Ubisoft Expresses Reserve Over Virtual Reality Gaming

Virtual reality gaming could be the next big thing, or won’t it? Well obviously there is plenty of interest for it because at GDC 2014, Sony unveiled Project Morpheus which is the company’s take on virtual reality gaming, and the folks at Oculus Rift have announced the pre-orders for the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2.

Heck, there are even rumors that suggests that Microsoft could be getting into the virtual reality gaming industry themselves, although no word on when Microsoft will be making that announcement yet. That being said, it seems the VR is gaining a fair amount of attention but Ubisoft still remains slightly skeptical.

According to Ubisoft’s Vice President of Creative, Lionel Raynaud, he states that virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift or Sony’s Project Morpheus would have to do extremely well before they would consider it viable. Speaking to GameSpot during GDC, Raynaud was quoted as saying, “VR would need to sell at least 1 million units to be viable for development.”

We’re not sure why Ubisoft might be a bit reserved regarding virtual reality. After all shouldn’t they be excited at all the possibilities that would come with such technology? Then again their skepticism and reservations are understandable.

Oculus Rift has yet to release a consumer version of the virtual reality headset and have not given a timeframe as to when we might expect one, and Sony’s current virtual reality headset is still in its prototype stage, once again with no projected timeframe of when the headset would be available for mass consumption.

All of this could mean that despite the cool ideas and the possibilities that VR gaming could bring to the table, it might be too early to get excited since mass availability could be years away from happening. What do you guys think?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Ubisoft, Virtual Reality (VR), Wearable Tech