While Logitech is a major player in the peripheral market, there’s no need for a mouse and keyboard in virtual reality space.
Logitech is eyeing the virtual reality market for its next business ploy.
The Swiss tech firm teased further interest in the sector during conversations with TrustedReviews at its Lausanne HQ.
When asked whether investigations into virtual reality were ongoing at Logitech, Franois Morier – who leads the firm’s 2D sensor design for gaming mice – said:
“It is true that virtual reality is becoming big. We are a controller company. We are a company that builds controller devices. There is a reason why we still have this [360-degree testing]machine. There is always something coming.”
“There are lots of opportunities. We are always working on something,” added a Logitech spokesperson.
We also asked a senior Logitech designer about whether Logitech would be entering the virtual reality space. He wouldn’t comment on specifics, but said the company was “always open to innovation in gaming activities”.
While business is good for now, Logitech could struggle in a not-too-distant future where computing peripherals – like mice and keyboards – are made redundant by virtual equivalents within Microsoft HoloLens or the Oculus Rift.
However, peripherals still have a part to play in virtual reality, as demonstrated by the positional controllers used with the HTC Vive headset.
Logitech has already invested considerable time and capital in gaming, so a move to virtual reality wouldn’t be a surprising segue.
Speaking to The Australian Financial Review earlier this year, Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell said: “Just like with the mouse and keyboard, optimizing the experience of the peripherals that go with VR will be an interesting place for us.”
“We’re in the middle of many discussions in that space…and at some point you can bet we’ll jump in,” he continued. “But we’re years away from viewing that as a serious category. We’d rather come in late and better than come in early and awkwardly.”
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini predicted that the virtual reality market would be worth $80 billion by 2025.
