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THE virtual reality market will be worth US$70 billion in 2020, as competition drives increased investment in VR devices and applications, says TrendForce.
TrendForce says the total value of VR market (including hard- and software) will reach US$6.7 billion in 2016, but will skyrocket to US$70 billion in 2020.
“These explosive growth projections actually do not sufficiently reflect just how hot the VR industry is right now,” said Jason Tsai, TrendForce wearable device analyst.
This is because the figures cover only the commercial uses of VR technology. With much of the industry currently pushing the development of free software and do-it-yourself apps, the market for non-revenue-generating projects is not reflected in the research, but will still have a vital role in market growth and innovation development.
TrendForce expects VR to benefit from user generated content, in much the same way online video did. Social sharing will also make VR technologies more influential and more tied to social media platforms.
Tsai noted that the development of the VR industry is not solely based on wearable devices launched by major hardware vendors such as Sony, Oculus and HTC.
“Much of the growth drive also comes from independent developers that contribute innovative apps to the VR industry. Their market value is not often reflected in the data,” he said.
“Since making apps does not have a high entry barrier, there has been a proliferation of non-commercial software made by students, independent developers and content providers.”