According to an insurer in the United Kingdom, filings related to VR rose 31 percent in 2021.
As virtual reality technology takes off, so have the number of insurance claims related to the use of VR tech.
Though the specifics of how many VR headsets have been sold aren’t known, they’re rising fast.
The Reality Labs VR division at Meta hasn’t disclosed how many Quest 2 headsets have been sold so far, but what is known is that their popularity has never been higher. The Oculus app reached the top spot at the Apple App Store for the first time on Christmas Day 2021, suggesting that the headsets were a common gift for the holiday. That said, while the virtual reality technology was meant to be a gift to friends and loved ones, it has also been the cause of some harm among those recipients.
The report of spiking insurance claims related to the use of VR is a substantial sign of how rapidly the tech is becoming popular. According to Aviva, a UK insurance provider, there was a 31 percent increase in home contents claims having to do with VR headsets. That was a 68 percent increase over the same type of claim in 2016.
Accidental damage claims relating to the use of virtual reality technology averaged $880 last year.
The majority of the claims filed relating to the use of VR tech involved cracked television screens last year.
“As new games and gadgets become popular, we often see this playing through in the claims made by our customers,” said UK property claims director Kelly Whittington from Aviva, as quoted in a recent Yahoo News report. “In the past, we’ve seen similar trends involving consoles with handsets, fitness games and even the likes of rogue fidget spinners.”
Even though 2022 is just getting started, Aviva has already noted that there have been several claims related to virtual reality technology processed. Moreover, the insurer has every expectation that there will be more throughout the rest of the year. While that still doesn’t reveal exactly how many VR headsets are being used at the moment, it does show that the number is rising and that additional trends are forming because of it.
