Second Life Web Traffic Still Far Outpacing Oculus, Vive & VRChat Traffic

Virtual reality check worth posting about on a semi-regular basis:

Yes, it's somewhat an apples and orange comparison, but SecondLife.com and Oculus.com are both portals for active users looking for content and potential new customers.  Also notable that SL web traffic has trended a bit up in recent months while Oculus' trended down during the freaking holiday shopping season.

As a social VR platform, VRChat is a better apples-to-apples comparison to Second Life (or possibly apples and pears), and comparative web traffic tells a similar story:

And again with SL versus Vive:

To be sure, this is just traffic to the official sites of each, so let's make the comparison in overall interest, via Google Trends:

I'm actually surprised Second Life is still on top by this standard. Then again, the same can be said for Linden Lab's Second Life, versus Linden Lab's Sansar:

For that matter, this very social VR news site you're reading right now is running neck and neck in recent months with Sansar:

... which suggests I better up my game!

Someone in the VR industry told me I keep bringing up Second Life as a comparison point because I'm angry the tech industry has lost interest in SL, drawn by the shiny object of VR. But it's more accurate to say I think that object isn't as shiny as many people in tech industry believe.

Comments

[Amanda]

The first 4 charts make the scale for number of visits twice the maximum that SL got. This flattens the chart and actually disguises how much the difference actually is. If it was closer to SLs max visits then the difference is even more obvious. The last chart does a better job.

[Hamlet Au]

Yeah you have to hold your cursor over each to see what the actual numbers are and see how big the spread is.

[Ai Austin]

Where a lot of development folks have gone seriously wrong is assuming the whole of the user interaction will be with a VR headset on, using a mic for interpersonal communications with those in range, and even assuming additionally a pair of motion controllers in your hands.

I am a believer in a mixed situation where a lot (most?) of the interaction is in 2D and the you don the headset and (optionally) pick up specialized controllers for certain elements of the interaction. Some VR experiences will not even run if you don't have the hardware in your hands... just occasionally having to put it down for the pop up messages and interactions still required on a 2D screen.

[Minethere Sometimes]

2ndlife is dying without new residents.

average resident age is 60yrs old with no one replacing them.