Do you want to know the cost of VR apps?
Let’s find out.
How Much Are VR Apps?
VR apps can typically cost anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000, dependent upon their size and level of sophistication.
How Much Does a Virtual Reality App Cost?
By 2020, no one will think of virtual reality in terms of gaming or entertainment only.
Of course, VR games with totally immersive experiences are very popular, and they’re often produced each year.
However, virtual reality has proven its worth in many different fields including healthcare, education, e-commerce, specialized training, sport, military, etc.
Despite its rather high initial costs, virtual reality can significantly reduce the costs of your business by allowing you to create virtual spaces without having to physically recreate them in the real world or travel to the actual locations.
Types of VR Apps
We’ll start by discussing the types of VR applications you’re planning to create. Depending on which one you choose, the costs and development times may vary significantly.
We can use several different factors to distinguish between several types of VR apps.
Your company’s needs play a big part in choosing which VR app type works best for you.
Simple VR Apps
Such apps, even though they create immersive experiences, are rarely interactive and are mainly intended to display virtual spaces to users.
Educational Programs
For example, you could use virtual reality apps for educational purposes, such as traveling around the world or visiting historical landmarks without having to leave your room.
Virtual Tours
A second example would be virtual reality (VR) experiences for tourists or real estate agents where they walk through properties using VR headsets.
With such VR apps, the main interaction consists of following the marker which leads the user from one room to another.
Headsets
At the same time, however, these virtual reality apps use headsets only without any additional sensors. Thus, their users’ bodies’ positions and movements are not part of the game.
E-commerce Apps
With these VR applications, besides browsing the stocks, the users can “take” and examine the products they like. The stores’ inventories are available as 3D models which the users can try on.
These apps are more interactive than virtual tours, as the user has the ability to perform various tasks within the app interface.
Some advanced applications allow “putting an object into the shopping cart” and even checking out, within virtual realities.
Training Simulators
It’s a higher level of VR application design because it requires a significant degree of interaction between the user and the environment.
With these types of virtual reality apps, the user has complete control over the virtual environment, and their actions and movement in the real world are mirrored in the virtual one.
On the one hand, these applications require high-tech VR equipment, which may include additional sensor technology to respond to the user’s movements.
On the one hand, a VR app for this purpose is a customized product created by professionals who take a lot of time and energy to develop. But the resulting user interface is completely worth the investment.
3D Games
This type of VR application also offers great immersion and interactivity. However, it heavily relies on custom graphics and 3D modeling.
Playing games in virtual reality allows for the most realistic gaming experiences.
Social VR Apps
Social media sites, online communities, and social networks that allow people to meet up with their friends use both photos and videos and 3D objects.
Social VR apps are inherently multi-user applications, so they require extra development effort.
Multi-User Presentation Apps
Such applications use virtual realities to show products or ideas in a graphical way. They’re designed to be accessed by multiple people at once so that the VR experience is shared among them.
Depending on the kind of app, they may require videos, 3D models, and graphics. The most important feature is multi-user support, which increases costs.
MMORPG Apps
Multiplayer online games are the best-ranked VR applications because they represent one virtual space that responds to multiple players’ movements.
They’re highly visual and interactive and they’re the most difficult and expensive ones to create.
Number of Users
A further criterion for determining the development cost is the size of the audience. Applications developed using virtual realities can be either single-player or multi-player, the former being easier and cheaper to develop than the latter.
Desktop Vs Mobile App
You can build either a desktop VR app or a mobile VR app, but not both at once.
Desktop Applications
Because desktop apps tend to be more sophisticated than mobile apps, they require an advanced VR headset, like Oculus or HTC Vive.
A virtual reality app requires heavy processing which can be done using a desktop computer. Naturally, such applications will take longer and cost more than mobile apps.
Mobile Applications
Mobile virtual realities (MVRs) are simpler and much easier than building a desktop virtual environment (DVE).
MVRs can be built using smartphones inserted into simple viewers, such as Google Cardboards. Building an MVR is less costly and takes less effort.
3D Videos
Another type of app that is often mentioned together is 3D, or “360-degree,” video.
They create an immersive experience by producing no real sense of presence because the user doesn’t completely feel being inside the virtual world.
Applications like these are the easiest and the cheapest to develop.
What Does the VR App Cost Consist Of?
We’ve broken down the development process into several different parts.
Project Planning and Estimation
This activity doesn’t just happen within the confines of VR alone; it needs proper preparation before development begins. Such preparations include preparing for the future by creating a plan.
During the planning phase, the PM works closely with the client and the dev teams to develop the following documentation for the VR app:
- Here they describe the functionalities that need to be included in the app. For VR apps, these specifications should include a detailed description of the functionalities to be included.
- Wireframes are used to illustrate the layout of an application’s interface, the interactions between its components, and the user experience expected to be delivered by the application.
- A project plan with its own set of milestones and deliverables. It helps to monitor the development process and respond to any changes.
- Technology Stack. The kind of VR app requires certain tools that must be used by the development teams.
Typically, project planning is done at the beginning of the project by the VR developer and usually lasts for one week or 80 hours.
The total cost of the virtual realities projects planning activities is calculated as the per-hour rate of $80-$120 times the estimated time for each activity.
Selection of the VR Platform and Content
On the one hand, the kind of VR app you need depends on the specific hardware that will be used to create it. On the other hand, the kind of content you include in your app depends on the purpose for which it will be created.
When thinking about VR headsets, consider who your target market is for your app. You may need to spend some money on VR hardware.
Educational Application
If you’re developing an educational immersive app for school or university students, it’s best to target cheap hardware devices, such as Google Cardboards, which cost between $5 and $15 each.
A virtual reality app runs on a smartphone.
Complex Applications
However, complex virtual reality apps, such as unique sims or VR apps, will require hardware capable of reproducing every feature and function of the app, such as an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive (or similar).
For example, when creating an application for virtual tourism or online shopping, 3D images or videos might suffice.
Autodesk Maya
For VR games and simulations, you will also need models that are made by 3D artists who use special software, such as Autodesk Maya.
It depends on the complexity of the 3D model. A complex 3D model could take up to 400 man-days (or 40 man-weeks) to develop at an hourly cost of $80-$120 per hour.
Conclusion
Depending on the type of app, the technology, and the number of contents needed, the development costs vary.
If you’re looking for a quality solution, then you should hire a professional web development company that has previously worked on similar projects.
If you have any further questions, please leave them here.
