TechCrunch Eyes Porn's VR Future as Consumer Interest Grows

LOS ANGELES — As the juggernaut of virtual reality porn prepares to set sail on the sea of commerce, consumers and media companies alike are eyeing the strange new world which it will usher in.

With the industry’s initial offerings now coming to market, much attention is being paid to the potential of porn within the virtual realm — and nowhere has this evolution received as big a welcome as at this year’s E3 event in Los Angeles, where the worlds of technology, video games and culture collide.

XBIZ was at E3 to get a first-hand look at VR’s impact on the gaming market — and how adult companies such as Naughty America are poised to profit from consumers’ overwhelming anticipation and interest.

In addition to this interest from the industry, mainstream technology observers are taking notice.

“This got real weird, real fast. It’s hard to sufficiently brace your mind for all that virtual reality porn entails,” Brian Heater wrote for TechCrunch. “The effect is already a bit jolting (and, at times nausea-inducing) in standard VR, but all of that really goes next level when you look down and you’ve swapped your bits and bobs with someone else’s.”

Heater reveals that the Naughty America booth attracted considerable attention during the show, boasting “a small army of show-goers” at all times, eagerly awaiting their turn to demo VR’s approach to point-of-view porn, which puts the viewer in the place of the camera.

“Once you get past the somewhat off-putting nature of swapping nether regions with a professional,” Heater explains, “VR porn does offer an interesting way forward for an industry that, like many others, has been hard hit by the prevalence of free online content.”

It is a view often heard within the industry, and refreshing to hear it expressed elsewhere.

“The adult industry has been under siege by tube sites,” Naughty America CIO Ian Paul told TechCrunch. “[With VR], we can raise the bar and get people to subscribe to porn again.”

VR porn’s potential for causing a renaissance in revenues is the hope the adult industry is betting on — and an evolution that offers considerable fodder for observers and carnal content for consumers alike.

“Welcome to the future, everyone,” Heater concludes. “It’s super weird here.”