VR traction over the past several years has been slower than many had anticipated. But it’s still finding small wins and is growing at a fairly healthy pace. So the question is how well it’s landing with consumers today, and are those sentiments trending in the right direction?

So we set out for answers. Working closely with Thrive Analytics, ARtillery Intelligence authored questions to be fielded through its established survey engine to more than 50,000 U.S. adults. The result is Wave 9 of the research, and a narrative report we published to unpack the results.

Known as VR Usage & Consumer Attitudes, Wave 9, it follows similar reports over the last few years. Nine waves of research now bring new insights and trend data to light. And all nine waves represent a collective six-digit sum of U.S. adults for robust longitudinal analysis.

Among the topics tackled: How is VR resonating with everyday consumers? How often are they using it? How satisfied are they? What types of experiences do they want most? How much are they willing to pay for it? And for those who aren’t interested in VR… why not?

VR Usage & Consumer Attitudes, Wave 9

Functional Factors

After examining VR users’ (and non-users’) price sensitivity in the last installment of this series, we switch gears to examine the top areas of improvement they want to see in the technology. We’ve split these results between functional factors and content-related factors.

Starting with functional areas, social functionality leads (33 percent) as a place where VR users want to see improvement. In fact, this survey wave is the first time that it took the top spot. That was followed by optical quality (30 percent), battery life (25 percent), and mobility (23 percent).

To define these attributes, optical quality includes things like resolution and field of view. Social interactivity is also a growing area of VR demand and includes system-level functionality like avatars, as well as apps like Meta Horizon, VR Chat, and (to some degree) Bigscreen.

In fact, it’s telling that social interaction took the top spot in users’ functional aspirations for the first time. The good news is that flat or slight growth in other functional categories (battery life, mobility, optical quality) means that these areas aren’t growing as user pain points.

Survey: How Much Will Consumers Pay for VR?

Quality & Quantity

As for content-related factors, the desire for content quality is flat year-over-year, signaling that it could likewise be leveling off as an area of user concern – an ongoing trend over the past four survey waves. The opposite is true of content quantity, as it grew four percentage points.

Panning back, content quantity has grown as an area of improvement over several waves of this survey. This is counterintuitive as content libraries continue to grow, meaning that low quantity should theoretically diminish as an area of improvement. But that hasn’t been the case.

But the biggest headline among content-related areas of improvement is users’ desire for lower-priced VR content. It jumped from 49 percent in Wave 8 to 57 percent in Wave 9, having previously jumped from 35 percent in Wave 7. This is a noteworthy three-wave jump in sentiment.

Theorizing why this feeling grew so much, it’s likely due to macroeconomic factors such as inflation and softer demand when it comes to consumer discretionary spending. In uncertain economic times, consumers are generally more cost-sensitive, so these results meet expectations.

We’ll pause there and pick things up in the next installment. Meanwhile, check out the full report for more.