People really like to get dragged kicking and screaming into new things, don't they?
Buy the cheapest used windows mixed reality headset for like 100-200 bucks and I guarantee it will still be 10x better whatever modded dreck people come up with.
Let's all recognize that a product being out of stock for months does not prove any sort of mainstream demand, could easily mean not many were built and resupply orders were conservative since the first headset sold so badly.
Show me any sort of number that indicates that vr is even hinting at mainstream success. There is a reason why MS doesnt care about the vr market.
Vr will take off when the stand alone headsets are powerful enough to convey excellent graphics and no pixels visible conveying a true sense of immersion that is lacking now. Its coming, but it's not here yet. In addition, price needs to hit $299.
Off topic, but here we go:
They weren't ready for Alyx' response, that's for sure. But even before then the Quest was doing well and the other headsets are sort of tail end gen 1 headets. Yeah, there have been iterations, but no fundamental improvements. These improvements are in the pipeline (Integrated wireless PC, streaming, foveated rendering/eye tracking, varifocal displays, micro screens, enhanced FoV, ergonomics etc.), and will dwarf the Index at a fraction of the price within a couple years. Now literally everything is sold out, even shitty WMR. You may not be able to make anything of current figures, but there has been slow, steady growth year over year, so that's a good thing.
Steam VR usage since October 2016:
Growth year over year, bigger bump end of last year, bigger fall due to lack of supply, and there will be a bigger rise for this month. Looks like the patterns of a healthy stock about to explode if you ask me. Also note this does not include Oculus Quests + Link, Valve stated as much but have added them/are going to add them soon. And of course keep in mind, this is just SteamVR with possible lower reported than actual considering the method of drawn data (look it up).
I disagree with the idea that it has to be $299. The tech simply has to be worth it for more people. It already is to early adopters, but the VR ecosystem has not fully embedded itself into society yet, therefore its true benefits and success cannot yet be known. Like what would smartphones be if you could only communicate with a few hundred thousand people around the world. This is why it takes time to grow. This requires vision and long term investments, which multiple tech companies are doing right now, especially Facebook. Without those two things, it will remain a chicken and egg scenario in regards to adoption; hardware won't improve because there's not enough software, vice versa. Disruption happens when emerging tech is able to do something so much better than anything else that it, well, causes disruption. Businesses that don't adapt fall behind due to the tech's unique effectiveness and efficiency improvements. If you want me to make a list of what those things will be across different fields I can do that. But for now...
People seem to disregard how emerging tech works. Here's a couple graphs to make it easier:
Gartner Hype Cycle (perception of emerging technology over time):
VR is just coming to the end of the Trough of Disillusionment (I marked the current state of VR in red). Of course this is just a trend, and the labels given here aren't 1 to 1 with VR (I don't know if the labels are even "official" to the guy that came up with it, although they seem to be in the right order for the most part).
Diffusion of Innovative Tech:
Depending on what specific market base we're talking about, VR is close to the end of innovator phase or beginning of early adopter phase.
These don't showed guaranteed results. Some tech does die. But if you research the numbers like I have since consumer VR's inception, the steady growth is just starting to go parabolic, which is a good sign. I'd suggest if you're doubtful and haven't played games like Alyx or a myriad of other high quality VR games, or researched other fields of utility, do more research or get more experience under your belt before making assumptions based on a quarter of sales in which companies weren't ready to meet demand.
Even with limited supply, Half Life Alyx had over 42k concurrent users on launch, more than 5x Boneworks (which was half the price), the next highest concurrent SteamVR count. That may seem low compared to some games, but it's extremely promising considering the number of headsets out there and the fact that Doom Eternal only had a bit more than double at it's peak. Once again, this doesn't necessarily say anything beyond people want to play a Half Life game, but it's not a bad thing, and Valve believe in the tech and know what the hell they're doing. And it shows as the game is fucking amazing.
Also keep in mind that VR has unlimited application beyond gaming/entertainment and is being utilized across multiple professions including military/medical/psychology/training/and anything involving virtual presence such as meetings and presentations, which is an important factor. This versatility will feed off itself like any other general technologies such as PC's or cell phones.
We're talking about a new method of input/output in computing that emulates human senses. Ready or not, here it comes.