Research firm SuperData has adjusted its initial forecast for virtual reality revenue in 2016 by almost a third.
Initially, the company had predicted VR revenue would top $5 billion by the year’s end, but SuperData has now tempered those expectations by almost 30 percent. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, the firm’s Director of Research and Insights Stephanie Llamas revealed that an overestimation of PC and mobile VR resulted in the alteration.
Now, Llamas notes the readjusted projection — $3.6 billion by 2017 — reflects conversations held with hardware and software developers, and “more accurately reflects the VR market’s potential.”
Since we published our original figures, we have had a number of conversations with both hardware and software developers, as well as access to newly public information. We previously overestimated PC and mobile hardware penetration and underestimated console hardware sales. Console will be high-end VR’s white horse since it has lower hardware requirements, easier set-up and lower pricing. PlayStation’s 35 million-plus users are also a far larger accessible audience than that of high-end PCs, which tops off at about 17 million.
Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will be launching over the coming months for $599 and $799, respectively. PlayStation VR, meanwhile, is still without a release date or price, though we expect Sony to unveil firm details via the PS VR press event on March 15.
[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]
