I think VR and AR will be very big in the future. I don't know how long it will take. The current generation might fail for some understanding of the word but I think they are on to something.
Personally I think that features like virtual workspaces (e.g. multi-monitor displays / overlays) and HUDs (e.g. vehicle navigation) are going to be game-changing outside of the entertainment industry, when the headset tech gets to where it needs to be; this will probably be better implemented as an AR overlay (a la Hololens) than full VR.
Take for example software development. It has huge potential to improve how efficiently we can work together remotely. It is often difficult to communicate very well with remote team members, and to develop a rapport with them. But imagine if you could be pair programming right beside them, in a VR setting, pointing to some code in a floating IDE or something, and explaining to them how it works. Or you could pull up a virtual "white board" and start drawing maybe.
It could also go a long way to making work more comfortable. With your computer being just a VR headset, it would be easy to work in a laid back recliner, standing in your office, or even lying down.
In AR, the graphics don't have to be as good. Text and line drawing alone would be useful. This translates to less-clunky headgear. The Microsoft HoloLens is far less clunky than the HTC Vibe or Oculus Rift. Being able to walk an oil refinery or a server farm or a WalMart and have displays of what everything was and how it was doing would be valuable.
Perspective[0] is a fabulous capacity (and Renaissance "invention" for artworks). Our eyes need 3D, but our brain is just fine with a bit of fake perspective.
PS: slightly tangential but, the only personal interest I have for VR is watching movies alone as if I were in an empty theater. I find it very cool.
There's still no killer app. You can play FPS games. Works fine, for people who like shooters. You can run roller coaster sims. Works fine, gets boring fast. You can visit Second Life. Kind of cool, if you like SL. You can visit High Fidelity, which is a higher-res Second Life where nothing is going on. Boring. (Worse, the High Fidelity CEO is now talking about "sovereign identity on the blockchain". If one branch of hype isn't working, pivot to another.)
VR conferencing? Working in High Fidelity and Second Life now. HF even has gaze tracking and facial gesture capture.
In the early days of VR, there was hope that VR would provide a more natural interface to CAD programs. Autodesk put effort into VR to try to make that work. Turned out that trying to do precision work in VR is not only difficult, but really tiring.
It's all been built, and nobody came. Best Buy is removing the Oculus Rift demo stations from stores due to lack of interest.