Virtual Reality (VR) is defined as a computer-generated simulation in which a person can interact within an artificial three-dimensional environment using electronic devices such as a head-mounted device (HMD) and gesture-tracking device (GTD). Virtual Reality (VR) provides an immersive artificial world that can seem quite real, using AI and technology.
Now, the VR market is not solely for the hardware segment which consists of the high-tech VR headsets, consoles, PC, smartphones, and other smart electronic devices. In able to be in a VR world, you need an immersive 3D environment that is developed by the software segment. Some of the software segments include training software, application development operating systems, simulation software, gamification software, virtual tour software, segmented reality software, game development software, and learning experience platform software.
When it comes to VR, our imagination is our only limit. There are many more uses of VR ranging from academic studies to engineering, design, business, the arts, and entertainment. Gaming is an obvious VR application that offers the ability to take players into the game in real-time. In 2019, the commercial application dominated the VR market with a share of 52.5%. Besides the gaming and entertainment industries, VR has been widely used for training and educational purposes. One of the most popular VR companies in healthcare is Osso VR. Osso VR is a virtual reality surgical simulation platform that focuses on practicing with virtual tools used by surgeons for orthopedic and spinal surgery. For educational use, Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Expedition helps teachers in guiding students in exploring the world virtually. On the other hand, virtual reality has been useful in aerospace companies such as Boeing (NYSE: BA), as the company uses hard-flight simulators to reassess and train piloting skills. In 2020, Boeing partnered with Helsinki-based VR start-up, Varjo on training astronauts for Starliner’s first crewed flight. Check out the 16 best space stocks to buy now to include in your portfolio. Apart from these, VR caught its market in the architecture and planning sector. Implementing virtual reality into architecture helps identify errors early in the design process and keeps costs down.
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In 2019, the global VR market was valued at $11.52 billion. The VR industry is projected to reach $87.97 billion by 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48.7%. North America is the biggest market for the virtual reality segment which accounted for 44.2% of the global market share as the region has the highest number of start-ups committed to bringing advanced VR technologies to different industries. Major factors driving VR market growth include the evolving demand for entertainment and medical services, technological advancements, and the increasing penetration of VRs in the consumer electronics industry.
With at least a third of the earth’s population in some form of lockdown, coronavirus has forced widespread behavioral change. Being stuck at home for months is challenging, and VR seems to be a game-changer for the moment! From the latest VR headset from Oculus to Argodesign’s artificial window concept and Medicare’s telemedicine for home health. These are all good news from the virtual reality industry. Now, are you more invested to know the biggest VR players in the world? We researched the biggest VR companies in the world and ranked them by their revenue, market cap, assets, and the number of employees from the lowest to highest values. To give you the most accurate results, we sourced these companies’ financial information from Forbes. For private companies, we reviewed their updated financial statements. Now here are the biggest VR companies in the world starting at number 15:
15. Unity Technologies (NYSE: U)
Revenue: $541,779
Market Cap: $40.24 billion
Assets: $1.29 million
Number of employees: 3,379
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
Unity Technologies is a San Francisco-based video game software development company originally founded in Copenhagen, Germany in 2004. It is the developer of a real-time 3D software platform, providing users with powerful and easy to access tools to create, operate, and monetize real-time experiences.
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14. Vuzix (NASDAQ: VUZI)
Revenue: $2.8 million
Market Cap: $384.35 million
Assets: $28.45 million
Number of employees: 2,500
Headquarters: Denver, CO
Vuzix is an optical company specializing in the production of smart glasses. The company’s display devices offer users a high-quality, portable viewing experience that provides mobility solutions, wearable displays, and virtual and augmented reality. VR software and Vuzix VR eyewear are used in a range of applications, from game and flight simulations to medical applications such as pain and phobia management.
13. Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK)
Revenue: $3.3 billion
Market Cap: $67.84 billion
Assets: $6.2 billion
Number of employees: 10,100
Headquarters: San Rafael, CA
Autodesk is a leading provider of computer-aided design software offering a wide range of 3D applications and tools. Autodesk also offers development software, providing manufacturers in the automotive, transport, industrial machinery, consumer products, and manufacturing industries with comprehensive digital design, engineering, and production solutions; and digital media and entertainment, consisting of tools for digital sculpture, modeling, animation, effects, and rendering.
12. Dassault Systèmes (OTCMKTS: DASTY)
Revenue: $4.5 billion
Market Cap: $37.8 billion
Assets: $15.6 billion
Number of employees: 19,361
Headquarters: Paris, France
Dassault Systemes is one of the biggest VR companies in the world which provides project lifecycle management solutions that enable businesses to create and share 3D experiences. life sciences, industrial equipment, and home and lifestyle. Dassault Systèmes has also designed an intuitive virtual reality experience based on Immersive Virtuality to make the learning process more attractive for students.
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11. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD)
Revenue: $7.2 billion
Market Cap: $106.21 billion
Assets: $5.9 billion
Number of employees: 11,400
Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA
AMD is one of the biggest semiconductor companies in the world. AMD’s groundbreaking LiquidVR technology enables exquisitely rich and immersive VR experiences by simplifying the creation of VR content, unlocking many unique AMD hardware features designed to work seamlessly with Radeon compatible graphics card headsets. Systems built with AMD hardware can deliver near-realistic real-time images at a high-resolution stereo and high refresh rates.
10. HTC Corporation
Revenue: $9.8 billion
Assets: $7.1 billion
Number of employees: 3,500
Headquarters: Taoyuan, Taiwan
HTC Corporation designs, manufactures, assembles, processes, and sells smartphones and virtual reality devices in Taiwan and internationally. HTC’s Vive is one of the largest VR headset developers in the world. The company’s headsets offer users fantastic experiences, from games such as ping-pong or pool to experience across categories with features such as SteamVR tracking, high-definition graphics, 110 field of view, intuitive controls, and HD haptic feedback, enabling users to gain an unparalleled sense of immersion.
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9. NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA)
Revenue: $10.9 billion
Market Cap: $318.4 billion
Assets: $17.3 billion
Number of employees: 13,775
Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA
We all know NVIDIA as one of the best designers and manufacturers of computer graphics processors, chipsets, and related multimedia software. NVIDIA, the leader in visual computing, is at the forefront of this exciting new virtual reality platform. From gaming to product design to film experience and beyond, NVIDIA delivers top of the line solutions for VR including industry-leading NVIDIA Turing GPUs, drivers, and SDKs to meet the needs of professionals, gamers, and developers.
8. Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM)
Revenue: $24.7 billion
Market Cap: $177.6 billion
Assets: $31.9 billion
Number of employees: 37,000
Headquarters: San Diego, CA
QUALCOMM, Inc. is engaged in the production, design, and delivery of digital telecommunications products and services. Qualcomm Technologies is uniquely committed to making a superior VR experience by designing for the extreme requirements of fully immersive mobile VR. Qualcomm’s microchips are designed to provide an efficient heterogeneous computing solution optimized for VR end-to-end applications.
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7. Tencent Holdings
Revenue: $54.6 billion
Market Cap: $509.7 billion
Assets: $137 billion
Number of employees: 62,885
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China
Tencent Holdings Ltd. is an investment firm and a leading provider of value-added services such as online and mobile games, community value-added services and applications across different Internet and mobile platforms, and online advertising. The China-based tech giant is one of the world’s largest gaming company and is responsible for hit games such as League of Legends, Honor of Kings, and Game for Peace. The company created games exclusively for VR platforms and built headset functionality into some of its games.
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6. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB)
Revenue: $73.4 billion
Market Cap: $715.96 billion
Assets: $138.4 billion
Number of employees: 44,942
Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
Facebook has used its technology strengths and massive reach for its software to establish a strong position in the online advertising market and to change the way the world connects. Virtual reality was one of the largest growth-and-innovation companies outside its core social media business. In 2014, Facebook acquired VR-company Oculus for $2 billion. In 2020, Facebook had its beta-launch of Horizon, a social experience where users can explore, play, and create with others in VR. Today, Facebook is one of the biggest VR companies in the world.
5. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)
Revenue: $75.7 billion
Market Cap: $235.96 billion
Assets: $147.7 billion
Number of employees: 110,800
Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA
The experience of VR and AR would be unthinkable without capable semiconductors, and Intel has long been the biggest player in chip space. A high-end VR experience demands powerful hardware and Intel has tailored some of its newer VR processors to support VR capabilities. The semiconductor giant has also produced high-end 360-degree cameras and software which are used to broadcast professional sports content for VR devices used by sports organizations such as NBA, MLB, and NFL.
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4. Sony (NYSE: SNE)
Revenue: $79.2 billion
Market Cap: $78.7 billion
Assets: $208.3 billion
Number of employees: 114,400
Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
Sony is one of the largest tech companies in the world specializing in the production, design, manufacture, and sale of various types of electronic equipment, tools, and devices, as well as game consoles and software. While Microsoft has been reluctant to pursue VR on its Xbox console, Sony has eagerly leaped into space and has had impressive market success with PlayStation VR launched in 2016. Sony could have a more advanced version of PlayStation VR that might be released in the next year or two, once the PS5 has had an opportunity to step on its own for a period of time.
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3. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Revenue: $138.6 billion
Market Cap: $1.61 trillion
Assets: $285.4 billion
Number of employees: 144,000
Headquarters: Redmond, WA
Microsoft Corp. is primarily committed to developing and supporting software, services, devices, and solutions. Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system enables compatible PCs and laptops to enter Windows Mixed Reality, a VR and AR experience platform. Microsoft’s VR experience offers the most popular VR games thru StreamVR. On the other hand, one can easily connect with friends, both new and old, to the magic of social VR called AltspaceVR. The Windows Mixed Reality also offers Maquette, which enables users to design amazing immersive interfaces, environments, and experiences with a variety of powerful tools and assets that allow you to build and iterate ideas from within 3D space.
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2. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
Revenue: $166 billion
Market Cap: $1.17 trillion
Assets: $273.4 billion
Number of employees: 118,899
Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
VR remains a small part of Alphabet’s overall corporate strategy, but the search leader has been an innovative leader in space and has some major platform advantages that make it a company to watch in the world of VR. Alphabet launched its first jump into consumer VR space in 2014 with Google Cardboard, a cardboard-shaped headset that could be cut out and sized to be attached to a user’s smartphone screen.
1. Samsung
Revenue: $197.6 billion
Market Cap: $278.7 billion
Assets: $304.9 billion
Number of employees: 105,257
Headquarters: Suwon, South Korea
Topping the list of the 15 biggest VR companies in the world is Samsung with revenue of $197.6 billion. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. specializes in the design and sale of electronics and computer devices. Samsung is no stranger in the VR industry. In 2017, Samsung’s Gear VR dominated the VR shipping market for an estimated 782,000 headsets in the first quarter. Their first branded smartphone-based Samsung Gear VR was presumably the first cheapest option available for mid-range VR experiences to be mass-produced. Samsung also urged VR use with a solely devoted VR browser for Samsung devices, in addition to the extensive VR content library/store. The company also manufactures Gear VR controllers and accessories such as joysticks, Wirelex Galaxy, Game Controllers, and more.
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Disclosure: No position. 15 biggest VR companies in the world are originally published at Insider Monkey.
