The Virtual Halt

 

Within the vast of world of art mediums gaming is still relatively new in consideration. Interactive media lacks the long centuries of growth and maturity and thus remains decently volatile in the way it evolves and adapts- couple that with the hyper connected age of the 2000's where styles adapt and change rapidly and it can feel like entire ages of art shift overnight were once they would last at least a couple generations of human life. It can make what would otherwise be a failed moment in the evolution of art into a mere flash in a quickly forgotten pan. And it was only really recently when I was reminded of once such promising branch which has, once again, found itself largely overshadowed in the modern world of grasping innovation- Virtual Reality.

When first we touched on this concept there was no doubt that the world was in no way ready for the promise of what VR could provide- just from a technological level the Red Scan-lines of the Virtual Boy were better for little more than a tech demo than really creating a unique interactable world space. The 'Virtual Boy' better realised the promise of 3d animation than actual full-immersive play. But throughout the years there have been several pokes at trying to get VR off the ground once again as technology has progressed and honestly I thought the latest one might have been it, what with the actual promise finally reaching fruition, but still some nagging hang-ups slip in the way between mass adoption and mass development.

With the announcement of a VR version of Grand Theft Auto San Andreas I- well to be honest I did absolutely nothing because I don't remember hearing about that at all. The first I heard was when the thing was put on indefinite hold just a few days ago- (officially, I'm sure it was internally on the back bench for a while before IGN came poking.) which was when I really started to realise what a back foot the VR world is somehow back on again. I mean sure- "why would you want a VR version of a blocky 2004 world anyway- sounds like 'motion sickness the game!'" but on the otherhand why not just make the VR version of one of the most legendary entries to the biggest game franchise on the world? Isn't that a licence to print money? Unless... unless it isn't.

Because even in this enlightened age of ours- VR just really isn't a player within the space like it wants to be. Certainly doesn't help that the world underwent a financial downturn at the start of this new VR age, which considerably lowered public tolerance for trying out expensive new technological toys they may or may not like. But whatever the overall cause the result is that we are once again in the exact same holding pattern. People aren't buying up these headsets like they should be meaning developers aren't dedicating themselves to as bustling an audience as they want which means they need to be significantly more picky about where they sink their development funds. Is the public really going to flock to a VR version of San Andreas just 'for the nostalgia'? 

And whilst we're on 'costs'- VR games aren't getting any cheaper to make now are they? Well, on that point I don't suppose any game is going down in costs as we approach the new age- but there seems to be something excessively pricey about VR endeavours. Remember the ill-fated Metaverse project that Facebook was on for a while? A crappy social meeting space that ended up going nowhere because they were developing it for an audience that didn't exist? Yeah- that cost Facebook literally into the billions before they were forced to pull back on it. Billions that resulted in totally forgettable crap over-stuffed with sponsorship nonsense that pales in comparison to what Fortnite managed to pull off within a shorter time frame. And that's not exactly uncommon.

Well the 'billion dollar' development price tag might be uncommon- but ballooned budgets for VR games are just a headache. Whether it's because of how finicky this technology is, or how relatively new it is to the world requiring total invention to mimic relatively simple non-VR game styles, or maybe just the lack of accessible tools for the aspiring developer- whatever the case you won't see an indie rocking up to this space anytime soon and that should be pretty telling. Right now VR is practically ruled by a handful of studios who have pretty much primed themselves to deliver only VR related stuff for the foreseeable future and whilst that gives them pretty much the run of the audience, it's also a damning condemnation of the viability of this sector of the market.

San Andreas VR is an actual project that got officially halted- but how many others died in the pitch room because of the simple costs involved and the lack of prospective return at the end of it all? There really doesn't feel like a serious contingent of VR centric purists out there- honestly even the Stadia stans were more outspoken during their brief foray into utmost delusion. Virtual Reality might just have hit the ceiling once again and this time I couldn't really say what the problem is. Perhaps standardisation of the technology is key, putting it in as many households as possible, getting cheaper alternatives on the market- then developing killer apps can be seen as a worthwhile pursuit for teams out there. But how really realistic is that?

I like the idea of VR. I think it's a promising field especially for gaming, what with the way we can revolutionise experiencing immersion within such a field. Half Life managed to create an awesome little adventure using all of that- and I don't think they were using the absolute limits of what was possible to do so. But until a little bit of a reality check is visited on this studio- and someone enters the market with more an interest in VR on a hardware front, we're going to see the gap widen between ordinary gamers and the tiny VR niche. Maybe we need another manufacture to enter the ring and shake things up. Hey, I hear Xbox might need a new gig after they're done screwing up their console market!