Lots of technologies had very difficult and drawn-out gestations, where the promise was far greater than the reality. Cars were slower, more expensive and less reliable than horse-drawn carriages for several decades. Several huge advances were required to turn Karl Benz's rattling deathtrap into a practical means of transport. Marconi first made radio transmissions in 1895, but it took until 1920 for practical radio broadcasts to start. Radio was a niche technology for telegraph companies and a weird gimmick for hobbyists until the triode valve arrived.

VR is a much harder problem than the 80s pioneers expected. Previous display technologies "worked" for VR, but they gave you neckache and/or severe nausea after a few minutes. We needed a breakthrough in lightweight, high-resolution, low-persistence, low-cost displays. That breakthrough arrived when Samsung started putting OLED displays in the Galaxy series smartphones.

We finally have headsets that really work - headsets that provide immersive experiences, headsets that can be worn for more than a few minutes at a time. We've got GPUs that can push pixels fast enough to maintain a stable 90fps. We still have a huge way to go, but I think it's far too early to declare VR as vapourware or a technological dead-end. We're only just getting started.