Ever doubted the potential market of Virtual Reality headsets? You could have questioned whether these devices are actually going to be as game changing as they are proposed to be, or you might have even questioned their usability within the videogaming industry.
Either way, it looks like industry analysts Super Data disagree with anyone having doubts about their true potential of becoming a mainstream product.
In a recently published study, the analysts have estimated the user base of all Virtual Reality headsets combined to cross 18 million units by the end of this year and the massive 70 million mark by the end of 2017. That is just two years from now and we hardly have any headsets being sold these days.
Not only that, they are also promised enticing revenues for them. the 70 million headsets in question are expected to earn $8.8 billion revenue just from the hardware itself. This is going to be joined by at least $6.1 billion raised in revenue from VR based software.
Not only that, they suggest that at first it is going to be things like the cheap Samsung Gear VR that will drive most sales – only to be replaced by more expensive and better Virtual Reality headsets later. Director of Research Stephanie Llamas says:
Initially, affordable smartphone devices will drive the bulk of sales as consumers first explore virtual reality before committing to the more expensive platforms. After this first wave, however, it will be especially console gamers that will spur growth of high-end VR devices.
It will be interesting to see how much of this turns out to be true.
