VR companies navigate ‘the trough of disillusionment’

An attendee tests a Microsoft Corp. HoloLens virtual reality (VR) headset on the Microsoft Corp. stand at the Virtual Reality World Congress in Bristol, U.K., on Wednesday, April 12, 2017. Virtual reality proponents say that liberating computing from the confines of glass rectangles will change the way people interact with information. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Twelve months ago the Virtual Reality World Congress in Bristol, England, was a sell-out show, with over 750 attendees gawping over the latest VR hardware and production techniques. 

This year's event, which took place last week, attracted even more participants – more than 1,200 over three days – but the mood felt decidedly less upbeat. Virtual reality, it seems, has been mugged by reality.