The immersive gaming trend is gradually consuming the industry at large. With virtual reality (VR) the new frontier, most developers are either working on projects or thinking about how they too can get in on the act. Having VR headsets hooked up to gaming consoles and PCs has been the main way to play for the last five years. However, for a time, mobile VR systems were making noise.
Mobile VR Software Showed Us What’s Possible
OK, so they weren’t making a lot of noise, but products such as Samsung’s Note did, for a time, work with Gear VR. Google’s Pixel devices also supported Daydream VR for a while. Basically, you could plug your mobile into a VR headset, and the screen, in combination with the external hardware, would plunge you into a virtual world. While this was a novel concept, it hasn’t taken hold. The most recent Note and Pixel mobile devices no longer support VR products, which suggests developers are moving away from the concept of affordable, portable VR.
There does, however, seem to be a desire for an immersive and realistic gaming experience within the mobile realm. The obvious example is live dealer software. A game such as live casino roulette has been optimized for all mobile devices. So, if you play Live Quantum Roulette on your iPhone, the webcam that connects you to a remote gaming studio will play a high-definition stream. Then, with a few taps, you can not only play the game but converse with a human dealer.
Mobile Tech Can’t Meet the Demand for Immersive Gaming
To say this gaming experience isn’t immersive and realistic would be doing a disservice to the developers at Playtech HQ. Given the prevalence of live dealer casino games, the implication, based on the concept of supply and demand, is that players like them. If players want immersion, then surely game developers would want to stick with mobile virtual reality products. Well, even if they do, two main forces are pushing back against the growth of mobile VR: quality and alternatives.
In reality, mobile VR products are never going to look or feel as immersive as their console/desktop counterparts. The first reason for this is cooling. Processing VR content is extremely resource intensive and that requires a lot of system cooling. Mobile devices simply don’t have the cooling power of desktop computers and gaming consoles. Therefore, it’s almost impossible to run VR games at the same frame rates on mobiles as desktops or consoles.
New Technology Severs the Connection
The screen on your mobile device is great, but it doesn’t have the same low-persistence, low-latency settings as a screen designed specifically for VR content. In contrast, Oculus Rift does. This brings us to the second issue. Mobile versions of Oculus Rift, such as the all-in-one Quest 2, are getting better and better. Not being tethered to a PC or console is what we really want when it comes to virtual reality. We want to move around a physical setting while experiencing a virtual world.
As such, mobile VR headsets seem to be the way forward. More than that, they seem to be the thing that will finally kill off the VR smartphone era. Plugging your phone into a headset even now seems like a dated way of experiencing VR. Yes, it’s an affordable way to experience immersive games. It’s also a medium through which players can still enjoy immersive live gaming experiences. However, at least for now, the connection between mobiles and VR has been severed.