Oculus Closes Many In-Store Demo Stations as VR Headsets Prove a Hard Sell
Facebook’s virtual-reality division created a network of 500 free demo stations in Best Buy stores to give people a taste of VR using the Oculus Rift headset. But according to a Wednesday report from Business Insider, about 200 of the demo stations will close after low interest from consumers.
Sales thus far seem to reflect this. Market research firm Canalys estimates that just over two million VR headsets shipped last year (it puts the Rift in third place, with almost 400,000 headsets shipped, behind Sony’s PlayStation VR and HTC’s Vive). That’s a small number compared to video game consoles. More than six million of the current top seller, Sony’s PS4, were sold just during the holiday season.
“I think in a store environment getting people to sit down and go through that experience of getting a headset on and getting set up is quite a difficult thing to achieve,” said Geoff Blaber, a CCS Insight analyst.
See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603615/oculus-closes-many-in-store-demo-stations-as-vr-headsets-prove-a-hard-sell/?mc_cid=1227936f29&mc_eid=cf24d7da5b