VR is currently a big thing on the Internet and a promising future of the immersive experience technology market. Although VR will never replace other forms of entertainment completely, it has made the gaming industry more inclusive and inviting for consumers.
Users spend vast amounts of money on entertainment. Particularly it concerns video games. Thanks to innovative technologies, the gaming market has seen a popularity increase in VR-based entertainment. According to Statista, the VR gaming market revenue in the United States alone is forecast to generate up to 19.5 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2025.
VR has already improved the gaming experience and changed the gaming “universe.” Let’s see why VR games are attracting so many new users.
What benefits VR-driven applications in gaming can provide?
Most of the computer games can be successfully transformed into VR format and provide a new and more enjoyable interaction:
1. Enhanced user engagement. They look more appealing for avid players and occasional gamers with an immersive experience. VR players get more involved as they are equipped with a number of tools, including hand controllers and a headset at their disposal, compared to engaging with the flat-screen games.
2. Cutting-edge capabilities that enrich the game environment. The release of controllers has become a turning point in building the player interaction in VR surroundings. Now players can control the game environment at their own will. Also, in the near future, we can anticipate virtual reality technology to evolve from mere strapping on a headset for a visual encounter to introducing truly immersive experiences that incorporate every human sense.
3. Expanded content. VR technology is a new boosting factor in creating gaming content. Genres like shooters, adventures and simulations have changed thanks to VR.
According to Statista, in 2020, adventure and racing games are the most popular VR gaming genres. 48 percent of users said they were interested in VR racing games, while 73 percent felt the same way about adventure VR games.
Now let’s take a close look at the types of VR games that exist.
About types of VR games
As a new medium, virtual reality is transforming the way we imagine space and interact with it during the game.
- First-person VR shooter games
They are the most popular genre of VR games. Players feel everything that is happening on the playing field, including the visual and sound special effects. Reloading guns, nature sounds, flying bullets, storms, other players’ speech, strokes, steps, falls, traffic, etc., they all feel real. The only issue for the shooters’ games that remains is lacking the freedom of movement.
- VR racing games
VR racing games are different from the previous type since players are not restricted in movement. VR racing games are typically based on cutting-edge graphics.
- Horror games
They are also one of the most popular game genres. The graphics are so realistic, so it is harder to play in.
- VR adventure games
While more hectic action games can make some players queasy, virtual reality is perfectly suited to a more leisurely pace of exploration and puzzle-solving through the adventure genre.
- City-building games
The city-building games use the exciting possibilities of virtual reality to further enhance the classic city building game with entirely new gameplay experiences and interactive mechanics.
It allows a user to discover new perspectives to look upon cities like never before. It enables them to travel along the streets like a giant, observe architecture from up on high, zoom in to the ground or zoom out to the air, build new cities, change the lighting and weather, and take snapshots of the most unique city views that they discover on their own.
- VR casinos and gambling
Thanks to VR, a user can visit a casino anytime and anywhere they are. Inveterate players can plunge into the world of rotating roulettes, bright lights, slot machines, and blackjack tables without leaving their homes. Virtual reality casino games are effectively blurring the lines between video gaming, esports and gambling.
VR devices used in the game industry are enabled with interactive software and hardware. You can experience or control the VR games by the movement of your body and walk around the artificial world.
Today’s diversity of devices offers freedom of choice of how you would like to interact with the virtual reality. Technology giants, such as HTC, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Facebook, Sony, etc. have all contributed to the industry’s development and introduced their own virtual reality headsets that provide an immersive game experience.
In one of our blog posts, we took an insight into some of the most popular VR platforms for game development and explored what experience you can receive with them. Each of the VR platforms reviewed in the post targets different levels of virtual reality experience, going from those that are struggling to provide the most realistic experience to gamers (HTC Vive), and to those that focus on inexpensive solutions (Samsung Gear VR). And also, those who wish to add value to VR/AR by making it useful for everyday problem-solving.
Bottom line
VR gaming is one of the industries where innovations have taken it to an all-new height. The ideas implemented in virtual reality games are fascinating and fantastic in every sense. The advancement of VR technology has created new opportunities to enhance the connection with the player.
Most of the computer games have a long road ahead to become fully transformed into VR format, but you can reasonably predict that one day it will become mainstream. If you have an idea of how to apply VR/AR in the gaming or any other business industry, Onix team is here to help. Together, we will bring your ideas to life.
