VR is a great destination, not a mere pit stop to AR

If you’ve spent any time reading about virtual reality and augmented reality, you’ve certainly encountered some variation on this phrase: “VR is only a stepping stone to AR.” Just this past week, Epic Games’ chief Tim Sweeney called AR “a superset of VR.” The implication is that as VR grows, it will become AR.

I strongly disagree. After 25 years of writing about games, I’m certain that VR is its own magical thing. Moreover, having experienced VR when it was impractical (including early 1990’s Sega VR and Jaguar VR prototypes), I’ve lived long enough to see the technology nearly go mainstream — and can’t stand when people trivialize the VR industry’s hard-fought victories. What Oculus, HTC, Sony and others have collectively accomplished is nothing short of a gigantic technological leap forward.