A new online study of 12 western countries by Newzoo suggests that 11% of people are looking to buy into virtual reality within the next 6 months, that Spain is the most aware of VR and that Canada is willing to spend the most on it.
Newly published data from an online survey with respondents from 12 countries gives an interesting peek into cultural attitudes towards and general awareness of virtual reality. The new report from Newzoo charts statistics mined from 2000 respondents in each country, 3000 in the US, and suggests that awareness of consumer virtual reality is higher than you might expect.
When asked “Are you planning to buy VR products in the next 6 months?” a surprising 16% of Spaniards, 12% of Americans and 10% of British all stating they would do just that. The Netherlands appeared the least interested with only 4% intending to take the VR plunge and 15% of residents in Belgium are apparently completely unaware of VR at all.
According to the Newzoo report, the willingness to drop serious money on on VR products is encouragingly high, at least among a core, technologically savvy subset of this survey – namely gamers. For example, despite only 7% of Canadians intending to go virtual 28% of those have already dropped more than $600 on related product, with Sweden at 24% and the UK at just 18%.
But, although VR may be here, it’s also only just arrived. Here in 2016, virtual reality makes its first steps into the consumer marketplace where the uninitiated can handle and judge this new medium. And while what we have today is undoubtedly the best, most affordable virtual reality technology that’s ever existed, the opportunities for what comes next are even greater (and growing) than what we’ve seen up to this point. High-end VR hardware has only been available for pre-order since January of this year. It’ll be interesting to see where those number sit once we’ve passed through a holiday season and into next year.
In the mean time, if you’re interested in learning more about the state where we are right now, we’ve applied our experience as the industry’s most senior VR-dedicated publication, combined with Greenlight VR’s trusted data-driven analysis, to create a comprehensive foundation of the virtual reality landscape and a realistic account of how the market will grow.
