Opportunity forecast


A December 2020 report notes that the extended reality market is projected to grow from $42.55 billion in 2020 to $333.16 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50.9% from 2020 to 2025. While this growth relates to a very wide variety of industries, there is no doubt that the education sector will make up a large chunk of this.


Market growth Drivers

  • Increased Demand for Spatial Computing Applications

  • Decreasing Prices of Extended Reality Hardware

  • Perceived Risk Reduction Possibilities Through Extended Reality in Workplace/Corporate Sector

  • Expanded Learning Opportunities in Education Sector


Market challenges

  • Health And Safety Issues Related To Extended Reality

  • Lower Adoption Rates and Hesitancy in Education Sector

  • Lack of Standardization Across Platforms and Hardware

  • Technology Related Challenges

market opportunities

  • Growing Demand for Mobile-Based AR and VR Platforms and Developers

  • Commercialization of Extended Reality Technologies

  • Increased Engagement from Remote Learners

  • Covid-19 May Act as an Opportunity to the Industry

Some of the key extended reality companies to pay attention to are Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook), Alphabet Inc. (Google), HTC Corporation, Unity, Microsoft Corporation, Samsung Electronics CO., LTD., Magic Leap, Sony Corporation, Vuzix Corporation, Atheer, PTC, Apple Inc., Eon Reality, and Niantic Inc., to name a few.

future

The rise of extended reality brings with it tremendous opportunities for developers to build things. One challenge, as mentioned above, is standardization. What platforms should developers build for exactly? What standards should they follow to ensure mass adoption? The same issue applies to hardware development as well. Developers and companies need to ensure they place their efforts in the right space and avoid obsolescence as much as possible.

This is where the idea of the Metaverse comes in. It has been described as the future of the internet. The Metaverse is not really one platform, just as the internet itself is not. The Metaverse would be made up of extended reality worlds but does not need to be exclusively accessed via XR, such as the game Fortnite which can be accessed through standard PCs, game consoles, and phones. The Metaverse is already partially built in a sense if you consider the virtual worlds that already exist. However, it seems that tech companies may start to converge into a common place/standard over time that will ultimately allow the Metaverse to take a more tangible form. In September 20210, Meta (Facebook) announced that it would invest USD 50 million to work with organizations to sustainably construct the Metaverse (Mordor Intelligence). Tech companies are salivating at the opportunity to sell devices that will let consumers into this virtual world. It should be noted that Meta owns Meta Quest (Oculus).

To learn more about the Metverse, check out the article posted here.

cost

An important factor to this venture opportunity is cost. There is significant overhead required from schools or business who wish to adopt extended reality on a wide scale. The figure below shows a few examples of VR headsets made by two of the main competitors in the space, Oculus and HTC (courtesy of Circuit Stream).

Click here to see the Circuit Stream VR headset decision tree.


Would you invest? Complete the poll below and let us know. Refresh the page for live results.

Let's take this poll further. Would you make an investment into XR for your school were in you in a position to do so? Why or why not? Would you invest in VR, AR, MR, all three, or a combination of them? If not now, would you invest 3, 5, 10 years?

Someone very wise once said that people learning through experience. Seeing how the spirit of this OER is rooted in the belief that learning should be a hands-on, we would like to challenge you to experience it for yourself. Move to the next page to see some low-cost, simple ways to engage in XR.