Oculus is one of the pioneers who, in my opinion, really helped paved the way for virtual reality gaming. The company delivered the Oculus Rift into the market and while VR is becoming a bit more mainstream, it seems that Oculus themselves will not entertain the idea of going to E3 this year according to a report made by VentureBeat.
The publication revealed that Oculus has opted to not attend E3 2017, though it’s unknown just why the company decided to hold off from attending this expo after previously attending E3 2014, E3 2015, and last year’s E3 2016. Because of the absence from the event, the online community is starting to speculate a variety of reasons as to what may have caused the VR company to completely skip such a massive event for the video game industry.
As of right now, there’s no word just why the company is not attending the event, but out of my own personal speculation, it could possibly mean that Oculus doesn’t have anything particularly new to showcase. There’s nothing new in terms of hardware coming out for Oculus, at least none that has been unveiled yet, and to top it off, video game titles that rely on Oculus for showcasing their VR titles will likely have a unit at their booth.
Because Oculus is not directly there doesn’t mean we won’t see the VR headsets fully present. At any rate, E3 is going through a slight transition as well which could mean a greater attendee number than previous years.
E3 has normally been a press-only event where the video game industry worked hand-in-hand with the media to showcase new hardware and software that would eventually make their way into the market. This E3, however, will see the general public freely roaming the once forbidden expo and as a result, it’s likely to be a bit more packed than before.