I feel like I’m getting too old for virtual reality, and maybe you are too

Image: Another Axiom, photoshopped by MIXED

VR games like Gorilla Tag, Yeeps and I am Cat seem to be the future of VR gaming. A future that makes me feel old.

I have been writing about virtual reality for eight years now. I’ve seen ups and downs, and countless trends come and go. Nothing I have experienced during these years is beyond my imagination.

That started to change with the growing popularity of Gorilla Tag, which is now the most played VR game, with over a million daily active VR players and over $100 million in revenue to date. These are staggering numbers, and not just by VR standards.

Gorilla Tag now has more than twice as many reviews as Beat Saber on the Quest Store. The immense success of the VR game has spawned countless imitators and clones, flooding the Quest Store and sometimes reaching a larger audience than quality titles developed by established studios. VR games like Yeeps and I Am Cat have also taken inspiration from Gorilla Tag to create their own viral formula that has seen them climb the Quest charts in a short time.

The arrival of the VR natives

Gorilla Tag puts you in the role of a monkey. With sweeping arm movements you run and wave through virtual environments and play tag with others. This, together with the social aspect, is what makes Gorilla Tag so attractive to players.

Gorilla Tag is mainly played by children and teenagers, a growing new generation of VR enthusiasts. They are the first VR natives, for whom virtual reality is not a strange new technology, but something very normal next to smartphones, tablets and computers. Due to their young age, they are also less affected by the physical intensity of the medium.

I recently realized how well known and popular Gorilla Tag is among Generation Alpha when I asked a friend’s eight-year-old daughter if she knew Gorilla Tag. She said she hadn’t played it but had seen videos on TikTok. She had never heard of the Meta Quest brand or any of the other VR games my generation loves.

Becoming a VR Grandpa

Which brings me to the point of this article: as a representative of an older generation (I was born in the 80s), I cannot fully understand the appeal of Gorilla Tag, despite my best efforts. I don’t want to take anything away from the success of the VR game or the enjoyment others are having with it. I’ll just say that its appeal is a bit of a mystery to me.

Is Gorilla Tag a fad, or does it herald the beginning of a profound change in VR gaming? It’s too early to tell. But being a little confused by the biggest VR phenomenon of the moment should give me pause as a VR journalist. And maybe you, dear MIXED readers, too.

I put you in the head on purpose. Anyone reading this article is probably from my generation or a generation close to it, and will feel the same way. The number of people reading our Gorilla Tag related articles is low and shows that our readership is not interested in such games. And Generation Alpha certainly doesn’t read VR blogs, which are on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Virtual reality is incredibly diverse, with something for everyone. Just this week, Batman: Arkham Shadow was released, a premium VR game designed specifically for experienced gamers like me: an immersive single-player adventure with rich graphics and a story you’ll want to immerse yourself in.

But the real show, and we should be aware of this, takes place on other stages. And their audiences will have a much bigger impact on the development of VR gaming over the next decade than those who flock to AAA titles like Batman: Arkham Shadow or last year’s Asgard’s Wrath 2.

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