Billion-Dollar VR Business: Who Profits From It?

Virtual reality, or VR for short, is a billion-dollar business without doubt, with Greenlight Insights predicting the industry will see revenues in excess of $74 bln by the year 2021. While most of the revenue earned from virtual reality comes from the headsets themselves, and this will continue to be the case moving forward, between now and 2021 there is likely to be further growth where enterprise is concerned too.

The current beneficiaries of VR business

In terms of virtual reality being a billion-dollar business, there are ultimately a lot of people who profit from it. The people to profit the most right and probably since the beginning are the companies behind the VR headsets that many have become accustomed to seeing and using. With head mounted devices holding a revenue share in excess of 50% of the total revenue earned, manufacturers such as Google, HTC and Oculus are the ones to undoubtedly profit the most.

While virtual reality can and does have an impact across multiple industries, for many they are seen as entertainment devices. Therefore, those creating content for the virtual reality headsets to play are also likely to profit from the billion-dollar business going forward. Each headset manufacturer has deals in place with content developers, with games being the content type of choice for most.

Vectors for growth

There are multiple ways in which game developers can profit from the virtual reality industry, with a lot of content requiring the user to pay upfront before gaining access to the game they wish to play. However, game developers will probably look to follow an already highly successful strategy in the mobile gaming sector. This is to make the game free to download and install, with in-app purchases offered to the user. This model has been tried and tested over the last few years, and there is even the opportunity to include subscription-based services too.

There’s also no doubting that other industries as a while will profit from the billion-dollar virtual reality business too, especially as VR can really improve how companies work and how they’re also perceived. Using VR sends out a message that a company is innovative and forward-thinking, which will be a big appeal to current customers and potential customers.

Taking the online and mobile casino industry as a prime example, we’re already seeing the creation and implementation of virtual reality casinos, which will be a big hit with players and profitable as a result. Slot games are extremely popular with players around the world today, and there’s the opportunity to use virtual reality to great effect here too, which again would see dominant names, an example being PartyCasino, profit as a result.

Furthermore, there is growing trend for other markets to see the huge benefits in employing VR technology. We’ve already seen retail businesses use virtual reality to offer a virtual shopping experience, which promises to deliver a much better all-round experience, boosting profits as a result. In addition, there are other areas like health, education, museums, real estate and even architecture which have employed the technology to great effect.