Virtual Reality technology won’t be mainstream in gaming for another 3-5 years, the chief publishing officer for Daybreak has said.
Speaking with GI.biz, Laura Naviaux Sturr, who was previously a member of Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), said the company is adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach to the tech right now, whereas other studios are over-investing VR.
“The reality is that people are probably over-investing right now in order to be first to market and take advantage of the novelty and nuance of it being a brand-new piece of tech and it probably won’t come to bear for – if you read any of the analyst reports or what people are predicting – it’s really going to take 3-5 years until it’ll really be mainstream. And so in the meantime, people will over-invest, which isn’t a bad thing because it’s going to push the tech forward.
“We’re paying a lot of attention, more than intrigued, experimenting, [and have] lots of conversations happening. But we also know what we do. We make online games, massively multiplayer online games… so I think we’re trying to figure out how does this index against our core mission and our core values as an organization of what we build day in and day out and how does it augment that experience?
“And I think you’ll start to see a lot of different [VR] genres emerge… Even looking at mobile, if you look at a list of the top ten genres on mobile they’re ridiculous terms like endless runner. So I think you’ll see a lot more of that happening in VR, where we hadn’t even thought that this experience could be a game. And I think people are just fascinated by the potential of it and it’s something we’re taking a hard look at.”
Sony’s foray into the world of virtual reality gaming with PlayStation VR hits stores in October 2016, priced at $399/£349. The format holder hopes to have around 50 games out for the device by the end of the year, with over 230 developers currently working on titles for the headset.
PS VR will function with a host of major upcoming titles, including Ace Combat 7, Dreams, Gran Turismo Sport and Tekken 7.