This Week In The Business: Custom-Fit VR Forecasts

STAT | $11.2 billion – The amount people will spend on all VR in 2020, according to a forecast by IHS Markit

STAT | $30 billion – The amount people will spend on all VR in 2020, according to a forecast by Superdata

STAT | $50 billion – The amount people will spend on VR hardware alone in 2021, according to a forecast by Juniper Research

QUOTE | “The number one problem facing the VR industry right now is the lack of high quality, highly replayable VR content.” – First Contact Entertainment president Hess Barber lays out the biggest problem his VR studio will focus on solving

QUOTE | “We shouldn’t let gaming turn into an artform that’s defined by a number. Nobody asks when you look at a painting, how many colors were used?” – Head of Xbox Phil Spencer pushes back at the idea that native 4K resolution or 60 frames per second should be mandatory features for games

QUOTE | “This industry is not going to protect us. We have to learn to protect ourselves.” – The Chinese Room co-founder Jessica Curry, encouraging women to stand up for themselves and each other at the European Women in Games conference.

QUOTE | “People without any expertise still go around saying ‘if you have a good idea, go on with your passion’, which is the most dangerous thing you can say to a young person approaching the game industry” – Gamera Interactive CEO Alberto Bell, imploring small developers to think of themselves as companies first

QUOTE | “The foundations, the vision and passion that made [Kerbal Space Program] possible in the first place hasn’t changed and it will continue to guide us in the future.” – Squad’s community manager, responding to eight of the company’s developers collectively announcing their departure on Reddit

QUOTE | “You will not be able to upload external assets with your PlayStation 4 mods, but you will be able to use any assets that come with the game, as most mods do.” – Bethesda, explaining limitations that will be in place when the PS4 version of Skyrim launches with user mod support. Previously the company had dropped the feature because “Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want.”

QUOTE | “In Washington, and everywhere else in the United States, skins betting on eSports remains a large, unregulated black market for gambling. And that carries great risk for the players who remain wholly unprotected in an unregulated environment.” – Washington State Gambling Commissioner Chris Stearns, in a press release saying Valve needs to stop allowing Steam users to transfer skins for gambling purposes

QUOTE | “After 4 years of a close collaboration, our partnership with Limbic Entertainment is coming to an end and as such no further updates will be provided for the title.” – Ubisoft, announcing the end of its collaboration with Limbic on Might and Magic Heroes VII. It is also shutting down the Might & Magic: Duel of Champions Online Card Game at the end of the month.