One Million people used GearVR in April

SEANMCAD

I very honestly dont know if that number is significant or not. I can go look at other devices and uses to build a baseline if anyone would like me to.
That said, Oculus said that its more than they expected and they tend (in my view) have overly oppositmistic estimates which suggest a million is a lot.
Is that 100,000 people sharing their headset with 10 people? I dont know.

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601439/oculus-says-over-a-million-people-used-gear-vr-headsets-in-april/

Mavolence

That's cool.

Man, i've never quite had an experience in gaming like using the Vive. I'm simply just blown away. Absolutely in love with it.

scorpex-x

This is like the registered players of failing mmorpg titles that want to mislead people, garbage number.  Considering it's a garbage number it should be higher than that.

Mavolence

Maybe it's including like all the people who demo'd it too? They brought one in to the university and there must have been 1000's that tried it at the uni alone. 

ceratop001

I really enjoyed reading that article and I thank you for posting it Seancad..

I quoted the article you linked, "Improvements like these will take a while, but I’m willing to wait: when you do get a truly immersive virtual-reality experience, like some of the ones I had, it’s riveting—even in 20-minute increments. In the meantime, I’ll be spending my non-nauseous time in the Oculus Rift shuffling between my kayak and flying carpet."

I find that statement very telling, because even with the current problems VR really does have; people seem so impacted by their short immersive experience they are willing to put up with many of the current flaws.

SEANMCAD

Mavolence said:

Maybe it's including like all the people who demo'd it too? They brought one in to the university and there must have been 1000's that tried it at the uni alone. 

right exactly. not really sure.

The part of the article I found interesting was that its higher then Oculus expected because those guys tend to have high expectations to start with and I am sure when considering numbers they know situations like you just described will happen. Just how often is anyones guess I would think.

SEANMCAD

ceratop001 said:

I really enjoyed reading that article and I thank you for posting it Seancad..

I quoted the article you linked, "Improvements like these will take a while, but I’m willing to wait: when you do get a truly immersive virtual-reality experience, like some of the ones I had, it’s riveting—even in 20-minute increments. In the meantime, I’ll be spending my non-nauseous time in the Oculus Rift shuffling between my kayak and flying carpet."

I find that statement very telling, because even with the current problems VR really does have; people seem so impacted by their short immersive experience they are willing to put up with many of the current flaws.

agreed.

I personally can go well into a few hours of content myself the time depends on the content itself and the lighting in the experience but that aside

The entire porn industry exists because of under 20 mins experiences so yeah...that time limit is really not an issue. One might want to debate over calling a 20 min experience a game or not but regardless of that its still relevant

Phaserlight

scorpex-x said:

This is like the registered players of failing mmorpg titles that want to mislead people, garbage number.  Considering it's a garbage number it should be higher than that.

I'll do my best not to flame you, here, but, what is the point of posting something like this?  'It's trash, and because I say it's trash, it ought to be higher'...  I don't think you have any idea how they arrived at that number, so why assume misdirection?  Oculus has a little more weight than you do, here.

1 million people using GearVR-flavored Virtual Reality is an encouraging number however you slice it, particularly after some estimates I've read putting Vive's current user base around 50,000.  This is especially important as it might attract more devs willing to put in the time to create better experiences for the platform.

SEANMCAD

Phaserlight said:

scorpex-x said:

This is like the registered players of failing mmorpg titles that want to mislead people, garbage number.  Considering it's a garbage number it should be higher than that.

I'll do my best not to flame you, here, but, what is the point of posting something like this?  'It's trash, and because I say it's trash, it ought to be higher'...  I don't think you have any idea how they arrived at that number, so why assume misdirection?  Oculus has a little more weight than you do, here.

1 million people using GearVR-flavored Virtual Reality is an encouraging number however you slice it, particularly after some estimates I've read putting Vive's current user base around 50,000.  This is especially important as it might attract more devs willing to put in the time to create better experiences for the platform.

and what I would be curious to learn is situations like @Mavolence example. If a teacher brings in a GearVR for demo for his class and they pass it around is that counted as one or all in the class. I think the answer would depend on if each user has to log out the previous user and then log in themselves which I doubt is how such an example worked. 

syntax42

SEANMCAD said:

I very honestly dont know if that number is significant or not. 

GearVR is a headset for high-end Samsung phones that they gave away for free.  It doesn't translate well into statistics for computer-based headsets.

If you want to compare them to the gaming market anyways, you need to know how big the gaming market is.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/15/10212980/pew-surveys-the-american-public-in-gaming-and-gamers-

Given those numbers, I would suspect only gaming enthusiasts would be willing to purchase a headset, while the other 40% would play but a purchase would be out of their budget range.  That means the potential market for VR headsets is probably around 30 million in the US, and another 70 million or so if you include the EU, which tends to have similar demographics.  One million in a potential market of 100 million is only 1%.

goboygo

Odd how many people want VR to fail, my guess is its the people that cant afford them.........

Ridelynn

goboygo said:

Odd how many people want VR to fail, my guess is its the people that cant afford them.........

I don't want it to fail, on the contrary, I honestly want to see it succeed.

That being said, I'm highly skeptical, and as much as I wish it would succeed, I do not believe that it will.

What I want to happen, and what I think will actually happen, are two entirely different things.

Tamanous

goboygo said:

Odd how many people want VR to fail, my guess is its the people that cant afford them.........

How many people there are that actually want it to fail is likely minimal. You likely misinterpret people who think it will fail with people who want it to fail.

As the poster above you stated, the market share isn't large and hardware only ever exists if the software supports it. VR is a VERY high risk venture at this time and has not proven itself in the past.

I don't think most realize the difference between adapting to a new peripheral that is a replacement of the existing hand use items and that of one that is in addition to existing peripherals AND also sits on your face that drastically alters your ability to interact with the world. That is a built in limitation not faced by most peripherals.

There are many factors which makes VR a very risky venture when trying to break into the mass market. It is a peripheral that only attracts an extremely limited audience per application and of each audience, only a fraction of that. It is a hardcore peripheral for the hardcore minority and expectations of widespread applications designed for it should be low ... by logic and history.

This is not an avenue for mass success no matter how you look at it. It is inevitable but what makes it successful is likely applications for it's use most here haven't truly thought of because it will be a life style choice more than a peripheral choice.

SEANMCAD

syntax42 said:

SEANMCAD said:

I very honestly dont know if that number is significant or not. 

GearVR is a headset for high-end Samsung phones that they gave away for free.  It doesn't translate well into statistics for computer-based headsets.

If you want to compare them to the gaming market anyways, you need to know how big the gaming market is.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/12/15/10212980/pew-surveys-the-american-public-in-gaming-and-gamers-

Given those numbers, I would suspect only gaming enthusiasts would be willing to purchase a headset, while the other 40% would play but a purchase would be out of their budget range.  That means the potential market for VR headsets is probably around 30 million in the US, and another 70 million or so if you include the EU, which tends to have similar demographics.  One million in a potential market of 100 million is only 1%.

This post and this conversaton has nothing whatsoever to do with the computer based headsets.
why would you even bother to make such a non-related random obversation?

I said significant' not significant in a PC or gaming or whatever your talking about maket.

I also said if you would like I can go get some benchmark data. would you like me to do that?

thanks I guess?

SEANMCAD

as far as I am concerned we are getting very close to a point where 'will it fail' is a quetion for the past and thus far there I havent found any indication at all that its failing. On the current path 1 year from now 'will it fail' will be a silly quetion to ask, if not already but to be fair it is likely to early. hell this fan boy doesnt even have his headset yet! lol

'failure' is easy to measure
'success is not' 

I dont know if VR is a success or not but there is zero indications that its anywhere near 'faliure' then again to be fair many MMORPG posters view on what a failure is can be a little bizzare. I heard someone say once that the Sony Vita is a failure...what? They view as anything other than a WoW killer for an industry as a failure, anything short of that is a failure to them

filmoret

Did anyone notice the article is about GearVR and not the Oculus Rift?  This does sound threatening though.  VR might storm the iphone market and well that will be another loss for pc's.  One thing of note it is being primarily used for watching videos.

Panther2103

I like the idea of the VR headsets, the only problem completely preventing me from getting one (other than lack of money) is the fact that all of the games for them seem to be the same. Minigame compilations, haunted house simulators, and very small games. Even Eve Valkyrie wasn't all that impressive looking, I'm sure it would be fun for a while, but I just don't see any real VR game investments from companies. Elite Dangerous with VR would be somewhat cool but the game still would use every key ever on the keyboard and mouse so I don't think I could do that without looking. I'm hoping some adventure games or puzzle games get announced so that I can change my mind. I don't want this to be a failed venture. It looks so promising.

SEANMCAD

Panther2103 said:

I like the idea of the VR headsets, the only problem completely preventing me from getting one (other than lack of money) is the fact that all of the games for them seem to be the same. Minigame compilations, haunted house simulators, and very small games. Even Eve Valkyrie wasn't all that impressive looking, I'm sure it would be fun for a while, but I just don't see any real VR game investments from companies. Elite Dangerous with VR would be somewhat cool but the game still would use every key ever on the keyboard and mouse so I don't think I could do that without looking. I'm hoping some adventure games or puzzle games get announced so that I can change my mind. I don't want this to be a failed venture. It looks so promising.

just wait at least year. game and app development for these devices are barely just getting started.

k61977

The number I want to see is how many of these people developed headaches, eye problems, or just threw up.  These are very common problems that still haven't been solved.

Until these smaller problems are solved this tech will be limited to a small minority that can actually use them without side effects.  Some of the problems can be fixed with training, like the eyes, but some can't be fixed at all at this point.

SEANMCAD

filmoret said:

Did anyone notice the article is about GearVR and not the Oculus Rift?  This does sound threatening though.  VR might storm the iphone market and well that will be another loss for pc's.  One thing of note it is being primarily used for watching videos.

the video aspect really dosent surprise me in fact I would not be surprised if video becomes the main source of content for all VR devices.

1. its easier to create
2. it works well on all devices
3. Example: I am at my mothers house who doesnt have much of a TV but does have wifi. I lay on the bed to give my back a rest and put headphones and headset on I now have a movie theater with a screen as big as my mothers house.....in theory.

Shaigh

Can you really call it VR when 80% of the userbase use it for something as mundane as watching videos or other gameplay activities that is no different from watching it on a screen.

My impression so far is that the best VR devices are good enough but the games aren't there yet, without the games its nothing more than just another peripheral.

maskedweasel

Phaserlight said:

scorpex-x said:

This is like the registered players of failing mmorpg titles that want to mislead people, garbage number.  Considering it's a garbage number it should be higher than that.

I'll do my best not to flame you, here, but, what is the point of posting something like this?  'It's trash, and because I say it's trash, it ought to be higher'...  I don't think you have any idea how they arrived at that number, so why assume misdirection?  Oculus has a little more weight than you do, here.

1 million people using GearVR-flavored Virtual Reality is an encouraging number however you slice it, particularly after some estimates I've read putting Vive's current user base around 50,000.  This is especially important as it might attract more devs willing to put in the time to create better experiences for the platform.

It's really not an encouraging number.. and we aren't getting specifics on who these 1 million are.  For example,  you have thousands of Gear VR headsets available to test in most Best Buy, Cell Phone stores and other electronic stores.  Walking traffic alone would get roughly 4 to 8 people an hour if everyone experienced the entire demo which is roughly 10 minutes long or so.

I own one of these devices,  in general, the kids use it about twice a week... I've used it maybe a total of 20 or 30 minutes on the same content to ensure it was suitable for them.

If you take into consideration that Gear VR has been around since last year... and that the hardware that runs VR has sold more than 120 Million units... and that they are pushing these devices in every electronics/cell store, the adoption ratio is less than 1% of the entire population.  

Given that they GAVE AWAY gear VR sets with the S7, and that the S7 outsold the 60 - 70 Million units that the S6 sold  (and the note 5 sold an additional 80 Million units or so)    you could imagine that even if only half... or, for the sake of argument..  JUST the people that bought the Galaxy S7 the first weekend it launched received free headsets (which is for the sake of argument because you can still get a free gear vr set with the s7 today)  that's  over 10 Million Gear VR units handed out for FREE,  with only 1 million really adopting it, despite the S7 launching in MARCH, giving Gear VR the ability to hit a peak in April with increased sales and promotional advertisements.



It isn't a great number.

psiic

Pretty pathetic numbers and of those 1 million that tried it how many aren't sitting somewhere collecting dust or being used as a paperweight now. 

Phaserlight

maskedweasel said:

Phaserlight said:

scorpex-x said:

This is like the registered players of failing mmorpg titles that want to mislead people, garbage number.  Considering it's a garbage number it should be higher than that.

I'll do my best not to flame you, here, but, what is the point of posting something like this?  'It's trash, and because I say it's trash, it ought to be higher'...  I don't think you have any idea how they arrived at that number, so why assume misdirection?  Oculus has a little more weight than you do, here.

1 million people using GearVR-flavored Virtual Reality is an encouraging number however you slice it, particularly after some estimates I've read putting Vive's current user base around 50,000.  This is especially important as it might attract more devs willing to put in the time to create better experiences for the platform.

It's really not an encouraging number.. and we aren't getting specifics on who these 1 million are.  For example,  you have thousands of Gear VR headsets available to test in most Best Buy, Cell Phone stores and other electronic stores.  Walking traffic alone would get roughly 4 to 8 people an hour if everyone experienced the entire demo which is roughly 10 minutes long or so.

I own one of these devices,  in general, the kids use it about twice a week... I've used it maybe a total of 20 or 30 minutes on the same content to ensure it was suitable for them.

If you take into consideration that Gear VR has been around since last year... and that the hardware that runs VR has sold more than 120 Million units... and that they are pushing these devices in every electronics/cell store, the adoption ratio is less than 1% of the entire population.  

Given that they GAVE AWAY gear VR sets with the S7, and that the S7 outsold the 60 - 70 Million units that the S6 sold  (and the note 5 sold an additional 80 Million units or so)    you could imagine that even if only half... or, for the sake of argument..  JUST the people that bought the Galaxy S7 the first weekend it launched received free headsets (which is for the sake of argument because you can still get a free gear vr set with the s7 today)  that's  over 10 Million Gear VR units handed out for FREE,  with only 1 million really adopting it, despite the S7 launching in MARCH, giving Gear VR the ability to hit a peak in April with increased sales and promotional advertisements.



It isn't a great number.

I'll just say that I've read far more encouraging outlooks from GearVR users than yours, and a 1% adoption rate or market share is fine for the games/tech industry.  A 10% adoption rate is astounding.

Sirmatthias

If only Oculus wasn't connected to Facebook and there weasel CEO. I'll be getting the Vive instead

maskedweasel

Phaserlight said:

I'll just say that I've read far more encouraging outlooks from GearVR users than yours, and a 1% adoption rate or market share is fine for the games/tech industry.  A 10% adoption rate is astounding.

I suppose... but according to this article, and the same data from the one originally posted.. it isn't gaming that is really driving the gear VR in general.

Gear VRs adoption rate isn't 10%.. it isn't even 1%.  The point I was making is that of galaxy S7 users... roughly 10 Million people at least received free VR headsets.. and according to the article 10% of them are using them.  So what happened to all of the other headsets?  It kind of shows that people have little interest, that they wouldn't even try to use a free device.

But it gets worse, considering that the numbers mentioned are between both Gear VR and Oculus Rift, with the majority of users on Gear VR.. and focused on Video experiences and NOT gaming.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/oculus-and-samsung-have-1m-gear-vr-wearing-users/

"Oculus notes that people a wide range of people are checking out Gear VR apps and not just for gaming. Seven of the top 10 most-used apps are 360-degree video experiences."

It's a hopeful article,  but it has a lot of pings to take note of.  For example... just about every console sold more than 1 Million in it's first month.  Most peripherals too, sold more than 1 million...

But here, you can see that they aren't talking about amount SOLD.. because.. first of all they aren't selling them. They are literally giving their BIGGEST VR Generation Machine out to anyone that buys a cell phone.

But adoption is extremely low.  

Look, I'm not saying that Gear VR is a failure specifically.  I'm using it.. I actually bought the headset "used "(despite buying an S7, we had a promotion to get 100 dollars in free gear or the headset and we opted for the free gear - cases, wireless chargers, etc.)  but I picked it up brand new in box on the 5 miles app for 50 bucks.

I'm just saying.. that when you have the hardware (cell phones) reaching over 120 million,  and the peripheral (gear vr set) reaching around 10 million.  That having only 1 million split between all OR and Gear VR users is not a solid showing.  It actually seems like indifference from the larger population.