Phil Spencer On Virtual Reality For Xbox One X – “Years Away From Something That Will Really Work”
Microsoft’s E3 Conference was a show full of displaying the Xbox One X capabilities like running game on true 4K at 60 FPS and even enhancing games with supersampling to play it at 4K Ultra HD and HDR. but the company didn’t mention about the virtual reality features of the latest console.
In a recent interview between Giant Bomb’s Jeff Gerstmann and Xbox Head, Phil Spencer gave his views about the current state of VR both for homes and in the industry.
When asked about what is his current view on Xbox One X for VR category Spencer said that he is long term bullish and firmly believes in the Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality and will soon be a mass part of games in the market.
“Long term, I’m a big believer in the category,” Spencer said. “I think it’s incredibly immersive I think you can deliver a feeling that whether it is vertigo and a new sense space and environment that is just incredible and I cant wait to see that come to mass market games and see what developer and creators can do with it”.
He further added that he is more focused on the family room environment experiences and think that there is still a lot of things needs to be done in that area like the issue of chord while using the VR which he wants to get rid off but it will take some few more years for it to work.
My view is in kinda in the family room environment, we’re probably a few years away from it being something that will really work. I think you know the cords are a kind of an issue. That said, the manufacturers that are out there, it’s great that as an industry we are investing whether its PSVR whether its Hololens or whether it is HTC Oculus. This is what the game industry should be about, is investing in new technology.”
He further says that the Xbox X one capability to run Virtual Reality or Mixed Reality is fine but they are struggling with the family room environment experience and want to take more time to bring the best experience to home rooms.
We said it last year power of the box is fine controlling and have a VR and MR experience run on it but it’s really that family room environment that we’re struggling a little bit with.and We’re saying ok, let’s stay more on the PC where we’re seeing action and developer interest until we really get the artform of what it means to create great MR experiences, then it can go to more places”.
Spencer answers do discard the rumor that the Xbox One X will not have VR support and unlike regular the VR, they are aiming for more immersive experience on their console. but they do need to speed up in this category as Sony’s PSVR has already crossed the milestone of one million PSVR sales since its debut in October 2016.