Virtual Reality's Potential and Failures: From Oculus Quest to Smart Working

The article explores the history and current state of Virtual Reality (VR), from its conceptual origins with Antonin Artaud in 1938 to the present day. Despite early enthusiasm in the 1980s and 1990s, VR failed commercially, with Nintendo's Virtual Boy being a notable failure. The modern era began with Palmer Luckey and John Carmack's Oculus Rift, acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $3 billion. Major companies like Google, HTC, Sony, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft entered the market, but by 2017 VR was seen as a bubble. The Oculus Quest, launched in May 2019, sparked a revolution due to its standalone nature, room-scale tracking, and relatively low cost (€449). It expanded the VR audience, with 90% of Quest buyers at Christmas 2019 being new Oculus users. VR's most successful game, Beat Saber, sold over 2 million copies. VR is also used for training, education, product promotion, and remote collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, VR has seen renewed interest for smart working and virtual events. Experts like Fabio Mosca (AnotheReality) and Andrea Antonelli (Orwell VR) highlight VR's potential for social connection and location-based entertainment, with the latter reporting 76% annual growth in location-based VR.