With the upcoming releases of virtual reality hardware from Sony, Microsoft, and Valve, certain gaming companies are not fully committed to creating new games for the upcoming VR takeover. A representative from Electronic Arts has officially stated that, as of this moment, the company will not be producing video games for this revolutionary platform for gaming… at least not immediately.
The Chief Financial Officer of Electronic Arts, Blake Jorgensen, stated that the company will wait until after the launch of the Virtual Reality headsets to confirm that this will be a profitable route to take. During the UBS Global Technology Conference, Jorgensen stated, “There’s some challenges still and I think the biggest challenge is just the size of the market. We don’t make games anymore for the Wii or the Wii U because the market is not big enough, the PS Vita – the Sony product – we don’t make games for that anymore because the market is too small, so it’s all about the size of the market.”
During the conference, Jorgensen also confirming that they have received development kits for various VR manufactures and they will be creating software for some of them, but that is as far as it shall go for now. Jorgensen also believes that in the next three to five years the market for virtual reality gaming will be at a stable state. At that time, hopefully EA will have a higher interest in creating content for the virtual reality market.
Of course, there are other issues and concerns that are keeping EA on the fence about the success of virtual reality. Electronic Arts had expressed last year that it was concerned for the well-being of players who are prone to motion sickness. Nausea was a side effect of early VR usage amongst players that will hopefully be fixed by the time of release. On the other side, Ubisoft has expressed their full support for virtual reality gaming and shall be releasing a number of games during the first few months of VR launch.
Hopefully a successful launch for virtual reality headsets next year will coax the big time publishers to join in on the next level of gaming. Only time will tell. Do you agree with EA’s decision to wait it out before releasing VR games? Let me know in the comments below!
