One of the most exciting changes that have been seen in the tech sector over the past few years has been within the expansion of extended reality – both augmented and virtual reality have gone through large changes and have started to expand into many different markets – the most popular for some time had certainly been within gaming, but there has been a lot of change to help extended reality expand outwards too – but where have the most exciting opportunities been found?
Big opportunities still found in gaming – It had often been noted that gaming was the first home for extended reality and the wider audience first got a glimpse back in 2016 with the launch of Pokémon GO which took the summer by storm at the time, and even lately with games like VR Chat which have become big amongst certain streaming communities – extended reality has started to branch out as some betting sites and as some other games with the likes of online casinos have started to become the biggest users of virtual reality, and as the technology continues to change and improve this will certainly be a big space for gaming moving forward for the longer term too.
Use found in education – With people learning in many different ways, some being more visual and others being more hands-on, extended reality provides a great way to help bridge the gap for many too. Whilst the space is still relatively new, the suggestion has largely been targeted towards hands on learning opportunities, but also for opportunities in education that may not be targeted towards younger people as it could be used in helping improve workplace training and other forms of training too. It’s certainly an interesting space for change and will be one that comes very quickly once movement does eventually gain some traction.
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Extended Reality changing healthcare – Whilst aimed at a similar space in healthcare, the much stricter focus on healthcare as a whole could be the next big industry much like gaming where extended reality continues to thrive. This is something that has already been used with mixed reality to help surgeons in reconstructive surgery, it helps enhance precision – it was described how it had been used to generate 3D models in order to help guide the operation. It has also been suggested that the likes of augmented reality could aim to help visual representation of the expectations of upcoming procedures for example too.
It’s a very exciting space that continues to change rapidly, and whilst moving away from the initial home in gaming has been a downside to some it doesn’t mean that space doesn’t have a lot of opportunities moving forward, and extended reality still certainly looks to be a bright future.
