As per reports, it is unlikely that Xbox will release any VR titles very soon.
Matt Booty, the CEO of Xbox Game Studios, thinks that the market for virtual reality and augmented reality is now too small to be profitable. When asked whether Xbox Game Studios could envision a push into VR or AR, Booty responded that it would take a VR game to reach approximately 10 million plays for it to be worthwhile for Microsoft.
Booty was reported as saying that it is a wait game for them until there is an audience there. They have been fortunate to have received the big IPs that are franchises with big communities. They have received 10 games, which have attracted over 10 million players and are a big accomplishment. This is the kind of scale that is needed for achieving success for the game, and it is not there with AR, VR yet. Xbox is still, at best, a curious VR viewer. Even in 2021, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer underlined that the company wants to concentrate on software rather than hardware while praising Sony, Meta, and Valve for their advancements in virtual reality.
PlayStation VR2 has a probability of outselling its predecessor, which sold five million copies in 2019, according to Sony President Hiroki Totoki in March. As per to Sony, PS VR2 outsold the first model during the initial launch window by almost 600,000 copies after its February release. As of now, Meta has purportedly sold about 20 million of its Quest VR headsets, according to reports from the business earlier this year. Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, came under fire in November 2019 for remarks he made about virtual reality that some saw as derisive of the technology.
He described virtual reality as a specialised and “isolating” medium that doesn’t fit with his idea of gaming as a “communal” activity, adding that “nobody’s asking for VR” in terms of Xbox consumer feedback. Later, the Xbox boss amended his remarks, saying that while he “loves” that the games industry is breaking new ground in several industries, VR is not their focus.
Sony’s PlayStation has been a direct competitor to Microsoft’s Xbox. Both manufacturers have worked to create distinctive marketing characteristics for their products throughout the years. Sony then created the PlayStation VR, while Microsoft tried its hand at motion control with the disappointing Kinect. The two biggest competitors today are Sony’s PlayStation VR 2 and Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft presently favours testing out specialised cloud gaming.
Booty was also reported as saying that it is a very small market at present. In fact, it cannot even be called a market. It is very popular with a limited audience. Hence, it is something experimental, and they are trying to see how it works. In addition, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced intentions to introduce Xbox Cloud Gaming to the Quest platform at Meta Connect 2022. A launch date has not yet been disclosed by Microsoft or Meta.
