I bought a VR headset thinking I’d use it all the time, but now it mostly sits unused and I’m wondering if that’s normal. I need help figuring out whether people still use VR headsets regularly, what games or apps keep them coming back, and if it’s worth keeping mine or selling it.
Yep. Normal.
A lot of headsets end up in a closet after the first month. The pattern is common. Big launch hype, a few long sessions, then friction kills usage. Setup time. Heat. Face pressure. Motion sickness. Needing space. Battery. You stop reaching for it.
People who still use VR a lot usually fit into a few buckets.
-
Fitness people.
Beat Saber, Supernatural, Les Mills Bodycombat, Thrill of the Fight. These keep headsets alive more than story games do. If VR becomes part of your workout, usage sticks. -
Social users.
VRChat, Rec Room, Walkabout Mini Golf with friends. Social stuff has better retention than solo tech demos. -
Sim fans.
Flight sim and racing sim people put in serious hours. If you own a wheel or HOTAS, VR starts making more sense. -
Rhythm and repeatable games.
Beat Saber, Pistol Whip, Synth Riders. Easy to jump into for 20 minutes. -
Porn. Being honest here. A non-trivial chunk of headset usage lives there, lol.
What usually does not keep people coming back. Short single-player showcase games. Once the novelty wears off, done.
If you want to test whether your headset still has a place, give it 2 weeks. Pick one use case only. Fitness, social, or sim. Do not try ten apps. If you still ignore it, sell it. No shame in it.
For me, mine gets used in waves. Heavy for a month, then untouched for 6 weeks. Pretty normal behvaior for VR right now.
Yeah, it’s normal. I’d actually go a little further than @cacadordeestrelas and say a lot of VR ownership is basically “bursts,” not a steady hobby.
What keeps mine alive is not the big “must play” exclusives. It’s convenience. If the headset is charged, updated, and easy to grab, I use it. If I have to fiddle with straps, clear floor space, and wait through updates, nope. Back on the shelf it goes.
I also think people oversell games as the only answer. Sometimes the better question is whether you even like wearing a thing on your face for an hour. A lot of people just… don’t. That’s not failure, that’s the product still being kind of annoying in daily life.
Stuff that has kept me coming back:
- Walkabout Mini Golf, because it’s chill and easy
- Eleven Table Tennis, weirdly one of the most “real” feeling VR apps
- Bigscreen for watching stuff socially
- Moss and Tetris Effect, if you want seated, lower-friction sessions
- Resident Evil 4 VR, one of the few campaign games I actually finished
If your headset is collecting dust, I’d test one thing @cacadordeestrelas didn’t really hit: seated VR only. If standing roomscale is the blocker, seated stuff may save it. If even that feels like a chore, sell it. No point guilt-hoarding expensive tech lol.
So yeah, unused headset in a closet? Very, very normal. VR is cool, but “cool” and “daily habit” are not the same thing tbh.