# The VR Honeymoon Phase (2015–2022) The idea of a global "honeymoon phase" for virtual reality (VR) from roughly 2015 to 2022 captures a wild ride of excitement, bold promises, and eventual grounding in reality. The term isn’t slapped on every report, but the pattern—hype, investment, then a dose of pragmatism—fits like a glove. Let’s unpack the evidence, from tech launches to market swings, and see how it ties to theatre’s own VR flirtations, like XR Stage. ## Evidence of a VR Honeymoon Phase ### Initial Hype and Investment Surge (2015–2016) - **Tech Milestones**: The VR scene exploded with consumer headsets—Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR all hit in 2016, riding the wave of Facebook’s $2 billion Oculus buy in 2014 [^1]. It felt like VR was about to rewrite reality itself. - **Market Projections**: Analysts went all-in. IDC pegged VR/AR investment at €15.5 billion by 2022, with over half of big European firms expected to jump on board by 2020 [^2]. - **Cultural Buzz**: Media compared VR to sci-fi dreams—think *Minority Report*. CES 2015 was a circus of VR demos, pulling crowds who saw gaming, education, even virtual hangouts as the future [^3]. ### Peak Enthusiasm and Expansion (2017–2019) - **Startup Boom**: VR startups shot up—2,270 globally by 2020, a 14x leap from earlier years. The U.S. alone had over 950, cooking up apps for fun, work, and socializing [^4]. - **Diverse Applications**: Beyond games, VR crept into medical training, virtual concerts, and real estate tours. By 2018, surgeons were practicing in VR, and virtual gigs were popping off [^5]. - **Consumer Adoption**: By 2020, 20% of U.S. folks had tried VR, up from 16% in 2019. About 43% of users owned headsets, others hit up arcades or events, feeding the "VR’s going mainstream" vibe [^6]. ### Metaverse Mania (2020–2021) - **Pandemic Catalyst**: COVID-19 locked us down, and VR stepped up. Virtual concerts—like Justin Bieber’s on WaveXR or Billie Eilish’s on Oculus Venues in 2021—drew millions, making VR feel essential [^7]. - **Meta’s Pivot**: Facebook’s 2021 rebrand to Meta, with a $10 billion metaverse bet, turned heads. The metaverse was pitched as VR’s holy grail—a digital world for all [^8]. - **Market Growth**: The VR market hit $27.96 billion in 2021, with rosy forecasts of $250 billion by 2028. Gaming led, but enterprise use, like virtual training, was climbing fast [^9]. ### Cooling Off and Realism (2021–2022) - **User Fatigue**: Users started grumbling. A 2021 Reddit thread called out VR’s short-lived thrill—some folks’ "honeymoon" fizzled in weeks, blaming weak games and samey apps [^10]. - **Market Realities**: Adoption didn’t match the hype. A 2022 survey showed just 26% of U.S. teens owned VR headsets, with 48% of owners barely touching them and 50% shrugging off the metaverse [^11]. - **Tech Limits**: Motion sickness, bulky gear, and steep prices—like Oculus Rift’s $599 tag—held VR back. Reports of VR-related injuries in 2022 didn’t help [^12]. - **Industry Reckoning**: By 2022, VR’s market reached $59.96 billion, but growth forecasts cooled. Only 10 million units shipped globally, far from mass takeover dreams. Meta’s metaverse caught flak for low engagement and privacy woes [^13]. ## Why It Feels Like a Honeymoon Phase - **Early Excitement**: From 2015–2019, VR was sold as a game-changer. Big names like Valve, Sony, and Meta pushed slick tech—low-persistence displays, Lighthouse tracking—and demos blew minds [^14]. - **Overpromise to Reality**: By 2020–2022, the shine faded. Content droughts, comfort issues, and niche appeal (mostly gamers and businesses) didn’t deliver the universal revolution. The metaverse hype crashed hard—only 5% of teens used VR daily in 2022 [^15]. - **Cultural Echoes**: "Honeymoon phase" pops up in user chats, like that Reddit post, and mirrors theatre’s XR Stage story, where early VR tools dazzled but needed pricey tweaks to stick [^16]. ## Theatre Context XR Stage, cooked up by the Finnish National Opera, rode this VR wave. Launched as an open-source tool around 2018–2023, it promised free access for theatres to plan productions, vibing with the era’s optimism [^17]. But by 2022, hurdles like needing custom 3D models and its 2025 shift to Younite’s commercial Virtual Stage show the honeymoon’s end—VR’s big dreams gave way to practical, paid solutions [^18]. ## Critical Take The 2015–2022 honeymoon phase checks out but isn’t the full story. VR wasn’t one thing—gaming killed it, enterprise chugged along, but social VR (Meta’s Horizon) tripped up. The establishment hyped VR as destiny, yet users and tech limits forced a pivot to focused, niche wins by 2022. Theatre’s cautious VR dabbling, like XR Stage, mirrors this—exciting, but no universal fix. [^1]: TechCrunch, "Facebook to Acquire Oculus VR for $2 Billion," 2014, https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-the-rift-headset-for-around-2b-in-cash-and-stock/ [^2]: IDC, "Worldwide Spending on Augmented and Virtual Reality," 2015, https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS41205816 [^3]: The Verge, "CES 2015: VR Takes Center Stage," 2015, https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/8/7511747/ces-2015-virtual-reality-oculus-vive [^4]: VentureBeat, "VR Startup Ecosystem Grows to 2,270 Companies," 2020, https://venturebeat.com/2020/06/10/vr-ar-startup-ecosystem-report/ [^5]: Forbes, "How Virtual Reality Is Changing Healthcare," 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2018/07/24/how-virtual-reality-is-changing-the-healthcare-landscape/ [^6]: Statista, "Virtual Reality Adoption in the U.S.," 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1013469/vr-adoption-usa/ [^7]: Rolling Stone, "Virtual Concerts Boom During Pandemic," 2021, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/virtual-concerts-pandemic-1156789/ [^8]: The New York Times, "Facebook Rebrands as Meta," 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/28/technology/facebook-meta-name-change.html [^9]: Fortune Business Insights, "Virtual Reality Market Size," 2021, https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/virtual-reality-market-101378 [^10]: Reddit, "VR Honeymoon Phase Wearing Off," 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/qj5k2m/is_the_honeymoon_phase_over_for_vr/ [^11]: Piper Sandler, "Taking Stock With Teens," 2022, https://www.pipersandler.com/1col.aspx?id=621 [^12]: The Wall Street Journal, "Virtual Reality Injuries Rise," 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/virtual-reality-injuries-vr-headsets-11659234601 [^13]: Bloomberg, "Meta’s Metaverse Struggles," 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-17/meta-s-metaverse-struggles-to-gain-traction [^14]: Ars Technica, "The Tech Behind VR’s Rise," 2016, https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/04/how-valve-and-htc-built-the-vive/ [^15]: eMarketer, "Teen VR Usage Declines," 2022, https://www.emarketer.com/content/teen-vr-usage-declines [^16]: Helsinki Times, "Finnish Opera’s XR Stage Goes Global," 2025, https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/themes/themes/science-and-technology/25954-finnish-opera-s-xr-stage-goes-global-with-younite-partnership.html [^17]: Finnish National Opera, "XR Stage Overview," 2023, https://oopperabaletti.fi/en/xr-stage/ [^18]: Younite, "Virtual Stage Commercialization," 2025, https://younite.ai/younite-commercializes-virtual-stage-innovation-from-the-finnish-national-opera-and-ballet