Virtual reality to be ‘much more significant than 3D’, says ARM exec

Mark Dickinson

Virtual reality will play a “much more significant role in the future than 3D”, according to Mark Dickinson, senior vice-president and and general manager, media processing group, at chipmaker ARM.

Speaking at IBC this morning, Dickinson said it is still unclear how VR will evolve, but predicted it would have a “strong role in gaming” and potentially have a far wider-reaching influence.

“I think we’ll get to a point where we’re used to having an augmentation, if you like, of reality,” said Dickinson.

“It’s going to take time and I don’t think we’ll know exactly how it’s going to pan out, but I am convinced, having experienced it myself, that it’s got a much more significant role in the future than 3D had.”

He said that the uptake of VR would require getting over some “cultural barriers” but likened its potential future uptake to people using headphones today.

Dickinson was speaking in a keynote session at IBC titled ‘enter the age of mobile’.