XR has a hardware problem.
Maybe that’s not right. It’s more of a hardware obsession.
Say XR and the conversation will end up focusing on the headsets. That’s understandable; the headsets are the hardware, and if we look at gaming as a whole, the platform gets people excited.
Searching for the native mechanic
But with more established platforms (PC, console, mobile), the mechanic has been locked in, with games built to use it.
We’re getting there with XR, but we’re still in that phase where the device is, to an extent, dictating the content.
That’s not how it should be; it’s not how XR goes mainstream. PlayStation used the slogan ‘For The Players’ for the PS4, but really it should be burnt into the mission statement of every developer, every game designer and every hardware manufacturer in the industry. After all, we do this for the players, not the device manufacturers.
And to do this for the players, we need to crack that native mechanic. That means taking what makes the platform unique – the immersive nature of XR – and creating games that don’t just accept it, but embed it into every aspect of their being, from storytelling to action.
If we can do that, then XR gaming will truly be its own medium. Not a gimmick.
Give the players what they want
We do that by giving players what they want. Publish games, gather feedback, adjust the game, gather feedback, and keep going to find that native mechanic. Move quickly so you can generate insights faster. At a certain point, either the game works, or it doesn’t. Either way, you incorporate those insights into your next game.
That rapid iteration does more than crack the core mechanic. It improves player retention, because the game is closer to what they want, not what the developer thinks they want.
But do it quickly. It’s got to be fast; days, not weeks or months.
That speed makes it the natural space for small teams and indie developers. The biggest XR games to date have come from small studios, because they can move fast. They don’t have lots of hoops to go through. If it’s broken, fix it.
The platforms know this is where the innovation is coming from and that they can’t compete with it. So they embrace it. Look at what Meta is doing: Meta Horizon+ paid out nearly $20 million to participating developers, Oculus Publishing has an accelerator fund, and the Ignition Program has sponsored 21 startups to build prototypes in VR.
AI speeds teams up – that’s all
Those small teams can move even faster thanks to AI. The overriding theme of GDC’s State of Gaming Report was that AI is a negative; 52% of respondents have a negative view of the tech.
I get why, but it’s the wrong way of looking at it. The right deployment of AI can be a positive. That right deployment is helping teams move through the parts that aren’t the creative work, that’s all. AI matters for XR in areas outside of game design; it matters in the ways it helps make the hardware useful for everyday use.
Glasses, not headsets, are the next computing platform
Smart glasses – that’s the hardware I’m talking about. This goes beyond gaming. This is about glasses becoming the next computing platform, alongside PC and mobile.
That’s the key word: alongside. Not replacing. Picking up those interactions that right now you have to stop and look at your phone for: directions, looking something up. It won’t be games on glasses right away; for that to happen, glasses need to become part of our every day, just like mobiles did.
Glasses will be the way people get into XR, not headsets. Look at Meta’s partnership with Ray Ban. Yeah, it’ll keep working on headsets, but Meta knows that long term, glasses are where XR breaks the mainstream.
The games will then follow. That’s where all the time and investment currently going into XR headset games will pay off. Think of it as building muscle, which will be ready to go when gaming lands on smart glasses. It needs to be ready: player expectations are growing with every release, thanks to the standards current developers are setting.
XR’s future
There we have it. XR’s future isn’t obsessing over hardware, at least not headsets. It’s nailing that native mechanic by moving quick and acting on feedback quicker, using AI but not getting worked up about it, and thinking glasses, not headsets.
