Hardware Giants Bet Big on Virtual Reality and a Market That Doesn’t Yet Exist

http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/virtual-reality-oculus-rift-consumers-1201735290/

Remember that feeling as a child before your birthday — the mixture of excitement and worry that deepest-held wishes might not come true? That’s how everyone in the nascent business of virtual reality feels like right now.

Facebook-owned Oculus is getting ready to ship its first Rift VR headsets to U.S. consumers next week. Mobile-phone maker HTC will follow up with deliveries of the Vive VR headset one week later, and Sony is preparing to launch its PlayStation VR headset as well.

This marks the first time that these kinds of devices, capable of delivering immersive VR experiences, are going to make it to consumers’ living rooms.

“It’s a moment of truth for VR,” says Anthony Batt, co-founder of Wevr, a company dedicated to creating cinematic VR experiences. “We are excited. But with excitement, there is always a sense of fear.”