Games makers wary over virtual reality

Many companies are taking a wait-and-see approach on virtual reality. Photo / Bloomberg

The enthusiasm over virtual reality hasn't extended to one key corner of the video game industry: the companies that make the most popular games. At last week's E3 conference, representatives from Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and Take-Two said they were taking a wait-and-see approach to virtual reality. None are planning on having games ready for next year, when Oculus and Morpheus headsets will go on sale for the first time.

"We haven't seen the commercial release of the hardware. We haven't seen commercial release of any software," says Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of Take-Two, makers of Grand Theft Auto. "We're intrigued. We're doing a lot of homework. I think it remains to be seen what that format is."

Laura Miele, senior vice-president for publishing at Electronic Arts, says the company's past experiences chasing every trend in gaming has left it circumspect about losing focus.

While EA does have some early prototypes of virtual reality content, Miele thinks it will be years before the company sells games for headsets. "We'll not miss an opportunity, but we're not porting all of our games or having a huge rush to be in VR right now," she says.

The reluctance stems from uncertainty as to whether there's real money to be made in virtual reality yet, says Joseph Evans, an analyst who covers gaming for Enders Analysis. Compared to console games, there won't be much in sales at first. "For all the buzz, we just don't know the level of consumer demand, and I see no reason they couldn't get up to speed very quickly once the market is there," says Evans.

Because no one yet knows what makes a good virtual reality game, publishers who excel at making expansive experiences for consoles won't necessarily have an advantage over smaller shops experimenting with new types of games. The most successful smartphone games have generally come from companies that emerged to focus on mobile, rather than from well-known publishers making games for other devices.

Some publishers that concentrate primarily on consoles are showing more interest in virtual reality. Ubisoft, for instance, showed at this year's conference a number of prototypes it has been working on. But most of the action in virtual reality seems set to come from the hardware companies themselves, as well as from smaller developers willing to take risks. Oculus recently announced it would invest US$10 million ($14.6 million) to help independent developers create software for its headsets.

-Bloomberg