Introducing Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a publication exploring the dynamic convergence of technology and amusement, distributed exclusively for The Verge members on a weekly basis.
“The gaming sector is experiencing quite a challenging period.”
Chris Pruett, Meta Reality Labs’ head of gaming initiatives, spoke candidly upon his return to GDC for his yearly address on the current condition of VR gaming this week. He stated, “Having been involved in this industry for nearly three decades, this represents the most arduous phase I have ever witnessed.”
Pruett commented, “It’s a difficult situation for everyone, including VR. We are not exempt from these challenges.”
Pruett offered these observations two months after Meta eliminated over a thousand positions connected to VR and substantially curtailed its proprietary game production. “We ceased operations of several of our development teams,” Pruett conceded. “And be assured: those were premier studios.”
Meta’s major retrenchments have fostered apprehension within the VR development community, particularly given that many independent developers have experienced their own staff cutbacks. Admittedly, earnings from the Quest marketplace saw a modest increase in 2025, as per Pruett. Nevertheless, a significant portion of this sector’s development has been propelled by complimentary-to-access games such as GorillaTag and UG, which are favored by adolescents with minimal spending money.
Pruett conceded that even more seasoned dedicated VR players “are reducing their former expenditure.” Nevertheless, he offered an encouraging outlook for anxious VR creators: Those GorillaTag players are not perpetually going to be fourteen.
Pruett remarked, “As individuals mature and transition into adulthood, they typically seek experiences that are more demanding.”
Concurrently, these players are improbable to abandon VR entirely. Pruett noted, “They have engaged with it from the age of twelve.” They are accustomed to a distinct style of interactive experience with a greater focus on communal engagement, and are also far less inclined to experience cybersickness than older players.
“We have never had VR-native young adults,” Pruett stated. While concrete evidence regarding the future behavior of these players is not yet available, he posited that older players might enjoy titles that preserve elements of the unconventional physics and communal features found in games like GorillaTag and UG, but with a considerably higher level of refinement.
Pruett articulated, “I anticipate that they will persist as a fundamental player base. However, the interactive software they engage with will evolve, and their discretionary spending capacity will also alter.”
Beyond these late adolescents, Meta is also banking on individuals in their thirties to encounter virtual reality in the coming years. Pruett stated, “They frequently view films, they watch many sports, they consume numerous Netflix shows, yet they do not consider themselves video game enthusiasts.”
Pruett proposed that many of these users will not acquire VR head-mounted displays primarily for interactive entertainment, but rather as individualized display units and apparatuses for viewing stereoscopic media. Meta has invested considerable effort in attracting this demographic and is rumored to be developing a portable head-mounted display with a separate processing module, projected for release sometime in 2027. The corporation even entered into a collaboration with James Cameron to catalyze the development of 3D material for that specific device.
Pruett indicated that these more mature users will nevertheless engage in numerous interactive experiences, despite not considering themselves gaming enthusiasts. Accommodating their preferences might necessitate alternative genres of interactive software, such as applications operable from a seated position. He stated, “For them, it’s an effortless, calming engagement, not a physical exertion.”
While Pruett refrained from directly discussing the forthcoming head-mounted display, he emphatically advised creators who aim for that more mature demographic to adopt input methods without physical controllers. He explained, “These individuals will predominantly rely on hand-tracking. They are improbable to possess physical input devices, nor utilize such devices.”
Meta is not the sole corporation seeking mature individuals possessing greater discretionary funds as an emerging demographic for extended reality platforms. Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro is tailored for users focused on content viewing and sedentary engagements, and Google and Samsung likewise focus on a comparable market with their Galaxy XR head-mounted display, priced at $1,800.
The major qualification: To date, there’s scant evidence that those demographics are genuinely substantial enough to significantly impact the VR market. Apple is said to have curtailed manufacturing of the Vision Pro subsequent to uninspiring sales figures, with IDC projecting that the company shifted merely 45,000 head-mounted displays in the previous quarter.
Pruett personally conceded that Meta was making a wager on more mature users, referring to them as “a sizable emergent demographic.”
“Such entities are not currently found within this system,” he declared.
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