The enthusiasm over virtual reality hasn't extended to one key corner of the video game industry: the companies that make the most popular games. At last week's E3 conference, representatives from Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard and Take-Two said they were taking a wait-and-see approach to virtual reality. None are planning on having games ready for next year, when Oculus and Morpheus headsets will go on sale for the first time.
"We haven't seen the commercial release of the hardware. We haven't seen commercial release of any software," says Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of Take-Two, makers of Grand Theft Auto. "We're intrigued. We're doing a lot of homework. I think it remains to be seen what that format is."
Laura Miele, senior vice-president for publishing at Electronic Arts, says the company's past experiences chasing every trend in gaming has left it circumspect about losing focus.
While EA does have some early prototypes of virtual reality content, Miele thinks it will be years before the company sells games for headsets. "We'll not miss an opportunity, but we're not porting all of our games or having a huge rush to be in VR right now," she says.
The reluctance stems from uncertainty as to whether there's real money to be made in virtual reality yet, says Joseph Evans, an analyst who covers gaming for Enders Analysis. Compared to console games, there won't be much in sales at first. "For all the buzz, we just don't know the level of consumer demand, and I see no reason they couldn't get up to speed very quickly once the market is there," says Evans.
