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this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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VR did not take off, but for wildly different reasons than what you state.
A steam deck or a games console also need expensive special equipment (in form of the console) that has no other use. Still they are thriving.
They also need expensive powerful graphics hardware for good quality. (Also, standalone VR totally exists and is pretty good nowadays, to the point where I don't see much of a reason to pair my headset to my PC, and I am still rocking a Quest 2. Considering you are quoting "a headset at the Microsoft store", I venture to guess that you haven't tried VR in over half a decade.)
You don't need special equipment if you wear glasses for most headsets, you just wear your glasses inside the VR headset. Source: I have been doing that for years. Glasses compatible VR headsets are a thing and quite common.
VR doesn't cause migraines, migraines are something different. They mainly cause tension headaches and motion sickness. Headsets with better balance (e.g. ones that move the battery to the back of the head or ones that are lighter) reduce tension headaches a lot, and motion sickness differs between people and with practice.
The wide open space is the only actual problem you identified, but also there, VR also works in sitting or stationary standing positions. Full roomscale VR is only required by rather few VR games or apps.
The real issues are:
Clearly my user story about my experience is completely invalid as a factor. Good to know.
Edit: you guys are really insufferable.
I'm not alone about motion sickness, which is dubbed cyber sickness with vr headsets apparently. >50% experience this, with >20% having severe reactions. This is a small study but it's not the only one with similar results and there are no large scale studies disproving this that I could find, but maybe you can if you want to be right and put in the effort! I spent about 50 hours in total using VR headsets and I can confirm almost every session had a reaction for me, and a couple of times I had to stop from JUST this. My ex girlfriend tried for a bit and she also had it worse. A very small scale study at northeastern says women makes claims that women have a higher rate for this as well, but you can do your own research.
It's widely known that you need custom prescription lenses if you are nearsighted because most modern VR headsets are unable to match common prescriptions with the focus options available. These headsets are designed to make things appear far away in general, so if you need glasses to see at a distance you'll need special lenses just for the headset you buy - these are not interchangeable between models from various manufacturers today. Many people like myself have astigmatism, so a simple lens like -2.00 will not just do the job, these need to be the same prescription as you would need for day to day glasses. These lenses are not functional for day to day use cases like driving, using a computer outside of VR, etc. https://www.reddit.com/r/MetaQuestVR/comments/1h3bffc/do_i_need_prescription_lenses/
I know some of you really love VR and think it's the future. That's great! Enjoy it! have a blast! pick up the frame on launch day! No one is going to stop you. For many of us, it's not an option and we're not interested because we've tired it ourselves multiple times with multiple headsets and games.
That's not a user story. That's a personal anecdote from over 5 years ago. The complaints you mentioned are not valid to the current hardware that is available to consumers right now. VR headsets are excellent for physical fitness. I use a VR headset for cardio and boxing games. I get a great workout and I don't get bored. Qualcomm's recent SOCs negate the need for a connected computer.
VR is also a game changer for racing games and flight simulators (all of which are seated and stationary and require no additional room).
You mean your story of buying an unnamed "Microsoft" headset at least 5 years ago and using it so little that you could still return it? Ok. Yeah. That kind of "user story" is pretty insubstantial.
What user story?