Virtual reality (VR) continues to see a greater set of use cases each day.
It goes beyond gaming and entertainment, enabling consumers to enter a virtual space when and how they want. This might include virtual tours when house hunting, as well as virtually touring wedding venues, and uses we cannot imagine today.
Note that I wrote about VR trends earlier this year.
As a greater set of use cases become apparent, an increased consumer base will follow. Today, approximately 58.9 million people are expected to use VR at least once per month – equal to 17.7% of the U.S. population.
When thinking of companies benefiting from the rise of the met averse, a few core players come to mind, namely Facebook. The company has been a leader in the virtual reality space, with Oculus Quest 2 seeing record adoption. The differentiated hardware, best-in-class software, and developer-friendly ecosystem results in a powerful platform for the future of VR.
On the other side of the story are those supporting the growth in VR, including horizontal digital services providers. Companies like Fiverr have seen an increased variety of digital services on their platform as few technologies have become widely adopted. As VR-based apps continue to gain traction, a similar outcome may follow.
We are entering the age of the metaverse. It will be interesting to see how the core VR platforms perform, as well as those supporting the growth. As use cases explode, consumer adoption will follow, and in turn developers will build. The result is a powerful flywheel effect driving growth for years to come.
Twitter: @_SeanDavid
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