Consumers have spent, according to market analyst Tipatat Chennavasin, $3 billion on apps VR. The latter believes that “the industry of virtual reality is about to rock. »
Virtual reality is starting to pay off
Tipatat is a partner of Venture Reality Funda venture capital company of the Silicon Valley who knows it rather well since having invested in Beat Games (Beat Saber), Owlchemy Labs (Job Simulator) And Rec Roomto name only the best known. In a new newsletter, the analyst released some of his latest revenue estimates.
These revenue estimates are based on review counts, open source statistics, and data that studios VR communicate to him. The studios as a whole have generated $3 billion in profits since 2016an important date since it marks the democratization of virtual reality with the remarkable releases of theOculus Riftof HTC VIVE and Playstation-VR of sony.
Meta Quest 2: the VR bestseller
Without surprise, it is especially the Meta Quest 2, with its 20 million sales, which owes enormously to the success of the VR. 73% of all app revenue is generated on this platform alone. Meta is the undisputed market leader. Here is what the analyst said:
This is a veritable golden age of virtual reality for indie developers. Admittedly, it’s not yet a $100 billion industry (editor’s note, the video game industry brought in $189.3 billion in 2021), but the fact that so many developers are actually making money today today fascinates me. 40 titles have generated over $10 million in revenue, which is huge for the Meta Quest market.
Beat Saber: VR killer app
The best-selling title is Beat Saberessential music rhythm game, which grossed over $255 million as of October 2022! The analyst explains its genesis:
Beat Saber has surpassed all other VR games. It was developed by app developers in the Czech Republic who weren’t really on anyone’s radar.
It was a team of three full-time and two part-time people. They weren’t from AAA game studios, didn’t have special access to anything, and they released the biggest game in VR. That’s crazy ! I’m looking for the next games that will do this, and I think there are plenty to come.
AAAs do not necessarily contribute to the success of VR
The analyst shares important information by indicating that it’s not the titles AAA who are most successfulwhich would partly explain the shortage of this type of content in virtual reality:
What really drove the VR market weren’t AAA games, but games with innovative design (Editor’s note, like Beat Saber). These are not limited to what we see, but rather how we play and interact. The gamepad, keyboard, and mouse have dictated what PC and console gaming has been for so long. Embracing gesture control and revamping game design is key to the success of virtual reality.
Developer friends, take the plunge
Tipatat invites independent developers to enter the now lucrative virtual reality market:
It’s time for developers to get excited about VR. Some of them say, “It’s not yet a big enough industry for gamers to be interested in,” honestly, it’s the indie game developers who should be the most excited about VR .
Today, on mobile, you can’t even launch a game without a million dollar marketing budget. But most of these VR games have a total budget of one million dollars. They might not make $100 million, but if you take a million dollar budget and you make $10 million, which is a 10x return on investment, that investment is fantastic.
We are currently living in a golden age for freelancers. If you are a small, very creative team (with a small budget), you can really achieve exceptional results.
Virtual reality revenue was $589 million in 2020which was already a 22% increase compared to 2019. If we have fun comparing this figure with the 3 billion announced, it is a spectacular increase, of more than 80.37%!
What future ?
Last but not least, the analyst shares his projection for the future of virtual reality :
VR might just be the next “big thing”. When people talk about the next platform, or what will come after the smartphone, for me the question is always: what will be the next app store?
There are great products like smartwatches and smart speakers (which have sold hundreds of millions of copies), they all have app stores that have earned next to nothing. The fact that we have a new device (Editor’s note, the Meta Quest 2) that sells tens of millions of copies, but who can create an application store of almost 2 billion dollars? It’s impressive.
We have reached the VR tipping point, which is not going away anytime soon. And with the arrival of Apple and other companies like it, I think this phenomenon is going to get even bigger and better.
What do you think ? Do you agree or disagree with the analyst? Do not hesitate to share your point of view with us in the comments.
If the PICO 4 catches your eye, you can order the 256 GB models (499 €) or 128 GB (429 €) on Amazon. You’re more of the team Meta Quest 2 ? Know that you can afford it at the Fnac, Darty or Amazon for €449.99.