It’s been a decade since virtual reality was initially expected to take the world by storm, and the technology’s impact has barely been noticed. It hasn’t blown up in the mainstream in the way that many analysts had predicted, and that still feels a long way off.
Initially, online casino developers thought that VR was going to transform the online casino market, but this hasn’t happened yet. It may still have an impact in the future, but it may not be quite as influential as studios first expected.
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Studios Initially Thought That VR Would Lead to Metaverse Casinos
Microgaming was one of the first studios to start developing content for VR and made headlines for its VR Roulette game. The concept involved transporting players to a space-inspired setting with a roulette table hosted by a robot croupier. This was just a prototype, however, and it never managed to earn widespread adoption at online casinos.
In the early days of VR, many industry experts predicted that online casinos would transition towards becoming fully functioning VR worlds. Microgaming’s VR Roulette could have led to various similar games based on other classic tables, and the idea was that players would walk around in a virtual casino. Although Mark Zuckerberg may have brought the term metaverse to the mainstream years later, that’s essentially what people thought online casinos would become. This hasn’t been the case, though, and this scenario doesn’t seem as likely now as it once did.
Some Games Could Adapt to VR
Instead of transitioning to VR, the online casino industry pivoted towards another technology during the 2010s with live streaming. This was already starting to gain traction around the same time as the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift first hit shelves, but it became even more popular by 2020. Now, live casino games are available at almost every online casino, putting players in touch with real-world dealers. There’s a good chance that these games could be adapted for VR, as this could add another level to the immersion and make players feel like they’re in a casino.
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The slots market, on the other hand, seems less likely to be altered drastically by VR. Online casino slot games are still the most popular genre at online casinos, and games like Take the Cash and 3 Lucky Peppers still have elements that existed in the old slot machines of the era before the internet. If they are to be made into VR games, the general mechanics of these slots are likely to remain the same. That’s why it may make sense for online casinos to have VR sections, just like they have live casino sections, rather than become full VR metaverses.
There’s still a lot of speculation as to how VR could impact the online casino industry, and the picture may not be clear until the 2030s. That’s when various analysts believe that VR will start to gain more mainstream traction. If there comes a point at which most people own a VR headset, online casino operators and developers will find this hard to ignore.