Virtual Reality Industry: what will become the driver of explosive growth in the next decade

According to the forecast that was published by Bloomberg in June 2022, the augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) market will reach $454.73 billion by 2030 with an average annual growth rate of 40.7%.

At the same time, PwC predicts that virtual reality will become the fastest growing segment from 2020 to 2025 among all traditional and digital content formats.

Almost every third American already owns an AR/VR device, 15% are planning such a purchase in 2022. The total number of virtual reality users worldwide has reached 171 million.?

Individual industries and trends will set the pace for the further spread of virtual and augmented reality, attracting significant investments in the development of immersive technologies.

The world of entertainment

Computer games are becoming more and more interactive. Developers use AR and VR technologies to create realistic images with sound and other sensory capabilities. Augmented reality and virtual settings simulating a physical experience allow gamers to play in a multidimensional space and control it with the help of their body movements.

The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the priority of digital communication not only for professional contacts, but also for entertainment. In particular, football fans appreciated the opportunity to watch live broadcasts of sports events in 360 O format without leaving home. At the same time, augmented reality in online mode will provide the user with information about weather conditions, the speed and trajectory of the ball, the player's track record, and so on. The same applies to music shows, theatrical performances, concerts and amusement parks.

The growing possibilities of immersion in virtual characters will significantly contribute to the growth of the augmented and virtual reality market during the forecast period.

Retail and e-commerce

The pandemic caused a sharp turn in the culture of online shopping, and the bans imposed on fitting and returning goods forced sellers to think about how to help buyers make a choice. Augmented reality technologies have allowed to "revive" goods with the help of smartphones and give consumers the opportunity to try them out before buying. Bright examples of AR in the e-commerce sector are the Loreal application, which helps customers virtually try on makeup, and Lenskart, which allows customers to determine how glasses will look on them. Further development of immersive technologies will allow testing large equipment and trying on furniture in a virtual interior. According to experts, such opportunities will actively stimulate the market to move forward.

Education and development of new skills

Holographic 3D models and VR tours of historical monuments, remote places improve learning outcomes in school classrooms. AR and VR in higher education allow students to quickly understand abstract concepts and gain practical experience in VR modeling with minimal risks. Moreover, training flights in virtual reality provide realistic training for pilots without putting their lives in danger. It is expected that due to the improvement of the quality of medical education using 3D models, the safe development of procedures and manipulations, healthcare will become one of the main sectors that have benefited from virtual reality. A 2019 study published in The Bone & Joint Journal showed that virtual reality training improves the surgical effectiveness of total hip arthroscopy by 83%, which is a significant result.

Intelligent production

Car manufacturers are implementing virtual reality to reduce the time between the initial design and the creation of a physical model. The need to create a material prototype completely disappears. Engineers and technicians receive information and access to model management in the augmented reality interface. The use of digital doubles in production allows them to visualize local defects and problems much faster. Dangerous scenarios can be easily reproduced, and the risks are subsequently eliminated.

Companies combine AR/VR technologies to optimize and maintain production. The use of augmented reality allows them to attract less engineers to manage factories and equipment located in different locations. Smart helmets help to understand drawings and complex instructions, increasing the overall efficiency of employees. For example, the global consumer goods manufacturer Unilever has implemented an AR solution at one of its European plants. That solution allows production technicians to work remotely with experts. Field specialists can share their vision of the situation with a remote engineer in order to quickly and promptly respond to the problem and optimize the workflow. As a result, Unilever announced that it had achieved a halving of the downtime of the production plant.

Over the past few years, we have seen that augmented and virtual reality are increasingly being used in healthcare and trade, in entertainment and media, in manufacturing and the aerospace industry, in the defense sector and education. It seems that in the near future there will hardly be an industry where they will not use virtuality.