The virtual reality (VR) gaming market is forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of above 67% between 2017-2021, according to a new market study by Technavio.
The research report notes that the global VR market has been positively influenced by the adoption of VR gaming among gamers, with the gaming market strongly supporting the sales of VR headsets.
Samsung, HTC, Sony, Oculus VR, and Google have emerged as the major competitors in the industry, and the presence of these brands is expected to raise the awareness of VR technology among consumers.
Ujjwal Doshi, a lead media and entertainment services research analyst at Technavio, says,
“Leading smartphone vendors came up with VR headsets that can be integrated with smartphones to provide an enhanced viewing and gaming experience.
“For instance, Samsung introduced Gear VR, and HTC introduced VIVE.
“The increasing awareness of VR technology will drive the global VR gaming market during the forecast period.”
The largest competitors that have already entered in the market will likely acquire smaller start-ups to gain a competitive edge over their rivals in the market.
As the adoption of VR headsets increases, demand for new VR content in the gaming market will increase too.
Hardware manufacturers are expected to invest more in R&D to come up with software compatible with their own hardware products, such as new games.
And as VR headsets become more mainstream among consumers, major game developers will begin showing more interest in the creation and commercial release of gaming content across multiple VR platforms.
Number of Mobile VR users expected to more than double over the forecast period.
Mobile devices have become the most common medium of gaming. Last year, 66% of mobile device users played games on their devices at least once a month, with 7% of them being VR gamers. The number of VR mobile gamers is set to more than double over the forecast period.
“During the forecast period, the number of mobile device gamers is likely to increase to 77%, with 15% of them being VR gamers. The VR technology on mobile devices is growing at the fastest rate. Its increasing popularity will drive the growth of the VR gaming market during the forecast period,” added Ujjwal.