VR/AR hasn’t been the buzzword in the gaming industry for some time, but the situation keeps getting grim for the industry. The VR/AR segment of the gaming industry witnessed another huge reduction in investments in 2024. According to the numbers presented by CasinoApps.com, investments in AR/VR gaming declined by 55.7% on a YoY basis in 2024.
Gaming companies invested only $88.7m in VR/AR gaming in 2024
It wasn’t long ago that PlayStation VR and Meta Quest were considered the future of gaming. However, the hype around VR gaming seemed to have waned off in the last few years.
According to the recent report on gaming investments available on Statista, investments in VR/AR continued to decline sharply in 2024. Last year was the third consecutive year, which saw a decline in investments. As per the report, the investments in 2024 stood at just 88.7m. This came following a 55.7% decline from $198.7 million in 2023. The decline in 2023 (from 2022) was even more stark as the investments declined from $618.8m to $198.7m, indicating a 68% decline.
As the past data indicate, investments in VR/AR gaming witnessed a rather consistent growth from 2013 to 2021. The industry witnessed its peak in 2021 when an estimated total of $765 million was invested in the segment. However, the future of VR/AR gaming has taken a huge hit since then. The reasons behind the huge decline in the annual investments from $765m in 2021 to $88.7 within a span of three years are multifold.
Firstly, the investments in AR/VR are reeling from a post-COVID effect wherein the entire gaming industry witnessed a huge increase in earnings, investments, etc. Secondly, the higher price point of the latest generation of VR headsets, such as Quest 2 and Apple’s Vision Pro, has made VR/AR gaming inaccessible for a lot of gamers. Thirdly, a lack of games and other compelling content has also proved to be a barrier.
However, the hope is that the market will rebound in the future with the advancement in technology and the emergence of new categories such as mixed reality (MR) and extended reality (ER).
