In an interview offered to MCV at the Develop: Brighton Conference, Michael Hampden revealed Sony’s confidence in the future of Virtual Reality. As a lead designer for the Sony London Studio, working on the highly anticipated Blood &Truth VR game, Hampden offered predictions for the next 5, 10 and 25 years of VR.
For the five years mark, many new titles are expected to make a show in the industry. Since the release of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PS VR, many new games are developed for the platform, ranging from simple FPS to more advanced and immersive RPGs. Hampden expects that a standard design vision will be established and as the genre matures, designers will be more able to fully explore and use the capabilities they have at hand.
Around 2028, haptic feedback, which could be observed in the Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One will finally become accessible. This will increase immersion and realism, accelerating the rate of adoption for the VR platform.
.Then, 25 years down the line, he expects that “VR should be as ubiquitous as smartphones are today.” He states confidently, which brings optimism for Sony’s future as a gaming solutions provider.
Hampden also highlights the rise of the digital stores, in the light of high ranking physical retailers closing doors, the most recent one being the Toys-R-Us. He believes that although physical shops are in decline, there is a need for test centers to be available for possible customers. VR demo stations play a vital role, as they allow customers to test the product and limit future return from unsatisfied customers whom did not enjoy the experience after some time passed.
While VR demo stations remain scarce, Hampden assures that arcade-style VR destinations will appear, as famous franchises dive into VR: “We have a limited number of these experiences out there so far, but I think this trend is here to stay, and we’ll see more and more location-based VR coming in the future.”
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.
