Virtual reality has been around for almost a decade now, but it’s barely had an impact on the mainstream. As the technology advances, many experts expect it to be the next major change to how people experience the online world.
With countless innovative tech companies rising up in Wales, the country could soon become the VR hub for the UK.
Various Industries in UK Striving for Greater Immersion
Various industries in the UK have long been striving for greater immersion, with the entertainment industry making the greatest steps forward. Online casino developers, for instance, want to make players feel as if they’ve stepped into a casino.
The blackjack at Paddy Power includes games like First Person Blackjack, which immerses players in a blackjack table setting where they can look down at their cards.
There are plenty of other virtual games like Perfect Blackjack, which aim to provide a different vibe. Then, there are live streamed offerings that provide the greatest level of immersion available to date.
There are other industries that want to provide people with this sort of first-hand experience as well. For instance, massive companies like Ikea are now giving people the chance to do virtual staging to see what items look like alongside each other.
Ecommerce sites are also using live streaming to immerse people in shopping experiences. VR is likely to be the next upgrade for this and could massively up the immersion levels.
A Lot of VR Innovation Happening in Wales
There are various VR companies emerging in Wales’ biggest cities, with many of these receiving global funding and attention. Cardiff is home to a few promising companies, with Virtus Tech having garnered £300,000 in investment so far. There’s also Clear Pixel VR, which is focusing on creating training simulations.
Over in Swansea, Imersifi is the most exciting project. It has already collaborated with other companies in big money deals, including a £900,000 collaboration with Swansea University and Hywel Dda University. The company is focusing on training simulations as well, believing that VR will offer solutions to a range of real world scenarios in the future.
What Are the Future Projections For VR?
Even though VR failed to take off when it was expected to in 2016, most analysts now agree that it should blow up by the end of the decade. There have been numerous factors holding it back up to now, such as the rudimentary design of the headsets and the low quality of the early VR offerings.
Devices and graphics are improving rapidly, though, with some of the world’s biggest tech companies putting a great deal of focus on it. Meta still expects the Metaverse to have taken off by 2030, suggesting that it is not going to slow down on its VR development.
With the VR industry ballooning and set to be worth multiple billions in the future, it’s great to see Welsh companies getting positioned to take advantage of that. Wales could soon be regarded as the VR hub of the UK, and the companies already thriving here may attract others to set up shop in the country.
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