Realizing the Metaverse: A New Turning Point and Market Restructuring in the Virtual Reality Industry by 2025
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A New Maturity in the Virtual Reality Market: From Hardware to Ecosystem
The virtual reality (VR) industry in 2025 stands at an unprecedented inflection point. According to market research firm IDC, the global VR market size is expected to grow by 35%, from $23 billion in 2024 to $31 billion in 2025. This growth is attributed not merely to an increase in hardware sales but to the rapid expansion of content and service ecosystems. Notably, the share of hardware revenue is decreasing from 60% to 45%, while software and content revenue is surging from 40% to 55%. This shift signifies that the VR industry is moving beyond the initial technology adoption phase into a stage of full commercialization and mass adoption.
Apple’s Vision Pro, launched in February 2024, is acting as a catalyst for this change. Despite its high price of $3,499, approximately 600,000 units were sold in its first year, with a target of selling 1.2 million units annually with an improved model in 2025. Unlike existing VR companies, Apple’s approach introduces a new paradigm of ‘Spatial Computing,’ positioning virtual reality as a productivity tool rather than just a gaming or entertainment device. This has prompted a shift in the industry’s overall direction, with competitors accelerating the development of similar high-end product lines.
Meanwhile, aggressive market entry by Chinese manufacturers is completely restructuring the pricing dynamics of the VR hardware market. ByteDance’s subsidiary Pico, based in Shenzhen, China, is targeting the mid-range market with the launch of the Pico 5 at a price point of $299 in the first half of 2025. Another Chinese company, HTC, is narrowing the gap between premium and budget segments by launching the Vive Focus 4, developed in Taoyuan, Taiwan, at $499. These pricing strategies by Chinese companies are putting significant pressure on existing market leader Meta, which is actively responding by reducing the price of the Quest 3S to $199.
Technological Superiority and Strategic Positioning of Korean Companies
Korean companies occupy a unique position as key component suppliers in the VR market. Their technological superiority in display and memory semiconductor fields is a driving force behind the growth of the VR industry. Samsung Electronics aims for over 60% market share in the micro OLED display market by 2025 and is mass-producing next-generation VR displays supporting 4K resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate. These displays achieve a pixel density of 3,000 PPI, a 40% improvement over existing products, significantly addressing the ‘Screen Door Effect’ issue in VR devices.
LG Display is also establishing a unique position in the VR OLED panel market. The company plans to begin mass production of 180-degree field-of-view VR displays using curved OLED technology in the second half of 2025, surpassing the existing 110-degree field of view. This technology will first be applied to Sony’s PlayStation VR3 through collaboration with Sony, which plans to use this display as a key differentiator in the PSVR3, slated for release in 2026. Market analysts predict that this field-of-view expansion technology will dramatically enhance VR immersion, increasing general consumer adoption rates from the current 3% to 15% by 2027.
SK Hynix is leading the market with high-bandwidth memory (HBM) technology, essential for enhancing VR device performance. Through the mass production of HBM4 in 2025, the company is significantly improving real-time rendering performance required by VR devices, offering memory solutions optimized for AI-based real-time graphics processing. SK Hynix’s HBM4 provides 50% more bandwidth than existing products, enabling stable rendering of over 90 frames per second required in VR, which is considered a key technology for reducing VR-induced motion sickness and improving user experience.
The technological superiority of Korean companies in components is leading to strategic partnerships with global VR finished product companies. Samsung Electronics’ micro OLED and SK Hynix’s DRAM are used as key components in Apple’s Vision Pro, and Korean-made components are extensively adopted in Meta’s Quest series. According to industry insiders, the core components supplied by Korean companies account for 35-40% of the total manufacturing cost of VR devices, indicating Korea’s significant share in the global VR value chain.
Interestingly, Korean companies are also exploring entry into the finished product market beyond mere component supply. Samsung Electronics is preparing to launch its own VR headset in the second half of 2025, highlighting integration with the Galaxy ecosystem as a key differentiator. Samsung’s VR device adopts a ‘hybrid computing’ method, sharing processing performance through wireless connection with Galaxy smartphones, addressing weight and heat issues of the headset while implementing high performance. This is considered an innovative solution to the trade-off problem between comfort and performance in existing VR devices.
In terms of the VR content ecosystem, Korean companies are also actively moving. Naver is significantly enhancing VR compatibility on its metaverse platform ‘ZEPETO’ through its subsidiary NaverZ and plans to start integration services with major VR devices from the first half of 2025. ZEPETO’s monthly active users have surpassed 200 million, with VR device access expected to increase from 5 million at the end of 2024 to 20 million by the end of 2025. This exemplifies a new trend in VR content consumption, indicating an expansion of VR application areas from traditional game-centric content to social media and communication.
In the entertainment sector, CJ ENM is making significant investments in VR content production. The company is commercializing VR live streaming services for K-pop concerts in 2025, establishing a new revenue model targeting global K-pop fans. CJ ENM’s VR concert service is priced at 20-30% of traditional offline concert ticket prices, yet allows for unlimited audience capacity, potentially increasing overall revenue. Experiments with VR concerts featuring BTS and BLACKPINK have already recorded over 1 million simultaneous global connections, proving the commercial potential of VR entertainment.
Korean companies are also prominent in industrial VR applications. Hyundai Heavy Industries has introduced design review and worker training systems using VR technology in shipyards, reducing design errors by 30% and worker safety incidents by 50%. Based on these successful cases, Hyundai Heavy Industries has established a separate business unit to sell VR-based industrial solutions externally, aiming for 50 billion won in sales in this segment by 2025. POSCO has also improved worker safety by implementing remote operation systems using VR in high-temperature environments at steel mills and is expanding this technology to other heavy industries.
In the education sector, the VR education content market is rapidly growing in conjunction with the Korean government’s Digital New Deal policy. The Ministry of Education has set a goal to establish VR education facilities in 30% of elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide by 2025, allocating an annual budget of 200 billion won for this purpose. IT companies like Naver and Kakao are actively entering this market, receiving high responses, especially in experiential VR education content in history and science. Market research indicates that learner comprehension in VR-based education improves by 40% compared to traditional methods, supporting the continuous growth of the VR education market.
Global Competitive Landscape and Future Outlook
The global competitive landscape of the VR market in 2025 is finding a new equilibrium as the technological leadership of the United States, the manufacturing competitiveness of China, and the core component technologies of Korea and Japan interact. In terms of market share, Meta still maintains a lead with over 50%, but the gap is gradually narrowing. Meta’s Quest series surpassed 20 million cumulative sales in the first half of 2025, with performance improvements and price reductions of the Quest 3 significantly contributing to market expansion. Meta is also investing $15 billion annually in its Reality Labs division to accelerate the development of next-generation VR/AR technologies.
Apple’s Vision Pro lags significantly behind Meta in sales volume but holds considerable influence in the premium market. Apple plans to launch a budget model of the Vision Pro, the ‘Vision Air,’ at a price of $1,999 in the second half of 2025, expected to contribute to the expansion of the high-end VR market. Apple’s VR strategy seeks differentiation through perfect integration with the existing iOS ecosystem, particularly excelling in business applications. Market research shows that over 60% of Vision Pro users utilize it for work, presenting a stark contrast to the game/entertainment-focused usage patterns of existing VR devices.
The rise of Chinese companies is also noteworthy. ByteDance’s Pico has secured over 30% market share in the Chinese domestic market and is embarking on full-scale overseas expansion from 2025. Pico’s strength lies in building a content ecosystem through integration with TikTok, particularly seeking differentiation in social VR experiences targeting Generation Z. Additionally, with the support of the Chinese government’s metaverse industry promotion policies, VR adoption is accelerating in various fields such as education, healthcare, and manufacturing. China’s VR market size is estimated at $8 billion in 2025, the second largest after the United States ($12 billion).
Japanese companies maintain a unique position in the gaming and entertainment sectors. Sony’s PlayStation VR2 demonstrates strong competitiveness in the gaming VR market, recording 6 million sales in the first half of 2025. Based on the success of PSVR2, Sony is also pursuing entry into the PC VR market, planning to offer PC compatibility from the second half of 2025. While Nintendo has not yet fully entered the VR market, it is reportedly considering equipping the next-generation Nintendo Switch, slated for release in 2026, with VR capabilities.
From a technological perspective, the most significant change in the VR industry in 2025 is the integration of AI technology. NVIDIA’s RTX 50 series graphics cards have innovatively improved VR graphics quality through AI-based real-time rendering technology, enhancing the visual quality of VR content by 300% compared to previous standards. Additionally, with the commercialization of AI-based eye-tracking technology, the power efficiency of VR devices has greatly improved. Through ‘Foveated Rendering,’ which renders only the area the user is focusing on in high resolution while lowering the resolution of peripheral areas, battery life has extended from the existing 2-3 hours to 6-8 hours.
Advancements in 5G and cloud computing technologies are also opening new possibilities for the VR industry. Cloud VR services enable high-performance VR experiences even on low-spec devices, significantly lowering the price barrier for VR devices. Korea’s KT and SK Telecom have commercialized 5G-based cloud VR services, offering high-spec VR games and content for a monthly fee of 30,000 won. This service model is becoming a crucial turning point in shifting the VR industry’s business model from hardware sales to service subscriptions.
The future outlook for the VR industry is very promising. Market research firms predict that the global VR market will grow from $31 billion in 2025 to $87 billion by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 23%. The growth of the enterprise VR market is expected to be particularly prominent, as VR adoption accelerates in fields such as remote collaboration, employee training, and product design. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, as remote work becomes normalized, demand for virtual office and meeting solutions utilizing VR is surging, becoming a new driving force for VR market growth.
In the case of the Korean VR industry, the government’s K-New Deal policy and active investments by private companies are likely to propel Korea to become the world’s third-largest VR powerhouse by 2030. Korea is expected to maintain leadership in the core areas of the VR value chain based on its global competitiveness in display, semiconductor, and communication technologies. Furthermore, it is anticipated to establish a unique competitive advantage in the VR entertainment market, combined with the global popularity of K-content. However, securing competitiveness in the finished product market and building a global platform remain key challenges for the future development of the Korean VR industry.
The content of this article is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice or stock recommendations. Investment decisions should be made at the individual’s discretion and responsibility, and the stock prices or performance of the mentioned companies may fluctuate due to various factors.
