Skaberen bag Unreal Engine, Tim Sweeney, gav for nyligt et interview, hvori han sætter ord på sine tanker om fremtiden indenfor VR, og selvom har tror, vi har nogle års ventetide foran os, så spår han stadig en stor fremtid for VR. Han sagde følgende i interviewet:
"Over the next 12 years we're going to see VR scale down from a huge helmet to something the size of your glasses, which has a display for each eye that's higher quality than any display you can buy now, and cheaper, because it uses very little material. And that's going to revolutionise all forms of entertainment. Instead of having televisions and monitors and smartphone screens, you're going to have this VR device to project imagery wherever you want. It's going to occupy 140 degrees of your field of view--far, far higher quality and more immersive than the best PC entertainment experience you can get today."
Endvidere mener han, at alle platforme burde være åbne - VR eller ej. Og at det faktum af Oculus ikke er åben, er netop der, det går galt:
"I think it's the wrong model. When you install the Oculus drivers, by default you can only use the Oculus store. You have to rummage through the menu and turn that off if you want to run Steam. Which everybody does. It's just alienating and sends the wrong message to developers. It's telling developers: "You're on notice here. We're going to dominate this thing. And your freedom is going to expire at some point." It's a terrible precedent to set. I argued passionately against it. But ultimately, the open platforms will win. They're going to have a much better selection of software. HTC Vive is a completely open platform. And other headsets are coming that will be completely open. HTC Vive is outselling Oculus 2-to-1 worldwide. I think that trend will continue."
Hvorvidt at den udmelding om at HTC Vive sælger dobbelt så mange enheder som Oculus er sand, det kan jo debatteres, men uanset hvad, så har Sweeney en stærk holdning om, hvor VR er på vej hen, og hvordan vi skal sørge for den når målet:
"I think the mainstream version of this product does have to be like sunglasses. The helmet version is for serious people. The entirety of the console market - all console gamers are potential VR buyers - that's 100 million people, maybe, in the U.S. and Europe. And then there's 100 million, maybe, in Asia who are not console gamers but do play hardcore PC games like League of Legends. So there's 200 million helmet-wearing VR users worldwide. I think that's where that market tops out."
Hvor tror du, VR vil være om 12 år?