With the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 in full swing and VR set to be on the agenda for many attendees, today we showcase one of the latest additions to GWI’s survey: ownership of VR headsets by region.
Despite the hype surrounding VR, devices supporting this technology remain very niche – just 3% report having a VR headset. North America posts the strongest figures by region, but even here it stands at just 5% (with many of these devices likely to be simple examples of the technology, like Google Cardboard).
The nature of this technology sets it apart from the lifestyle use-cases of smartphones and smartwatches. But while its addressable market may be narrow, it’s perfectly suited to certain genres of entertainment, with gaming being one of the most obvious. In fact, an impressive 12% of PlayStation 4 users already have a VR headset. Again, many of these headsets may be low-tech versions of VR, but any anticipated hardware innovations or content pushes will be sure to make a splash in the gaming community.