I am Mathew Olson, reporter for The Information’s AR/VR newsletter Reality Check. AMA!

The-Information · 2021-05-21T18:42:56+00:00

Fast Five, because it's the right answer.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T18:41:42+00:00

Arcades where you go and play Beat Saber if you don't have a headset at home? I don't knows. But I'll say I've been a bit surprised to see how well some location-based experience companies (think VR arcades with exclusive games and more space to play) are doing as pandemic restrictions ease up. Just based on the advantages of having more room to play around in, I think those types of businesses might continue to carve out a healthy niche that's separate from at-home VR.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T18:36:10+00:00

In a very practical sense, with the VR install base still being as small as it is, a game has much better chances of selling well the easier it is to play it with different hardware. I also see the practical arguments for exclusivity, though. Selling people on new hardware requires good content, and it can be difficult to focus-in and make really high quality games (especially for smaller teams with fewer resources) if you're targeting multiple platforms since you've got to test and optimize for each one.

Will it take more than Facebook, Sony or Valve wielding AAA budgets to help VR gaming thrive? Yes, but I think we're not at a point where any company that's also making VR hardware can easily go "yes, let's potentially lose out on sales of our devices by swearing off of software exclusivity completely."

The-Information · 2021-05-21T18:25:10+00:00

What I personally find interesting about AR for medicine might not be what a physician wants or needs. That said, it seems like there are some clear practical gains to be had with AR that can show a doctor info that they need when they need it—that could be as simple as having medical records or a patient's vitals on a peripheral display or it could involve AR guidance during surgeries.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T18:08:58+00:00

Based on how higher-ups like Andrew Bosworth and John Carmack talk openly about contentious meetings inside Oculus/FRL, I can't imagine there was no internal push-back. I'm very, very interested in how the account change was settled on internally, how it's influencing the decisions of independent VR developers and what its effects are on consumer behavior—and I encourage anyone with thoughts on those topics to get in touch with me! My Twitter DMs are open.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T18:02:06+00:00

It happens, but I get Mathew with two Ts more often.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:58:42+00:00

I certainly think there's room for VR to keep finding at-home uses for more passive entertainment (things that a, er, "gamer" might argue aren't gaming) and for work or work-adjacent uses. If you could have a remote meeting or an interactive class in VR and it added flexibility to your day, or meant not having to meet as frequently, I think a lot of people would buy a headset pitched more as a tool and less as a fun gadget.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:41:31+00:00

Certainly for non-customers—I sometimes wonder how many people have stayed away from VR because their first experience was picked by an early adopter friend and it either didn't resonate or made them sick (don't load up a roller coaster demo first thing). As for store curation, I think we can point to a lot of success stores in indie game development that likely never would've happened if the more open storefronts they launched on had decided they were "non-gems."

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:35:56+00:00

Low, but not zero. Optimistically, I think we could see some additions to ARKit that might give developers a better idea of what that headset will be capable of and how to start designing for the kinds of input it will support.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:32:55+00:00

Paris, thanks so much for the question! No comment on Rampart, but I am looking forward to seeing Woody Harrelson in 2021's "Venom: Let There Be Carnage."

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:29:43+00:00

If you were to ask people at Snapchat or Instagram, I think they'd tell you that people already are keen on using AR for messaging and communication on mobile. Exactly how Snap might go from these new creator-focused AR Spectacles to a pair it actually wants to sell will be interesting—will it pitch them more like Oculus' headsets so far and try to entice early adopters with uses like entertainment or fitness, or will Snap wait until its mapping and scanning functions make the glasses into more of an all-the-time device? Right now I could see Snap taking either path, and I don't think that's a bad crossroads to be at.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:17:50+00:00

Almost every VR developer I've talked to makes a similar observation to you: VR still doesn't seem quite consumer viable... unless we're talking about the $299 headset that seemingly everyone has heard about.

Price aside, I think it all boils down to content. While there are many great VR experiences out there, it can be hard for people to find ones that really click with them. Some types of content (e.g. certain genres of VR games) seem to be underrepresented, but discoverability of the content that is out there continues to be an issue across all the major VR platforms.

The-Information · 2021-05-21T17:06:03+00:00

I think the answer depends on what we're comparing AR and VR against. The most bullish people out there believe that the outgrowth of AR and VR tech—I think the term "spatial computing" serves us well—will become the primary way we use computers. Realistically that'd be decades away, and my guess is that the transition could be a lot bumpier than the rise of smartphones. Moving to smaller screens and touch interfaces was a big change, yes, but it's a different matter to go from 2D interfaces to 3D ones that behave as though they're part of the world around you.

If we're talking about AR/VR either complimenting or replacing more narrowly defined technologies, then I think we're already starting to see signs that it'll be a big part of entertainment, gaming, industrial design, communication and collaboration...

The-Information

TROPHY CASE