Wearable VR HMD (Head-Mounted Display) shipments will exhibit strong growth to reach nearly 30 million units globally by 2020, up from an expected total of just over 3 million in 2016, according to a new forecast and market research report from Juniper Research.
Virtual reality headsets are poised to transform the nature of online game playing and entertainment, Juniper highlights in a press release. Low latency and ongoing advancements in graphics resolution along with growing interest on the part of major industry players will fuel the trend, researchers said.
2016 will market the ¨watershed year¨during which the market for VR headsets and associated hardware and software will really take off, they noted. Juniper expects usage to expand into commercial, industrial and public sector markets in coming years, and to transform online gaming and entertainment. Improving the immersive VR experience will continue to pose a major challenge with current developments revolving around stereophonic headsets and a variety of controllers.
Virtual Reality Forecast
Ongoing advances in VR headsets, user interaction and virtual environments will continue to be the keys to successful commercial deployment and end-user uptake, Juniper notes.
¨The recent attention to and investment into virtual reality is helping to revitalize the industry and with major brand commercial launches imminent, there is huge potential for rapid market expansion,¨Juniper report co-author Joe Crabbe was quoted in a press release.
Oculus, Sony and HTC are among the leading market players identified in Juniper’s ¨Virtual Reality: Market Dynamics & Future Prospects 2015-2020.¨
Researchers also forecast hardware retail revenue from VR HMD headset sales to exceed $4 billion by 2020.
Image courtesy of flickr user Maurizio Pesce.
