CCP CEO: “You can't build a business” on current VR
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson says virtual reality has fallen far short of the Eve developer's expectations
One year after CCP exited the VR market, the developer's CEO has offered more insight into the shock decision.
Speaking to Destructoid, Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said the audience for virtual reality did not grow as fast as his firm had hoped, making it difficult for the Icelandic developer to justify further investment.
The company had become something of a poster child for virtual reality with Eve: Valkyrie, a space dogfighting spin-off of its hugely popular MMO.
But last October, the firm announced it was shutting down its Atlanta studio and selling the Newcastle team behind Valkyrie, effectively exiting the virtual reality business.
"We expected VR to be two to three times as big as it was, period," Pétursson said. "You can't build a business on that."
The CEO went on to explain that his firm started coming to this decision around May 2017, less than six months before the studios were closed and sold.
"Was it a surprise? Maybe," he said. "But the picture was filling in that there would not be a way to continue with VR as heavily as we were."
However, Pétursson stressed he has "no regrets" about the firm's efforts with virtual reality, and even seems hopeful that the newly-announced Oculus Quest could turn things around when it launches next year.
"If it does take off - and I mean if - we'll reassess," he said. "The important thing is we need to see the metrics for active users of VR. A lot of people bought headsets just to try it out. How many of those people are active? We found that in terms of our data, a lot of users weren't."