During an interview with Bloomberg TV, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick provided his opinion about virtual reality and gaming, saying that the latter isn't really ready for the former. He indicated that the company was concerned that gamers will likely play Take Two titles for hours upon hours using a VR solution and become nauseated. Naturally, no publisher wants their game associated with vomiting.
"Having had the experience, I'm not sure how long you want an immersive headset on your head," he told Bloomberg. "We'll find out. I will say this. If that's what consumers want, we'll be first in line to give it to them."
The experience Zelnick mentioned was a VR solution provided by Microsoft. He said that the characters appeared to be real, and that the whole experience in interacting with these virtual individuals was "extraordinary."
Zelnick indicated that Take Two would rather be a "fast follower" and doesn't plan to jump on the virtual reality bandwagon any time soon. In fact, Zelnick admitted that he's rather comfortable letting other people and companies dump money into research and development.
Is gaming ready for virtual reality? We'll find out once the VR headsets begin to hit the market. I've toyed with the Oculus Rift a number of times, and each encounter was better than the last. The first demo centered on a virtual castle designed by Epic Games, and the second was a wilderness demo that had me chasing butterflies.
Did I feel any nausea? Not really. Then again, these were controlled events. In another demo, I interacted with NPCs in Half-Life 2, which was a real blast. That was technically my first gaming experience with the Rift, and I'm all ready for another dose when Oculus Rift and other solutions hit the streets.
That all said, is gaming ready for virtual reality? Based on my experience, it could be. However, we'll have to see what happens when these VR solutions hit the market. What do you think?
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