Virtual Reality Applications Market Analysis—On the Example of Steam Digital Platform

Abstract

This paper presents research on the topic of virtual reality (VR) applications. It conducts a quantitative analysis of virtual reality applications available in the international market using the example of a digital platform, which was the Steam platform. The study presents and analyzes data on the number of applications in the selected categories, such as genres, types of headsets, and language. The research also includes the analysis of the top-rated VR applications, their reviews, and their features, recognized based on the tags describing them. Additionally, the article provides and systematizes new knowledge about the VR applications environment. Based on the results, it was concluded that the most numerous group of VR applications was action applications, and they account for more than half of all VR apps (51.22%). Following this, there were casual games (40.78%) and then simulation VR apps (37.35%). Referring to the results of the top-rated VR applications (‘overwhelmingly positive’ status on Steam), there were only two apps with a result of 98% (the highest rated) positive feedback: Half-Life: Alyx, the action and adventure app, which is a shooter described as zombie horror, and Walkabout Mini Golf VR, a casual and minimalist sport application. When it comes to the analysis of the tags of the top-rated VR applications, the most repeated tags, despite the ‘VR’ tag, included ‘first-person’ and ‘singleplayer’ (occurred in the descriptions of 68% of the applications).