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The First Real Boom in Virtual Reality? It's Pornography. (wsj.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Pornography has provided the first real boom in VR, and adult-entertainment companies like Naughty America are leading the way. In the 18 months after producing its first VR video, the San Diego-based studio released 108 more, making it one of the most prolific producers of VR content in the world. In 2017, the company operated a booth at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and became the first adult business allowed to exhibit in 19 years.

It's not surprising that adult-entertainment companies are among the first movers in the nascent VR industry. After adult content helped popularize new media formats like VHS, Blu-ray and streaming video, the idea that porn drives digital innovation became a widely accepted truth. What is surprising is how big VR porn has become, and how quickly. In 2016, Samsung, HTC, Google, Sony and Facebook-owned Oculus sold just over 6.1 million headsets worldwide, according to an estimate from SuperData, a videogame market research firm. In December 2016 alone, Naughty America's customers downloaded more than 20 million VR videos, the company said. VR porn consumers are also more willing to pay for content than consumers of typical online porn.

2 of 194 comments (clear)

  1. Nope by sexconker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    After adult content helped popularize new media formats like VHS, Blu-ray and streaming video

    The PS3 is what made BluRay a success. Porn backed HD-DVD initially.

  2. Re:Surprise! by evilbessie · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yes tech continues to profit off the objectification of women. It's really surprising they can't get rid of the sexism and misogyny which seems to infect the field.

    All work is coerced. Coerced sex is rape.