Yet, recent developments underscore the potential for the technology to grow, despite a disappointing year. Marketing Week recently summed up the results of virtual reality with a headline of “Virtual reality: Virtually useless?”

The article notes that Facebook was forced to shave $200 off the price of its Oculus Rift VR headset in July. The change represented a 50% price cut over a four month period. The HTC Vive headset also continues to be sold at a substantial discount.

More recently, some marketers have opined that the high costs of virtual reality equipment means that the technology will continue to have low adoption with the general public. Therefore, it will have limited potential as a content channel.

Content creation and developing the associated technology can also be expensive for brands, with some VR campaigns costing as much as $1 million, reports AdWeek. Big brands, however, are continuing to adopt VR, albeit at a slow pace, and it’s likely that the technology will eventually become commonplace as costs decline.

Ikea is one example. It had previously adopted augmented reality to help shoppers select furniture, but it has recently embraced virtual reality as part of a new store opening in the Dallas area. Ikea’s program, which was created with Wavemaker, lets store visitors play a “pillow toss” game or hang out with a panda inside a lamp. The technology also includes presentations on sustainability, furniture design and the store’s products.

Challenges associated with VR haven’t prevented some brands from enjoying success with the technology. Volvo, for example, launched a VR program that lets customers test-drive its first edition XC90s, reports iot For All. The car sold out in just two days and the campaign generated over 40,000 app downloads, 159 million paid media impressions, 19 million social media impressions, and a half-million web page views.

Thomas Cook, which is a travel agent with locations in Ireland and the United Kingdom, was also able to boost sales with VR. Thomas Cook made VR presentations focusing on Egypt, Singapore, Cyprus, Greece, and New York that customers could view while visiting the company’s offices. It used Samsung Gear VR technology for the campaign. By having potential customers view a five-minute virtual excursion, Thomas Cook increased its revenues for trips to New York by 190%.

At the same time, price cuts appear to be supporting increased adoption of the technology by the general public. It’s estimated that more than 1 million VR headsets were shipped in the third quarter of 2017, which is a record for a single quarter, reports Forbes.

Sony’s VR headset led the way with 490,000 shipments, followed by Facebook with 210,000 shipments. Samsung and Google headsets orders pushed the total number over 1 million for the quarter. In the same article, Canalys Analyst Jason Low adds that Microsoft has recently gone live with its Windows Mixed Reality platform.

Multiple brands have lined up to launch headsets based on the technology that will be targeted to both consumers and enterprises. Brands such as Dell, Lenovo, and Acer have substantial distribution channels that are likely to provide a big push for adoption of the Microsoft technology.

New technology, including VR, is often expensive, but over time, costs decline as adoption increases. It’s likely that VR will become increasingly affordable. Perhaps the only uncertainty is how long it will take before the price declines enough for the technology to become common among consumers.