VR hardware market observation.

Since August, VR hardware products have been launched one after another. First, Virtuix, an American VR system hardware developer, announced that its full-body VR gaming system "Omni One" will be officially launched in September, and then British startup Roto VR released the Explorer wheeled swivel chair, bringing some freshness and topicality to the long-dormant VR market.

01 Ready Player One

The launch date of the "Ready Player One" treadmill has been confirmed

After four years of waiting, Virtuix finally announced that its integrated home VR treadmill Omni One will be officially released in the United States on September 10. The product was originally planned to be launched at the end of 2021, but it was repeatedly delayed. However, the company also became famous for providing VR sports models for Spielberg's film "Ready Player One". According to the official website, Omni One is a large VR device that includes a 360° treadmill, a customized Pico 4 Enterprise Edition VR headset, and dedicated shoes, trackers and other accessories.

It should be noted that although we call this device a treadmill, it is completely different from the conveyor belt treadmill in the gym. It is a unique disc-shaped walking platform that does not rely on mechanical transmission. Instead, it allows users to wear special shoes and slide in the concave disc to smoothly perform physical walking, running, squatting and jumping in the virtual world. At the same time, there is a bracket on the back that acts as a limit, which not only ensures the safety of the player, but also accurately captures the player's movements.

In terms of price, a complete set of Omni One equipment is currently only shipped to US users, and the price including shipping is US$2,595.

02 VR Wheel Swivel Chair

Roto VR, a British startup, has released a rotating chair called Roto VR Explorer, which can greatly enhance the sense of immersion and relieve dizziness by synchronizing the user's head rotation with the rotation of the chair, combining real-world actions with virtual world images.

Unlike larger devices like the Virtuix Omni treadmill, the Roto VR

Explorer takes up very little space. The seat looks like an office chair, but it has an oversized wheeled base and a built-in electric motor that can rotate at up to 21 rpm. The seat automatically rotates left and right to match the head rotation of the user wearing the Meta

Quest headset. Unlike other products that rely on motion data captured by Quest, the Roto VR Explorer uses its own motion sensors mounted on the headband for head tracking.

This is also said to be the first device of its kind to receive the "Made for Meta" certification, meaning it is compatible with Meta's VR glasses.

In terms of price, the Roto VR

Explorer currently costs $799 (about 5,708 yuan) and is expected to ship in October. The company launched a more complex version in 2020 that cost more than $2,000.

03 Is it possible to "add" VR hardware?

It is not difficult to see that these two VR hardware equipment manufacturers have chosen to solve the pain points of using VR glasses by adding other hardware equipment, so as to impress more consumers to try the VR experience.

Generally speaking, there are two ways of thinking about "adding" to hardware products: the first is to greatly increase the configuration and functions, which may make users feel sincere; the other is to add specific performance and experience, so that the product can break through in certain dimensions and give the product a certain specific label.

But in fact, the pain points of using VR equipment are not just the lack of sports experience and easy dizziness mentioned above, but also the pain points that affect the use include: equipment price, equipment comfort, delay and refresh rate, content diversity, software compatibility and interaction methods, etc.

Take the first VR treadmill as an example, the total price is US$2,595 (about RMB 18,500). A simple calculation shows that according to the official opening price, the PICO

4 Enterprise Edition VR headset is priced at 900 euros (equivalent to about RMB 6,354), so the remaining 360° treadmill, special shoes and trackers and other accessories cost more than RMB 10,000. You should know that the price of mid-to-high-end treadmills on the market is generally in the RMB 4,000-5,000 range.

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