get more unique without releasing new models.
Gaming in VR is also a lot more beginner friendly. Console Controllers are not intuitive, whereas VR controls almost always are.
In short, VR is already very viable and its future is extremely promising. But if you want to short stuff, be my guest.