The two big latest consoles from both Microsoft and Sony were long anticipated, as big hardware changes and adjustments to infrastructure have brought bigger performance than many had expected. With the bigger performance expectations had also come hopes for new hardware and tech, and with the PlayStation most recently announcing how they intend to expand on their own success with the original PSVR have set high hopes for the upcoming PSVR2. One notable missing feature for the Series X has been within VR, but could support be on the way?

The question is asked as many big services are starting to expand further into the VR market, from even the smaller indie titles on dedicated systems, and now even into different online services that are growing in popularity such as online casinos. Through mobile, many services like JackpotCity online casino have become extremely popular in regions like Canada and are some of the big services adopting a change to VR. This comes as these online casinos are also looking at including VR, with virtual reality casinos set to be the next generation by offering an enhanced experience for players. It really shows how these technological advancements are playing a role in not only online casinos but all areas of gaming. The dedicated consoles are also finding popularity in the same types of VR games, the same certainly rings true here. There’s definitely a market, so why doesn’t the series X already have it?

Ultimately it comes down to the market itself – Microsoft are still not convinced there’s a great market for VR and with proposed figures suggesting the attach-rates of PSVR aren’t all that great, and there are many quotes from Xbox head Phil Spencer suggesting this as the primary reason why the newest console in the line-up won’t support VR any time soon. There may be a big silver lining, however, as support has picked up with releases like Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 and Half-Life Alyx back in 2020, and with costs dropping considerably from what they used to be it is certainly becoming much more accessible which had served as somewhat of a heel before. The reduction in price means that developers may be more willing to explore different aspects of VR and the quality of games will improve and become more complex, and many of the kinks that hold the market back will be ironed out somewhat too.

It may be important to consider the PSVR2 market too. Whilst current expected adoption rates are quite low, the next generation of VR might change this and could change expectations very quickly. Without existing support for virtual reality if it does take off for the competition then Xbox will already be behind, and if there are some big titles looking to find their home and are able to take off big too, then the aim would certainly be toward exclusivity if support for VR was only available for one device. Xbox head does remain optimistic about VR though, stating that Windows as a whole are keeping a very close eye on to where things are going, and hopes that things do get bigger which could suggest the potential for support later on if numbers increase dramatically and the supporting hardware is able to improve an meet the necessary criteria too."