10 years ago, many people would have thought 2026 would see widespread use of VR, but we’re still waiting. Oddly, just as the tech to support already exists. 2026’s top-of-the-line VR headsets are technically impressive. However, they are still expensive and headache-inducing after extended periods of use.
It’s odd. The many possible useful applications for VR still exist. When will the tech finally take off? What will it take? I suspect that if someone could make a great headset that was in the $100 range, that might do the trick. Perhaps that is in the near future.
I’ve argued for years that VR would only succeed as a subset of AR. We don’t have the technology for AR either - small, light-weight, affordable, and with transparent displays that can show perfectly opaque objects rather than translucent ghosts.
With the decline of global trade and social stability, the long-term destruction of technological advancement in pursuit of the ponzi scheme that is AI, the rapidly accelerating death of our planet, and Capitalism behind all of it, I am inclined to believe that we are entering into a dark age that we will not recover from.
So no, VR will never become widespread. We’ll be lucky if most people can afford to eat and have shelter, never mind luxuries like technological devices.