What seemed like science fiction dreams a decade ago, is now a reality for VR and AR technologies — which have rapidly transformed from abstract theories to practical tools with real potential behind them & altered the acumen of both entertainment and enterprise sectors. We have now entered the early years of this 21st century where these immersive technologies are not only reshaping and expanding how we play games or consume media but also changing businesses’ work, training employees & engaging customers.
The Entertainment Revolution
Gaming: A New Dimension of Play
VR has been all the rage, with many consumers who have adopted these devices being gamers. Immersive gameplay became all the more real with VR headsets like Oculus Quest, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VQR. With all the different virtual reality games available, from nerve-wracking horror experiences to giant open-world adventures like Minecraft, there’s a new degree of immersion and interactivity that is on offer.
I’m considering VR, because popular games such as “Half-Life: Alyx” show us a better way to tell stories using the medium while social destinations like “VRChat” and “Rec Room” revolutionize online human interaction. Similarly, the physical nature of VR gaming opens novel pathways for fitness by easily converting exercise into a game; “Beat Saber” and “Supernatural,” among others can elevate heart rates while being quite fun.
Film and Television: Immersive Storytelling
Film and Television Industry – VR is also revolutionizing the film & television industry. New types of narrative storytelling have emerged, like the 360-degree videos above and VR short films. Not only do festivals —including Sundance and Tribeca— now host VR film closets to tout the artistic chops of this newfangled medium.
But AR is also improving instead of replacing traditional viewing experiences. An application, such as Pokemon GO has demonstrated how AR is capable of merging digital content with the real world and developing new types of interactive entertainment. As AR technology matures, we can foresee more use cases in live events sports broadcasts, and interactive television experiences.
Enterprise Applications: Transforming Business Operations
Training and Simulation
VR has been the leader in this space for years, but one of its least glamorous and now most important use cases: is training & simulation. From healthcare to manufacturing, industries are using VR to generate safe but still repeatable training settings that would be costly or dangerous in reality.
Surgeons can perform advanced training and practice complex procedures in VR worlds, or maintenance technicians to train in repairing expensive machinery without the risk of real-world assets. VR training is inherently more immersive than traditional methods and usually results in higher retention rates as well as performance.
Design and Prototyping
VR and AR are transforming how things are designed, even in fields such as automotive or aerospace. This means that engineers can make and edit 3D models in virtual space, which speeds up the design revision process tremendously and allows for multi-region collaboration. Not only does this shave valuable time from the design process, but fewer physical prototypes are needed which is a boon for both reducing costs and ensuring you have the required resources.
AR is best adapted to the final stages of product development. Examples include automotive designers overlaying digital designs onto physical car models with AUTORAY™ for real-time design look and feel changes using augmented reality.
Remote Collaboration and Virtual Meetings
The adoption of remote work technologies was even further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and VR could be the next step in bringing virtual collaboration to a new level. Companies like Yonder Dynamics create virtual worlds where remote teams can come together and interact in the same room, with full spatial audio and even 3D objects that you could pass between participants.
As we see these technologies develop more, it might lead to a move away from traditional video conferencing and towards more immersive VR-driven collaboration tools that mimic in-person dynamics.
Customer Experience and Retail
It is leading to a retail revolution with AR combining mobile commerce, image recognition, and physical to digital experiences — allowing shoppers to visualize the products in their homes before they decide what else might look good on that wall. Examples include AR apps that assist furniture retailers such as IKEA, allowing customers to view how an item would appear in their home; and beauty brands enabling a virtual experience for trying on makeup products.
The real estate industry offers VR property tours as a service, which gives prospects the option to ‘walk through’ homes from anywhere around the globe. This not only saves time for both agents and clients but also brings new opportunities to the long-distance estate business.
Challenges and Future Outlook
While allowing for some innovative use cases, VR and AR do still come with challenges to solve. The screen door effect in VR headsets and greater use comfort of lighter and more comfortable devices are constant areas where the limit has not yet been reached. Aside from advanced technological requirements, crafting truly immersive VR and AR experiences is still very costly in terms of time and resources which could also serve as a deterrent for some small businesses or content creators.
Issues of privacy and data security are also magnified as more detailed data about movement and environment is collected from these technologies.
However, as technology evolves and becomes more advanced of course we should only expect to see VR/AR become incorporated into our everyday experiences working in unison with us. 5G networks will supercharge the development of cloud-based VR and AR experiences that rival more powerful desktop content, while advancements in haptic feedback tech continue to push immersion levels further still.
Conclusion
But today VR and AR are more than just technologies of games; they go far beyond entertainment. Their influence is profound, changing the function of businesses and training employees/ customers across all walks of. At this rate, we will continue to see more innovative applications in different industries as these technologies mature.
VR and AR are also becoming big players in education, healthcare, urban planning, and space travel — the list goes on. Moving forward, businesses as well as individuals must be aware of such technologies and the positive impacts they can have in terms of productivity, creativity, and human experiences.