The panel was moderated by Daniel Torbjörnsson from the Swedish Games Industry Association, who framed the moment as a necessary reset rather than a failure. With the hype behind us, XR is no longer driven by inflated expectations, but by real users, real constraints, and real business logic.

XR has been the next big thing for 20 years.
The difference now is that the market is finally forcing it to grow up.

A market reset, not a collapse

From the perspective of developers, the past few years have been turbulent — but clarifying. Lilit Palmar, Co-Founder and CEO of Maru VR, described how heavy platform subsidies and rapid headset releases distorted normal market dynamics. When that artificial support faded, many studios struggled — but the correction also restored a healthier balance between demand and supply.

According to Lilit, XR is now entering a phase where success depends less on platform backing and more on understanding users, managing risk, and delivering value people are genuinely willing to pay for. For VR gaming especially, this means competing on content quality rather than riding hardware-driven hype.

Beyond entertainment: XR in industry and defence

The discussion moved beyond games into industrial and research applications. Vladimir Kuts, Professor of Digital Manufacturing at Tallinn University of Technology, shared how XR is increasingly used in remote robotics, digital twins, and human–machine interfaces aligned with Industry 5.0.

In his work, XR enables people to operate complex systems remotely, including use cases for manufacturing, emergency response, and defence. While gaming engines like Unreal and Unity are often part of the stack, deep-tech applications frequently require proprietary technology due to performance, security, and IP constraints. In this space, XR is less about immersion for fun, and more about precision, safety, and human augmentation.

A reality check on scale and geography

From a commercial gaming perspective, Oskar Burman, CEO and Co-founder of Fast Travel Games, offered a clear-eyed assessment of where XR stands today. Growth exists — but it is steady rather than explosive.

Fast Travel Games has seen year-over-year revenue growth, with its strongest sales coming from the US market, which accounts for the majority of VR players. Europe and Asia lag significantly behind, largely due to lower headset penetration and limited consumer marketing. This geographical imbalance shapes both product decisions and investment logic.

Importantly, Oskar noted a demographic shift: while early adopters once dominated XR, a rapidly growing user base now consists of children and teenagers. Social, low-complexity games that emphasise movement and interaction — rather than graphical fidelity — have proven especially successful with this audience.

Hardware, fragmentation, and friction

Hardware remains both an enabler and a bottleneck. Frequent headset iterations, weight, comfort, battery life, and motion sickness continue to affect adoption. While developers increasingly benefit from more unified development tools, fragmentation across devices is unlikely to disappear soon.

The panel agreed that lighter, more wearable devices — closer to ski goggles or glasses than bulky headsets — are a critical step toward broader adoption. At the same time, AR is attracting renewed investor interest, driven by major investments from Meta, Apple, Google, and others. However, how well AR translates into compelling gaming experiences remains an open question.

Investment realities after the hype

The discussion also addressed funding — one of the most pressing concerns for XR and gaming studios. Pandemic-era overinvestment led to painful corrections, making institutional investors more cautious. Today, early-stage funding is still possible, especially from angels and industry veterans who understand long development cycles, but larger rounds are significantly harder to secure.

Key insights from the investment discussion included:
In Estonia, the lack of gaming-specific investment experience remains a structural challenge, pushing studios to look toward Nordic markets where gaming expertise and capital are more mature.

XR’s next chapter

Looking ahead three to five years, the panel did not predict a single breakthrough moment. Instead, they described gradual convergence: lighter hardware, better input methods, improved comfort, and clearer use cases across gaming, industry, and education.

Rather than another hype cycle, XR’s future appears incremental — shaped by practical adoption, realistic expectations, and sustained problem-solving. The technology is no longer trying to prove that it belongs. It is quietly finding where it works best.

As the discussion concluded, one message stood out clearly: XR 2.0 is not about spectacle. It is about maturity.

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