Rynek VR/AR

According to statistics from International Data Corporation, sales in the global market of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) headsets in 2021 increased by 92.1 percent. As of 2020, it was 11.2 million units. Enterprise Apps Today predicts that VR / AR headset sales will reach 14.9 million units in 2022. Thus, the global market can definitely see a growing demand for equipment based on this technology.

In 2021, the Asia-Pacific region boasted the largest number of VR/AR headsets sold. This information did not come as much of a surprise to market observers, but it is worth noting that just behind it in the rating was the region of Western Europe. Interestingly, sales growth in this region increased by 35% compared to the previous year.

Types of virtual reality technologies:

We distinguish between 3 categories of virtual reality modeling

• Non-immersive
• Semi-immersive
• Fully immersive

The analysis mainly focuses on solutions from the Fully Immersive category. It allows you to fully immerse yourself in the virtual space around us.

Types of fully immersive virtual reality solutions are also divided into categories. For the most part, this is:

• Head Mounted Display (HMD)

A head-mounted VR headset is the most immersive tool on the VR market (so-called VR glasses). They allow you to completely transfer the user to a virtual 3D space.

• Gesture Tracking Devices (GTD)

Devices or software that track and analyze gestures, allowing the user to experience virtual projections even more deeply.

• Projector and display walls (PDW)

Technologies that allow you to experience virtual reality through images displayed using a series of devices or a device that allows you to project projections in the real world.

Fortune Business Insight statistics show that the most commonly used type of fully impressive solution was VR glasses (HMD). Their share in the VR market was more than 30% compared to other devices in the category of simulation types and fully immersive solutions. This is understandable, due to the very high level of depth of experience offered by these devices. In addition, their availability and price are certainly more accessible to potential audiences compared to other technologies. All this, given the dynamic progress associated with the development of HMD device technologies and their growing capabilities, contributes to an increase in investment in this area.

Particular interest in VR technologies is observed, in particular, in the United States. Admittedly, they didn’t make the list of regions where glasses sold best last year, but they did create the potential to fight for the top spot on the podium in the years to come. According to IDC statistics, 78% of Americans are already familiar with the concept of VR/AR technology. According to Insider Intelligence, almost 20% of the North American population already has direct access to it. Previous projections also show that in 2021, nearly 59 million Americans will use VR technology, and 93.3 million will use AR technology at least once a month.

Looking at the statistics, we can see, first of all, the huge projected growth associated with the popularity of VR technology in the coming years. This can be a key factor that will contribute to the promotion of new revolutionary solutions related to this technology in the future.

In addition, the TechCrunch report shows that during the year, the number of VR startups increased by 14% compared to the previous year. The increase in the number of startups has helped to increase competitiveness in the market, which leads to increased competition between enterprises. This high level of competition can result in a significant improvement in the quality of the virtual reality solutions available on the market.

For what purposes was XR (VR/AR/MR) most often used in 2022?

In the first place is the gaming industry, followed by the health and educationsectors. However, statistics also indicate the opportunities / potential of a particular industry compared to the actual investment directed in this area. According to data provided by Perkins Coie, there are currently many areas that still have significant space that can be developed by developers.

Average age of users:

According to the results of the Enterprise Apps today report, the largest age group exposed to virtual reality technology is people aged 25 to 34 years. They account for up to 35% of the total number. In older age groups, the popularity of this technology is declining. However, it is worth noting that the second age group is people aged 16 to 24 years. They make up just under 1% of the difference compared to the leading group. Thus, we can say that VR is a technology aimed mainly at young people. It is probably this generation that will have the greatest impact on the further creation of the virtual world in the future.

The biggest players in the VR market.

List of the largest corporations involved in VR production:

• Google LLC (California, United States)
• Oculus Quest (Meta Platforms Inc.) (California, United States)
• Sony Corporation (Tokyo, Japan)
• Unity Technologies (California, United States)
• HTC Corporation (Taoyuan City, Taiwan)
• Microsoft Corporation (Washington, United States)
• Autodesk Inc. (California, United States)
• Epic Games Inc. (Cary, United States)
• Sixense Enterprises Inc. (California, United States)
• Pico Interactive Inc. (California, United States)
• Eon Reality Inc. (California, United States)
• Dassault Systèmes SE (Vélizy-Villacoublay, France)
• Apple Inc. (California, United States)
• Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Suwon-si, South Korea)
• Lenovo Group Ltd. (Quarry Bay, Hong Kong)
• Sensics, Inc. (Maryland, United States)
• Ultraleap Ltd. (Bristol, England)
• StarVR Corporation (Taipei, Taiwan)
• Crytek GmbH (Frankfurt, Germany)

The list includes all players who create Big Tech, and other representatives of well-known global brands. This has a huge impact on the strength of investment in this industry. VR technology is one of the few that is in the range of interests of such significant players in the global market. This is primarily due to the intensive investment associated with the development of virtual reality and the growing importance of this industry. These are representatives of companies with huge industrial power, providing most of the most significant technological solutions in the world.

Among them, there are companies that have been involved in software development for many years, but also those that are just entering this particular market. An example is Apple, which for many years has been mainly engaged in AR solutions (for example, Apple AR Kit), but is soon going to debut its own set of VR headsets and join the competition of giants.

Among these companies, there are also those whose VR is gradually becoming a trademark. An example is Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Corp. Inc.), which completely changed its structure to become even more involved in the virtual reality solutions business.

In addition to these two types of businesses, there are also companies that exclusively distribute software related to this technology. They allow developers to create applications and software by providing their own engines for creating three-dimensional and two-dimensional computer games or other interactive materials, such as Unity Technologies.

Metaverse Potential

According to Forbes magazine, which bases its thesis on statistics collected from the Greenlight Insights study, 7.7% of VR users indicate a desire for greater social participation in virtual reality. This is very good news for companies involved in creating the Metaverse, because social interactions are the main feature of meta-worlds. In this regard, VR is only evolving, so there is plenty of room for small businesses to shine in this particular area. The metaverse will not only contribute to user expectations, but its growth can further build the vision of the Internet 2.0.

Currently, many companies are creating their own Metaverse, but this does not mean that only one of them will succeed. There is a strong possibility that in the future there may be a centralization of emerging meta-worlds in order to calm the emerging concepts and create a single common space. The development of cloud gaming technology can have a big impact on the fate of Metaveras.

Metaverse vs Internet.

Unlike the Internet, which was not originally intended for the entire society, but was just a project compiled at CERN by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cayo, the Metaverse was created for people from the very beginning. The history of the Internet has been shaped by our society, but it was never supposed to be its target audience. The way the Internet was formed is an interweaving of the genius of the World Wide Web project and pure chance related to how society will use it. The world of the Metaverse assumes from the very beginning that it will be created by people and created with them in mind. This is a project in which society plays a key role in further developing this concept. Without the society involved in the project, the Metaverse will not exist. Therefore, all updates, as well as ideas related to the further development of the meta-world vision, are created mainly with the audience in mind. Especially recently, we have seen that the ways of the Internet have taken an unexpected turn to destroy the unity of our society and create ever greater divisions. Unfortunately, it is increasingly becoming a place of hatred, a place where we can feel less and less safe. Our privacy is violated on a daily basis by all sorts of tracking mechanisms, and the commercialization of our values has become the sole purpose of this tool. VR, together with the concept of the Metaverse, allows us to once again strive for that lost unity. At the same time, it allows us to develop our individuality and independence in the virtual world that the Internet is destroying. Jeremy Beilenson, director of the Stanford Virtual Laboratory for Human Interaction, in an interview with American Public Radio International said“’VR makes you feel like you’re finally with someone when you’re on a social network-you see their emotions and gestures, and you feel like you’re in a room with them.’It is extremely important not to lose yourself in a global village full of fake trends, fake news and hidden identities. Chamat Palihapitiya, former vice president of Facebook, said during a speech at Stanford University: ‘The short-lived, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying society as we knowit. As a result, they spread a lack of civil discourse, an inability to cooperate, misinformation, and mistakes.”The metaverse can be a turningpoint that will allow us, as a society, to get back on the right track of relationships and correct the mistakes made during the development of the Internet.

The biggest obstacles to mass adoption of VR.

The main obstacle to mass adoption is still the user experience. They are mainly related to the size of modern hardware and hardware failures, as well as to movement center disturbances caused by simulations. Second on the list is still limited VR content. However, both of these points refer to the time when this technology is currently in use. At an alarming rate, the capabilities of modern equipment are growing and, as a result, user expectations. VR loses a lot because it continues to be compared to the capabilities of desktops and consoles, which are themselves massive, heavy, and hard to imagine being used in the form of HMD. Hence, I think the comparison is not so much inappropriate as it is harmful for this technology, because its purpose is not to lie in the corner of the room, but to wear it on your head. So it’s hard to fit the comparable power of desktop hardware into VR glasses, with its half-kilometer weight. However, manufacturers of glasses see the problem and try to make new equipment, reducing its weight and area, increasing its capabilities. Here I will again turn to cloud games, which in the future will allow you to get power from the manufacturer’s server, and not directly from the hardware itself. So this is a glasses problem that we have an answer for at the moment, and as developers, we are just waiting for it to be implemented. Cloud gaming technology is already available for desktop users thanks to services such as Google Play. Gefortsenov. So it’s only a matter of time before similar solutions appear in our glasses in the future.

For problems related to movement center disruptions for new users, this is also a problem likely related to modern technology. I used the word probably because many things can indicate that this is also a problem related to the fact that the user himself is not adapting. Symptoms associated with discomfort when using glasses disappear with regular switching to VR. Therefore, it is recommended that the first sessions do not exceed, as a rule, 5-10 minutes, so that your body can first adapt accordingly. This is the same situation as when driving a car. The discomfort associated with driving is mainly experienced by children, and this is not at all related to their age, but to adaptation to this type of movement. Our bodies, when using VR, are just as confused as when a child is traveling by car for the first time. It must transform the fact that, even though the body is in place, the visual signals received from the environment indicate that a shift is taking place. At the beginning, a set of imitative symptoms can really resemble the symptoms of motion sickness, and this is a question that is strictly related to the type of movement that is new to our body in a given space. Technological challenges can be justified by the fact that we are still striving to improve the way VR moves – hence, many apps offer different settings related to the movement mode. They are regularly improved, and their number increases regularly over time. Despite this, however, work is underway to expand the capabilities of VR treadmills, which will completely eliminate this problem. Many options for such equipment are already available, but for price reasons, these solutions are still not available to the average user. However, there are many indications that the industry will seek to mainstream this kind of solution in the future.

Another problem is the limited amount of content. However, for us developers, this is just a workspace. Every new app is a new solution.

What does the future of VR / AR gaming look like?

In January 2022, a group of 2,700 game developers from around the world conducted a study to determine how many of them are currently engaged in the production of VR/AR games and for which platforms they intend to create them. 43% of respondents said that they are currently engaged in the production of VR/AR solutions, 40% of which link the launch of their game with the Oculus platform. There is not an extremely positive overwhelming result for the further development of the VR / AR industry and certainly also very good news for the owners of Meta Inc. – the owner of Oculus. Given the growing number of startups associated with VR / AR technology, we can also conclude that this number will increase in the coming years.

The global VR / AR market in 2030. 

According to the Values Reports report, the global value of the VR / AR market will grow by more than 30 times by 2030 compared to 2020. Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) – an indicator used to calculate the average annual growth rate for the period under study, is up to 40.7% (other studies show up to 41.50%). Currently, this is one of the highest results among technological solutions used in the world. Thus, it is safe to say that VR / AR solutions are the future of humanity. It is estimated that more than 23 million jobs will be boosted by VR/AR technologies worldwide by 2030.

EPICVR

Since 2013, we have been working in the market of advanced VR / AR solutions. During this time, we have created many cutting-edge projects for business clients. Our commercial solutions m.in advanced virtual and augmented reality training systems, VR training games, solutions for Industry 4.0 products, tools to promote the development of soft office workers ‘ competencies, VR systems for remote work, VR training for aviation, medicine, VR+AR tools to facilitate sales and support marketing.

Such an internship in the market gives us a certain advantage over our competitors and other participants who are just starting their adventure with VR and AR technologies. During this period, our team has definitely grown, and with it our portfolio and experience. We have earned the trust of dozens of companies that have entrusted us with the implementation of their projects. We have created a vision and set goals that we are approaching every day.

Projects

During the period of the company’s activity, by 2022, we have already implemented more than 50 commercial projects for our partners. Many of them, thanks to us, were able to start the process of industrialization 4.0 in their business and implement modern technological solutions in them, ahead of their competitors.

We are currently focused on harnessing the educational potential of virtual reality by developing our training applications. We also implement projects related to the implementation of applications for healthcare and rehabilitation. In addition to projects designed for the needs of our clients, we implement our own vision of VR Gaming.

Training, healthcare, and the gaming industry are the three most developed industries at the moment. We want to participate in the changes that the global adoption of VR/AR technologies entails. We believe that with our experience and the commitment of our team, we can compete with other players in the market. We have repeatedly proved that entrusting us with the project implementation is the best solution for our partners.

Investments, financing, contests

• Intermediary Institution National Research and Development Center
• Smart Development Operational Program 2014-2020
• Priority axis support for R & D by enterprises
• Activities and R & D projects of enterprises
• Divisions, industrial research and development performed by enterprises
• Development of tools for implementing reliable and realistic interactions in a virtual environment using multisensory methods ‘ within the framework of the Bridge Alpha program
• Contest 1/1. 1. 1/2021-Fast track ‘ innovative training tool to facilitate the development of multi-user mode in VR applications”

Summary of EpicVR’s activities in 2022.

2022 was an exceptionally generous period for our company. The SATUS Games Investment Fund invested 1.2 million zlotys in our company. We have signed a funding agreement with NCBR (National Research and Development Center) in the amount of 5 million zlotys in the framework of the project ‘Innovative training tool to facilitate the development of multi-user mode in VR applications” The work is based on the creation of a tool designed for both creators and users of the Metaverse. In addition, the new tools also allowed us to start working on the VR adaptation of the game ‘Builder Simulator‘ and our author’s project “Reptile Park”. In addition, we have also implemented many commercial projects with our partners m.in PZU, Allegro, and Toyota. We are currently working with Rossmann. This year has really inspired us, and we are glad that once again so many people have trusted us and entrusted us with the realization of their vision. This year has been a positive boost for us. It has pushed us to go higher and higher, and we are not going to stop at anything in the next one.

Matching market expectations

We are gradually expanding the network of our partners. In doing so, we focus on creating milestones that we complete later. We strive to expand our offer more and more with new solutions, expanding our staff with new people and positions. We recognize the potential of the Metaverse and VR games. We strive to maximize the development of these two important issues in our industry. We are implementing a strategy that allows us to develop our audience as well. We actively work in social networks and try to cooperate with more and more important market participants to make our brand more recognizable. We understand the expectations of the market, so our next goal will be to realize the vision of the Metaverse and enter the gaming industry with pleasure. Adapting Builder Simulator will allow us to bring the wide audience of this game closer to us, which will allow us to better disclose the author’s Reptile Park project in the future. We also study the challenges faced by users starting out in VR to ensure that they experience the most comfortable gameplay experience possible. The first impression is very important,and contact with the wrong productions, already at the start, can potentially throw off those interested. However, we also want to continue our work with other partners. Industry 4.0 is the future, and with our expertise in this area, we have the potential to become a precursor, at least in the Polish VR market. Thus, the implementation of VR training and education will remain an integral part of our work. We know that our company has a place in the market, and we try to make the most of it.

We are fully aware that the potential audience for our apps will be mostly young people, so we are building our team with them in mind. Our team is also mostly them, which is why I understand their expectations and assumptions so well. We know that in the distant future, it is precisely these people who are just starting to get acquainted with VR today who can become our future potential partners in further developing its potential.

Many companies in Europe and the world are just waking up in search of people, experience and funding due to the massive growth of interest in VR/AR technologies. They will only learn about it and take the first steps. While we’ve been doing this for years.