EGX 2016: Gaming Expo Goes Big on VR

Consumer Interest for VR Is Growing

On 22 to 25 September, Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre was host to the eighth annual EGX consumer gaming show. I attended the event and wanted to share a few highlights.

As usual, the show floor offered a large variety of the latest and upcoming games from the biggest game publishers and indie developers. The show seemed a little smaller than in previous years but there was still plenty to see. It seemed that many of the big companies that have previously had a large presence at the show, opted to only showcase a few of their main game titles on smaller booths. Some notable absentees included EA, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Microsoft (Xbox) and Google (YouTube).

Once again VR was the big story at EGX. There was a huge number of VR games and experiences using devices such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and the soon-to-be-released PlayStation VR headset.

Sony’s PlayStation booth mainly showcased the PlayStation VR headset and some of the 50 games and experiences that will be available when the device goes on sale in the UK on 13 October 2016.

Sony’s PlayStation VR stand

The popularity of the HTC Vive with attendees was evident, particularly as most developers seem to have opted to use the headset for their VR games. I believe this stems from the device’s ability to support room-scale tracking and hand controllers — features which provide the most immersive VR experience I’ve had so far. Oculus, however, is not far behind. The company is expected to announce the shipping date for its Touch hand controllers and support for body movement tracking at its Oculus Connect 3 event in October, which CCS Insight will also attend.

Tower, Pierhead Arcade, Unseen Diplomacy, Shoppe Keep and a 4D driving experience on HTC Vive

Esper 2 on Oculus Rift, Windlands, and Tethered on PlayStation VR

Although the momentum this year was palpable, EGX 2017 is set to be an even more impressive show for VR. In 2017, we’ll have the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One Scorpio consoles with enhanced VR visuals and there will be a slew of new content and hardware to support the technology. Undoubtedly, this is a hot segment, and one that we’ll be monitoring very closely.