Remember virtual reality? Its buzz has faded at CES 2019
Posted January 9, 2019 10:26 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NEW YORK — Just a few years ago, virtual reality was poised to take over the world.
After decades of near misses, the revolution finally seemed imminent, with slick consumer headsets about to hit the market. Industries from gaming and entertainment to social media stood ready to hop on the bandwagon.
But the buzz over VR has faded to a whisper. At the CES 2019 tech show in Las Vegas, there are few glitzy VR press events.
These days, VR is mostly a niche product for gaming and business training, held back by expensive, clunky headsets, a paucity of interesting software and other technological shortcomings.
In particular, venture-capital funding for VR software development has plummeted, falling almost 60 per cent in 2018 by one estimate.
Mae Anderson, The Associated Press
