During GDC Sony revealed their commitment to virtual reality with the announcement of Morpheus. This Sony throwing their hat into the game and this couldn't be greater for gaming industry. Virtual Reality still has a long way to go before it can be mass marketed to the gaming market, but having one of the biggest gaming companies to invest in it gives virtual reality even more resources that will only benefit it.
I believe that virtual reality will do more to other industries than it will do to the gaming industries. I am not alone in that thinking, because Facebook just acquired Oculus Rift this week. Many games will scoff at this idea, but this is going to amaizing for the gaming industry. With Facebook resources, the developers at Oculus Rift will have less risks to worry about and can focus much more on developing a product that will be amazing for games.
Oculus will need all the help they can get. Without a doubt they have a talented team, but a startup always carries risk. Oculus main source of income was selling development kits to developers. That means there would have been pressure from investors to release a commercial product on the sooner side. With this deal not only can they have more time to release toe commercial product, but they also have more room to make mistakes which given the enormity of the task, it will be needed.
For Facebook this is great for them as they seek to expand their business, plus Facebook is a company that can afford it. . Virtual reality will open the doors to so many possibilities beyond just gaming. The ability to immerse oneself in another reality will open the doors to so many possibilities for humans to interact with technology. This is a good relatively cheap investment for Facebook that could pay in the long run. Though it will probably be a while before they see this investment fully materialize.
Imagine the possibilities of developers being able to recreate world events that we could never experience without virtual reality. Walking through the streets of San Francisco during the Gold Rush or Toyoko during the days of the Samurai. Scientists would even be able to create experiences for events that haven't even happened yet like our galaxy The Milky Way and The Andromeda Galaxy colliding.