Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Thing?

Earlier this week, Sony held a special event at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to present PlayStation VR, the company’s virtual reality headset aimed to compete with Facebook’s Oculus Rift and HTC’s Vive. The device, formally known as Project Morpheus, is built for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and will launch worldwide in October.

While virtual reality has been willingly adopted as the next big thing by the media, there remains some doubt about the technology’s mass appeal. A recent survey by Horizon Media does little to refute the skepticism surrounding virtual reality’s potential to become a mainstream hit.

According to the findings, 36 percent of consumers in the U.S. are interested in owning a VR device. However, no more than a quarter of the respondents would be willing to spend more than $250 on it. Considering the fact that Sony’s PlayStation VR headset is already on the cheaper side with its $399 price tag, it remains doubtful how many buyers the futuristic devices will find outside the hardcore gaming demographic.