Virtual Reality Porn Sex Becoming Increasingly Immersive in 2017

There was a lot of focus on VR during the AVN Show that took place this week in Las Vegas. The world’s largest Adult Entertainment expo, saw the addition of two new categories to the 2017 industry awards namely: Best Virtual Reality Innovation/Site and Best Virtual Reality Sex Scene. Tony Rios, AVN CEO, stated that despite its relative newness, VR and virtual reality porn has been phenomenally receiving industry promises to be around in the long-run. However, the industry is still figuring out issues to do with monetization.

Ian Paul, Naughty America’s Chief Information Officer, in April last year, touted VR as the fastest growing format they had previously tracked and stated that the publicity surrounding the technology was justified. Question is whether this trend has continued. Paul claims that this trend has continued as evidenced by the steadily streaming new consumers flooding Virtual Reality experiences throughout 2016.

He states the year over year new revenues that can be traced to VR, which has risen by 350%, and plans to provide integrated support to companies and VR sex makers, such as Kiiroo and Robotic Blowjob, that makes smart services toys that integrate VR porn videos with haptic feedback.

Numerous other firms are also integrating teledildonics VR sex toys into adult virtual reality content in 2017. According Ela Darling, CAM4VR co-founder, the company that offers live VR sex camera streaming now plans to integrate with Kiiroo. They plan to add voice-to-voice capabilities that enable direct chats between the user and the performer. This would supposedly make the experience more personal and up-close.

Darling is excited at the prospects of this move as it continues to blur the boundaries between the performer and the user as much as possible despite the two being in separate physical spaces, which increases the level of intimacy. She states that the heightened level of connection psychologically impacts consumers’ experiences with adult VR content and believes that users will begin to embrace it as the expected VR porn experience.

The interactions go beyond haptic feedback to include other senses that could be unexpected. For instance CamSoda, a webcam platform known for experimenting with emergent technologies such as the 3D Holograms, has recently turned heads with a new feature, OhRoma mask for VR porn. OhRoma injects odors into the VR experience via a sensory mask. Daron Lundeen – Camsoda president, enlists some of its odors that embellish the VR experience to include “private parts”, “panties”, “body odor” or “aphrodisiacs”. These are channelled through cartridges in the mask.

While it is important to consider that some users could find this type of experience unappealing, teledildonics such as the ones Intimuse is currently working on continue to rake in profits for adult sites according to Intimuse CEO, John McCoy. He singles out Vibra-tactile toys (vibrators that move through an app instead of a closed feedback loop) that are causing the exchange of tokens across cam sites, ladies prefer them because of their ease of use, the customer is not required to have any special hardware to stimulate a basic experience. Similarly, he predicts that boredom will soon set in with the current range of experiences as people begin to crave for more relatable experiences, hence the market is fast catching up and he foresees the convergence of the two spaces.

AliceX CEO, Fabian Grey believes that teledildonics has a longer development roadmap than VR. He opposes that it’s a matter of time before we witness a more widespread distribution of toys. Bradley Phillips, WankzVR Managing Director, concurs with this and cautions against the expectation to see all the required innovations in the adult experience space.

Phillips asserts that since each component of the ultimate solo sexual encounter that consumers crave for involves major innovations, it should be treated independently from other components of the puzzle to its technological timeline. He adds that, rather than working towards achieving “the ultimate simulated sexual experience” in 2017, VR should focus on enhancing its core technology through enhanced scaling, quicker frame rates, improved image quality and better field depth.

McCoy’s observations in the industry are in tandem with these sentiments. He notes that presently, most operators in the US focus on providing an optimal user experience with stable features and near-perfect streaming and projects significant shift in the next 18 months that will see more people acquiring headsets and captivating content that will precipitate numbers and success.

Phillips recognizes the phenomenal growth of VR so far while citing the explosion of adult VR content production in 2016. Despite being seen as a risky venture at the start of 2016, VR stood out as one of the most relevant industry spaces as at the end of the year. Successful VR brands became more visible in the industry and were able to generate profits in the pay site industry.

The CEO of Terpon, a connected VR live-webcam platform and VR camera maker, Claude Artonne, underscores the major transitions in the adult space from traditional to immersive experiences which promise to increase the level of intimacy like never before. He believes that users will quickly adjust to experiencing things first hand and being in the action. He projects that the VR experience will only improve to simulate real-life interactions as more firms enter the industry and bring forth emergent technologies that are limitless.

Similarly, Artonne recognizes the role of the availability of low-end Chinese headsets in the market in promoting the growth of VR. He points out that the evolving technology will, similarly, produce more advanced headsets in terms of overall functionality, aesthetics and compatibility that will drive adoption in the industry.

Artonne asserts that certain barriers will need to be overcome first, top among them, the functionality of mobile headsets which influences their capacity to yield a more immersive experience. To that end, the prospects are looking good and AliceX CEO Grey envisions that the year will see VR content producers focusing more on segmentation and attending to various niches.

For instance, WankzVR recently released a range of VR adult experiences specifically targeted at women and shot from a female perspective. Phillips believes that VR will generally improve the quality of adult entertainment and feature content with a story line, cast, production crew and script as opposed to simply filming a couple banging.

So given the significant investment and interest in VR, it is only a matter of time before we witness a fully immersive virtual sex. It would appear like we got closer in 2016 and we expect more interesting stuff to emerge in 2017!