What needs to happen for VR gaming to become mainstream?

Right now when I come home and I want to play a “flat game” I sit, turn the pad on, turn the TV on and play.

If I want to play on the Quest, I have to clear a space, make sure there aren’t others around (can’t police the children from inside VR), make sure nothing is in a smackable position, and maybe redo the guardian.

And that's just getting into the home menu, there's the actual effort of playing the game (kinda the reason I’m there TBH), the tiring effect of having that weight on your face and neck, the eye strain.

So for VR to become mainstream has to be easy to start, easy to use, and for more games to really sell the advantages of VR beyond… “look your using your hands to reload a gun” very few “mainstream flat gamers” are complaining weapon reloads are too easy.

In so short term, VR needs to appear as a “standard option” and at the moment that means Xbox needs to support VR (Nintendo is permanently seen as an outsider, so it supporting VR isn’t required yet).

I’ve mentioned before this doesn’t mean throwing serious money at it, or even making their own headset, just allowing the third party “inside out” tracking headsets and “touch style” controllers to work on Series X and allowing third parties to release VR titles on the Xbox store would be enough (plus thanks to their buying spree they own several VR titles they could throw on the game pass). Xbox support sends the message that VR gaming is core gaming too.

In the long term, it needs a tech break brough. Something that makes the VR experience as painless as possible for users to actually use. Think how Facebook and the internet, in general, didn’t go super mainstream (like “mums” and grandparents using it) until the advent of the smartphone. VR needs that “moment”.