The pandemic should have been VR’s big moment, offering an escape for millions of locked-in households Consumers have balked at the hardware’s expense: a headset costs several hundred dollars, the same price as video game consoles that support hundreds of games Updated 02 June 2021 June 02, 2021 12:10 NEW YORK: Virtual reality — computer generated 3D environments that can range from startlingly realistic to abstract wonderlands — has been on the cusp of wide acceptance for years without ever really taking off. The pandemic should have been VR’s big moment, offering an escape for millions of locked-in households. Special headsets and gloves let people interact with a 360-degree, three-dimensional environment, seemingly a good fit for people stuck indoors. But consumers preferred simpler and more accessible tech like Zoom, Nintendo’s Switch and streaming services like Netflix.