IDC: High-end VR grew 60% in 2018, users have smartwatch-level satisfaction

While interest in smartphone-dependent VR devices has cooled off, the high-performance VR market has continued to grow, IDC says in a new report, as tethered and standalone VR devices became more popular than ever over the last year. According to the research firm’s latest VR user survey, the installed base of “high-performance” headsets grew 60% from 2017 to 3.9 million in 2018, and there’s now a group of “hardcore” VR users, though the market still has non-trivial challenges to overcome.

IDC’s study canvassed 1,643 users spread across five countries: the United States, Japan, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom — and included some details specific to the PlayStation VR, since the research was sponsored by Sony. Mobile-dependent VR devices were excluded, but standalone and tethered VR headsets were included, regardless of PC or console platform. Overall, respondents reported the same average level of satisfaction with their high-end VR headsets as a separate survey group reported with smartwatches: 7.5 out of 10.