AR, VR and Mixed Reality Development — An Honest Assessment
Immersive technology has been through a correction, and any agency page written before it should be read with suspicion. Several consumer AR authoring platforms have been retired by their owners, headset volumes have stayed well below the forecasts that drove the last investment wave, and a good deal of published AR marketing work quietly stopped being maintained.
We still build in this space, and we think it is genuinely valuable in specific places. We would rather tell you which ones than sell you the category.
Where immersive work reliably pays off
- Product visualisation and try-before-you-buy — furniture in a room, a vehicle configuration, equipment in a workspace. This is the most consistently justified use, because it removes a real purchase objection.
- Training and simulation — procedures that are expensive, dangerous or impossible to rehearse physically. The economics work because the alternative is genuinely costly.
- Design review and spatial planning — evaluating something at true scale before it is built.
- Field and maintenance support — instructions or remote expertise anchored to the equipment in front of a technician.
Where it usually does not
Standalone branded AR experiences, marketing filters and campaign-driven immersive microsites are a much harder case than they were. Distribution has narrowed as authoring platforms closed, attention spans for novelty have shortened, and the measured business return was rarely there even when the tooling was free. If someone proposes an AR campaign as a brand awareness play, ask what the equivalent budget would do in a channel you can measure.
Platforms as they actually stand
- Mobile AR — ARKit on iOS and ARCore on Android remain the practical reach for anything consumer-facing, because the device is already in the customer's pocket.
- The web — WebXR avoids an app install entirely, which usually matters more for consumer reach than any capability it gives up.
- Headsets — Apple's visionOS and Android XR devices are capable, and appropriate for enterprise use cases where the hardware can be provisioned. Consumer install bases do not yet support a business case built on reach.
- Smart glasses — currently the most credible consumer trajectory, though the interaction model is closer to assisted audio and capture than to rendered spatial overlays.
Capture and rendering have improved sharply
The most useful recent change is in how real environments and objects get into a scene. Gaussian splatting and related neural rendering approaches produce far more convincing reconstructions from ordinary captures than traditional photogrammetry did, and standardisation work is bringing them into mainstream asset pipelines. For product and location visualisation this materially lowers the cost of good-looking results.
How we would scope it
We start by asking what decision the experience is supposed to change — a purchase, a training outcome, a design approval. If that answer is vague, immersive is the wrong spend and we will say so early, when saying so is still cheap.
Our immersive expertise
- 3D product visualisation
- Headset and visionOS apps
- Mobile AR (ARKit and ARCore)
- WebXR and browser delivery
- Capture and neural rendering
- Training and simulation
Frequently asked questions
Is AR still worth investing in?
For specific uses, yes. Product visualisation that removes a purchase objection, and training for procedures that are expensive or dangerous to rehearse physically, both have defensible economics. Standalone branded AR experiences and marketing filters are a much weaker case than they were, and we would rather tell you that before a budget is committed than after.
Should we build for headsets or for phones?
Phones, for anything consumer-facing, because the device is already in your customer's pocket. Headsets make sense for enterprise use cases where you control and provision the hardware — training, design review, complex spatial work — but consumer install bases do not yet support a business case that depends on reach.
Do users need to install an app?
Not necessarily. WebXR delivers immersive experiences straight from a browser, and avoiding an install usually matters more for consumer reach than the capabilities you give up. Native apps remain the right choice when you need the strongest tracking, offline operation or deep device integration.
What has changed in how 3D content gets made?
Capture has improved considerably. Gaussian splatting and related neural rendering techniques reconstruct real objects and spaces from ordinary captures far more convincingly than traditional photogrammetry, and standardisation work is bringing them into mainstream asset pipelines. For product and location visualisation this meaningfully lowers the cost of a good result.
We were quoted for an AR marketing campaign. Is that a good idea?
Ask what decision it is meant to change and how you would measure it. Several consumer AR authoring platforms have been retired by their owners, distribution has narrowed, and measured returns on branded AR novelty were thin even when the tooling was free. If the honest answer is brand awareness, compare it against what the same budget does in a channel you can actually measure.
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