Restarting virtual reality in journalism? A quantitative analysis of problems and potentials of selected immersive apps as perceived by their users

Since its emergence in the 1960s, virtual reality (VR) has generated significant enthusiasm among researchers and practitioners, as well as technology and media companies. In journalistic practice, however, VR has so far only been able to compete to a limited extent. This paper first establishes the status quo of VR apps in the journalistic field as found in the Oculus Store, and then analyses the user comments (N = 770) of 15 VR apps produced by journalistic media outlets to evaluate their perceptions in terms of the constructs of immersion, emotion, usability, and utility. Results show that users positively highlight VR's capacities to elicit immersion and emotion, while technological aspects of usability and utility are often assessed negatively. Additionally, positive emotional and immersive reactions in VR are possible despite flaws in technology, and a positive immersion is also associated with a positive emotional VR experience. Derivations for a potential restart of VR apps in journalism are drawn.