Consumer Attitudes On Virtual Reality Technology: A Report by NRG

The National Research Group’s research assesses the market for virtual reality technology as well as consumer habits.

There are various statistics flying around the internet about who has sold how many headsets, downloaded how many VR apps, and spent how much money in online markets. Figures like these are useful for understanding the Virtual Reality technology market, but they only tell us so much.

The National Research Group (NRG) has published “Beyond Reality,” research on AR and VR consumer habits. Beyond the figures, the study of 2,500 US consumers aged 18 to 64 inquired about their VR purchases, as well as how they use XR and how they think and feel about it.

Is Virtual Reality Technology seeing a transformation?

The survey doesn’t hold back from the start. The first paragraph establishes a dubious tone:

“Virtual reality has been heralded as the next great thing in bulk media and entertainment before. So, is this ‘virtual reality renaissance’ merely a fad?

The report doesn’t predict a VR revolution, but it does point to two major reasons why the technology may be here to stay. For starters, the pandemic has piqued people’s interest. Second, hardware availability has not only facilitated adoption but has also facilitated evangelizing.

“Four out of ten customers think the pandemic has piqued their curiosity in virtual reality technologies… Possibly an even more important factor in consumer acceptance of VR is the fact that so many people have now had the chance to check it out for themselves.”

A whopping 48% of those polled have had at least one VR encounter. Nearly half of those surveyed experienced the event in their own house, with a smaller percentage having it in the home of a friend or family member.

“It appears that we are finally seeing the long-awaited leap of Virtual reality technology from public recreational venues into ordinary consumers’ living rooms,” according to the research.

Also, the survey claims that while 49% of respondents had tried virtual reality in their own house, only 13% of homes have a VR headset. So, either this study targeted family members specifically, or headset owners are bringing their headsets to other people’s homes. Fortunately, the study revealed more information regarding headset owners in particular.

How do VR users interact with the technology?

“Eighty-eight percent of consumers who own a virtual reality headset say they use it many times per month, with 60% saying they use it more than once per week.” The paper states, “However, these consumption bouts are often quite brief.” “Data suggests that two to four VR events on average weekly, each lasting roughly 30-45 minutes, are the most common usage pattern.”

You might have guessed the same reason that the authors did. And, according to the report, it’s one of the most important issues that businesses must address in order to promote long-term VR adoption.

According to the research, “the lack of mainstream uptake reflects technical obstacles that hardware makers have yet to fully tackle.” “Among consumers who have used a virtual reality headset, 37% reported experiencing motion sickness symptoms during their most recent VR session, with 13% identifying the symptoms as severe.'”

Users must, of course, explore VR before reporting motion sickness. One of the biggest reasons for VR’s lack of market penetration, according to the survey, is that it is still viewed almost entirely as a gaming device. While this notion has naturally enhanced penetration among gamers, it has failed to pique the interest of other prospective audiences.

“To break into the consumer mainstream, VR producers will have to dispel the myth that the technology is only for gamers,” according to the research.

What Virtual Reality Can Learn From Augmented Reality

The paper largely, but not completely, focuses on virtual reality technology. A page was committed to augmented reality, and what the researchers discovered about AR sheds more light on what it discovered about virtual reality.

For example, the paper claims that VR’s perception as a gaming technology is inhibiting its adoption. A higher number of respondents indicated they wanted to use augmented reality to learn a skill than said they wanted to use it to play games. Furthermore, nearly as many people utilized augmented reality to make shopping decisions as they did to enjoy games.

AR, on the other hand, has reduced adoption obstacles. While we are only now seeing AR glasses for the general market, AR experiences function on conventional PCs and smart devices and do not demand purpose-built hardware. Nonetheless, AR’s apparent value is expected to contribute to its widespread acceptance.

Five Trends to Watch in the Next Five Years

More than just a picture of today’s AR and VR technology, the paper concluded by forecasting VR developments in general and specifically. The report did not provide a definitive answer to the report’s opening question about whether or not there is a “virtual reality renaissance.”

“Over the next decade or two, there is a strong chance that virtual reality may begin to dramatically transform the way we spend most of our time – and even the way we think about the gap between our physical and virtual personalities,” the paper stated.

Finally, in the next five years, the research outlines five extended reality trends:

A wealth of information and insight

We didn’t rehash the entire study, of course. We hope you like our take on it and the insights we uncovered, but if you want to learn more about market movements about VR technology, you can download the full research here.