Xbox co-creator says VR still doesn't have a "killer app"
The co-creator of the original Xbox console, Seamus Blackley, said VR still doesn’t have a “killer app” yet and that’s why the technology hasn’t taken off.
Blackley spoke on the VideoGamer Podcast (via PC Guide) and had some strong words to say about VR and AR gaming.
“We’ve seen VR and AR not really take off, and if you’re a big fan, I’m sorry, but it’s just the fucking fact,” he said. “There is no killer app and nobody can put their finger on what a killer app could be.”
He continued: “Everybody has a different kind of personal fantasy and then, at least in my experience, when you are given the environment that you sort of fantasised about you’re like ‘OK’ and you just want to take the headset off, because it’s this hot, heavy thing. It’s weird and disappointing.”
Blackley said one of the key issues with VR “from a narrative standpoint” is that it offers “too much freedom”, and that illusion of freedom is undermined by the need for developers to provide narrative control.
“When you lower the structure so much for the player that they are in the headset and they look around everywhere, in principle as an elevator pitch that sounds great,” he said. “In practice, when we want to be entertained, we want a storyteller to control the narrative and to entertain us.
