VR is not the future it’s just another tool a Wii controller type, when VR first came out, everyone jumped on the bandwagon thinking it was going to get them gold out of the box, we were some of the few who saw it coming, it hit the wall hard, sales numbers were far from expectations, a Wow factor that lasted 2 minutes. Articles and reviewers suddenly stopped talking about it when every day prior it was all about VR everywhere, and now so many companies with invested interest are still trying to beat this half dead horse. VR is useful in some places and i can see where it can be, such as a couple looking to buy a house and the clients of a prestigious agency wants to “impress” by having them put on a VR headset so that a guy can convince his wife that bed A can look good in that corner vs the other. Or more effectively military use or pilot training etc…
Does this justify a VR editor, in my humble opinion a big no, in fact i challenge anyone to tell me how this feature would be used effectively in an actual production pipeline other than just being a showcase. I don’t mind it but the way it is advertised as being “the future tool for editing” just raises some eyebrows as to the intentions and direction the engine is taking.
I too feel that it would be great for Epic to focus on things that are broken or matter in the engine, such as a functional solid full body IK system, or proper SSS, or faster integration of the new cloth pipeline with all the features, or better landscape editing. I understand these things take time but prioritising them over other areas will help cover the foundations better before moving on to other things, but its Epic’s decision at the end and we just have to live with it if we can’t persuade it to change.
Finally while I understand people trying to make open world games, I too would argue that it is a hugely ambitious task for a small or even a medium sized team working with the current tools, and that they would be better off polishing a more practically doable game by the team. But it is a free world.
Also in terms of GI which is related to Lighting, keep in mind that while it would be great to have it, it is not really the do all and be all solution at all, just look at games like Horizon or the Witcher in some instances, they have good lighting in an open world without GI, lighting is an art on its own and no amount of GI will add magic to your frame and most of the screenshots i’ve seen with GI in Cryengine have that very flat look because they didn’t really pay attention to the light design and the bounce lights have created a flat ambient all over.