Share of respondents who own a virtual reality headset in the UK 2019, by generation

According to a survey conducted by Attest in 2019, millennials in the United Kingdom (UK) are more likely than members of any other generation to own an virtual reality (VR) headset, with 21.7 percent of millennial respondents claiming to own such a device.

VR in the United Kingdom

The UK is home to several companies that are working with virtual and augmented reality (AR) technology, content and products. As of 2017, there were 101 established VR and AR companies in the UK, as well as 174 startups and 123 scaleups. 308 companies were working to create VR and AR content.

While VR and AR companies have established themselves across the UK, London is the center of the industry at a national level. In 2017, VR and AR companies based in London attracted 645.74 million U.S. dollars in venture capital funding, ahead of the 16.8 million U.S. dollars secured by companies in Dundee.

Rapid VR growth expected

VR has incredible potential to change and create entire industries and is already enabling new approaches to areas such as training and development, trauma therapy, and entertainment. Technology has not yet caught up with ambition and vision, however, and this has been the primary factor holding the industry back in recent years. As major tech companies devote significant resources to VR development, major breakthroughs are being made that ought to help the industry reach the anticipated 160 billion U.S. dollar market value by 2023. This would represent close to a ten-fold increase on the 2019 market value.