Hi! I'm Rick Lane, and you might remember me from such columns as Reality Bytes, RPS' erstwhile monthly goggle at the world of virtual reality. I've spent the last couple of years trapped between the second and third dimensions, my flattened body doomed to forever spin to face the camera. But RPS has whipped out its bicycle pump and popped me back into stereoscopic 3D, so I can seek revenge tell you all about the state of VR in 2026.
And boy, what a state! The headlines make for grim reading. VR headset shipments are in decline. Notable VR studios are either laying people off or being shut down outright. And VR's hitherto biggest champion is going all Distracted Boyfriend, ogling passing market trends in its ethically dubious smart glasses.
The all-in-one Steam Frame headset is on the way - very soon, if rumours are to be believed - but in short, things don't look great. Then again, things don't look great anywhere in the games industry, so why should VR, gaming's most niche market, be any different? To truly understand the state of the VR scene, we need to try to separate the generally bad from the specifically bad. When we do that, it becomes clear that VR broadly isn't faring any worse than the industry at large, and in some areas at least, is healthier than you might expect.
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