Final word
As we write this, VR is at a crossroads.
In the years immediately following the release of the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, there was a flurry of activity and interest around VR, and then as the years wore on, that interest leveled out. Many people brought out their VR headsets for parties or demos and then put them away again—why?
Well, it happened for a few reasons.
The first was a question of technology, and here we need to be honest with ourselves that this is first-generation tech. What's actually going on to make these headsets work is astonishing, but they have limitations. This first generation of the technology was too expensive and too difficult to set up for mainstream consumers. The headsets weren't comfortable to wear for long periods of time, and the limitations of the lenses and the screens combined to break presence by reminding users of the technology they were using. Fields of view were narrow, lenses blurred the image if they were even a little bit misaligned...
