Growing AR/VR Market Brings New Opportunities and Challenges, According to Perkins Coie Survey

One of the clear themes from Perkins Coie’s 2018 Augmented and Virtual Reality Survey—especially in comparing the results with our inaugural survey in late 2016—was that the industry is growing and, at the same time, encountering new obstacles.

Industry insiders responding to the survey—which included startup founders, technology company executives and investors—expressed more concern about legal risks as AR/VR companies are getting closer to market. They’re most worried about consumer privacy and data security, product liability and health and safety issues, and intellectual property infringement.

At the same time, more practical applications are taking hold in AR and VR, a sign of the industry’s development. Gaming, as it was in the 2016 survey, was expected to draw the most investment over the next 12 months. But its place at the top of the list wasn’t as strong as it was in the first survey as other areas made gains, including retail, healthcare and medical devices, military and defense, and real estate.

And the upward trajectory for those categories is important, according to some respondents. “It is time for the industry to move beyond the ‘new technology’ phase, and concentrate on providing solid, provable business cases to clients that show a measurable return on investment, and deliverable results,” one VR startup founder said.

For an article with further analysis of the survey, please click here.