Virtual Reality Is Getting Organised

With the formation of GVRA, the world of virtual reality seems to be getting to get organised, and push the new-age technology.

Quite high up on the list of significant things that happened this month is the formation of the Global Virtual Reality Association.

Founded by notable virtual reality companies: Acer Starbreeze, Facebook’s Oculus, Google, HTC, and Samsung, the mission of this organization is to promote the development of Virtual Reality globally, in a responsible manner.

In the light of announcements of such new associations, one usually questions the need for an organization of this kind?

Well, for starters, the world of Virtual Reality is quite disorganized at the time, where there are cardboard boxes, on the one hand, being used as tools of VR, and on the other hand are high-end devices costing over USD 1000 a piece.

The technology is available only in a very limited manner and it is quite the more confusing for the intended audience than it is entertaining for them.

What is then important to note is that the GVRA is not an organization meant to bring cross-organization compatibility, or sharing of technology, or making sure that every manufacturer is keeping up to the same standard. It is not a regulatory body, nor the body to set standards of any kind.

Instead what it is, is an Industry Promoter Group, working towards stoking awareness of, and creating interest in Virtual Reality, not only among customers but also among governmental agencies, educators and researchers, alike.

“The goal of the Global Virtual Reality Association is to promote responsible development and adoption of VR globally”, said the group in a release. “The association’s members will develop and share best practices, conduct research, and bring the international VR community together as the technology progresses”.

Most significant industries have bodies of this kind, meant for promotion and lobbying, and working towards ensuring that the size of the pie is expanding. Companies from the entire industry come together for common causes like this; while they can be fierce rivals on the shelves, they need to have each other’s back with the rest of the world.

In this early stage of development, the organization and its participant parties can be expected to concentrate on the development of the hardware. As far as software and content are concerned, for now, there is a very limited existence of the two of those, primarily owing to the very limited targetable audience. There is a lot of scope for the development of that, but that is a rather long term idea, instead of a short-term one.

What needs be developed at this time, is a sustainable VR hardware standard, like we have for smartphones, and tablets, and computers — most of which in the market, are quite similar and quite comprehensible to an average man.

At this time in the device market, the scope for Virtual and Augmented Reality market is valued in the ballpark of $5.2 billion. By the year 2020, the expected growth of the market is at least a dozen folds, with the revenues expected to be in the ballpark of $160 billion!

Add to that, that the potential for application of VR and AR is very wide ranging — from arts to entertainment, to science, to healthcare, to real estate. With this amazing a scope, the industry is actually faced with nascent problems, like content development, and solutions for things like motion sickness that can be a result of experiencing virtual reality at times.

Most of the VR industry has until now been led by companies that were start-ups, that were subsequently acquired by big industry players. GVRA should bring them some kind of stability. While the startups will always have a space to disrupt the market, the GVRA should bring a platform for them to all come together and open up to the much-needed conversation in the regards to VR, helping the market, in the end, grow for everyone.

Originally published at Chip-Monks.