Virtual reality is all the buzz nowadays. And why wouldn’t it be when analysts like Goldman Sachs make estimates that the industry is poised to surpass the TV market in annual revenue by 2025. That would make virtual reality bigger than TV in less than 10 years. These estimates are so massive because the breakthrough technology has the ability to extend itself into so many markets — gaming, education, productivity and even adult entertainment.
Estimates aside, one can often find the direction an industry is headed by following the money. In 2015 alone, virtual and augmented reality startups raised a total of $658 million in equity financing across 126 deals. Many of these companies backed include many virtual reality technologies you’ve already heard of, such as Leap Motion and Oculus.But can we believe all the hype? Will these companies be the leaders by the time Goldman Sachs’ estimate comes around?
Having worked in the virtual reality space before it was a buzzword, I’ve seen a few things that lead me to believe there are three companies that will be as big, if not bigger, than some of the mainstream virtual reality names.
NVIDIA is in the business of visual computing technology; its work started back in 1999 with the release of the GeForce (NV10). This consumer-level 3D hardware was ahead of its time with advanced video acceleration, motion compensation and hardware sub-picture alpha blending. It caught the eye of Microsoft and eventually became the graphics hardware for the Microsoft Xbox game console. Read More…