Most up-and-coming concepts like Virtual Reality (VR) have mixed reviews. People either admire it or are uncertain about its future. But still, it can’t be ignored as it is a step forward and opens up many new and exciting opportunities. Add gambling to the industries it can be used at as virtual reality gambling is already bringing in rewards to early investors.
VR is the latest technological breakthrough to make online casinos realistic. 20 years ago we saw the first attempts at making people enjoy a casino in the comfort of their homes. But the tools and ability weren’t there yet, and it all came down to poor quality slots with terrible graphics or card games with the minimal setting. And now we can get a fully immersive experience, still at a high cost, though, full of crystal clear 3D image sharpness and enjoy quality casino gaming. The images and sounds are in perfect harmony, and software developers and designers did their best to provide us early on with gambling animations like in the best Pixar films.
For those who prefer 100% life-like experiences, online gambling sites already offer live casino features, where you can play Baccarat or Blackjack while interacting with a real dealer in a casino setting. This setting can be an optimal choice to be taken advantage of in VR. Combining social elements with gambling is vital to attracting millennials and keep the older generation happy while spinning the virtual wheel. We’ve talked about the importance of immersion of social elements into Virtual Reality casinos with leading specialists in gaming and gambling. Feel free to get to know about this issue in depth in our latest whitepaper.
Of course, VR is still relatively in its infancy, and many obstacles are about to come with regards to making it more user-friendly and affordable, like a smartphone, to the general audience. But in this tech world, things change rapidly, and online gambling is at the tip of it all. Taking into account how lucrative and competitive the gambling market is, the companies that embrace innovation and creative potential of Virtual Reality can take a large chunk from the industry market leaders as the VR application is endless, especially in online gambling.
As a matter of fact, Innovecs recently participated at ICE Totally Gaming, Europe’s premier gambling conference, were the CEO presented the VR casino gambling tech. VR also made it into other gaming events where multiple companies shared latest developments in VR technology and provided unique virtual reality casino gaming experiences for all to enjoy.
“The one industry that has the most potential by getting ‘VRfied’ is the gambling industry. Top gambling corporations are going to employ software development outsourcing companies to create VR casino environments for them as this sub-industry is going to make a lot of money in 3 to 5-year term”, believes Alex Lutskiy, Co-founders, and CEO of Innovecs.
The online gambling world is not standing still, and slot machines are becoming add new features, advanced graphics, meta-game features, pre-game movie sequences and use famous brand names in the game to take your past time to a new level. But as of now, it seems to have hit the ceiling and to progress further the industry needs VR tech. The infrastructure to provide users with VR gambling experiences already exists within Innovecs, and we are ready to provide the power for major operators to have VR as the part of their operations.
To support the claim, technology giants like Samsung and Facebook have been active in 2016 providing mobile VR experiences. They are betting on a mobile market that is cheaper to produce, though it lacks true VR capabilities. And we believe that VR gambling will focus on complete and immersive casino experience and the technology will follow suit in the nearest time.
Driven by ‘high rollers’ the amount of bets placed using VR this year is $58.5 million, so the potential growth is massive. Even smaller companies focus on investing in VR. A Japan-based COLOPL has been developing a number of solid games in VR and in early 2017 decided to create a $50 million fund aimed at investing in VR game development.
According to Juniper report, the VR hardware revenues in 2016 was $5 bln, and it came from VR headsets, accessories, cameras and other accessories bought by mostly well-off gamers. By 2012 the market would be over $50 billion. And that would be achieved by decreasing the cost of manufacturing, increasing the quality of hardware and reaching a broader audience.
The only obstacle to the rise of high-quality VR gambling is the high cost of devices, therefore, the user-base is still quite limited. Thanks to large investments we expect this issue to be solved in a medium-term perspective.
Presently, the VR gamblers consist of players with basic smartphone-based headsets (Samsung Gear), and advanced computer-dependent VR (Oculus Rift). With the tech advancement, a niche clientele of high-rollers will be firmly established that would enjoy mobility and high-usability at the same time.
There are various industries that are willing to take the lead in adopting VR in their services. This, consequently, leads to higher overall investments in VR technology development and the gaming and gambling industry will take a major part in it to create a critical mass of users. Of course, for VR still has a long way to go to revolutionize the gambling industry truly, those willing to join the industry should lay out the framework early on to make out the most of what VR has to offer. This is probably the biggest opportunity since the launch of iPhone.
So far VR has affected a number of industries, and millions of people experienced it firsthand, with the primary focus on the entertainment. It is for you to choose if your company is among the innovators who are willing to take the risk and adopt new VR ideas, or among the second fastest businesses who are the early adopters. And, finally, you can be in late majority and join the laggards, who missed out on investing in VR gambling.