Actually you could buy VR headsets in the 90's, I still have one in the closet somewhere forgot the name. But I got it as a prize, they cost around $600-$800 which is $1,133-$1,500 in 2016. (Some of them were better than the ones you saw at malls and amusement parks, but the most powerful headsets could only be found in those.)
So back then they were similarly priced as when they came back a few years ago, but with inflation they were more expensive overall back then.
Issues is half the home VR's where like 26 colors, while only a couple had a wider range. You also had to plug in a box to your TV for the best models, not as long but wider and more square shaped than the 360 power brick, then hook the VR up to THAT as the box also had the start switch. Luckily the wires were long so you could relax on the couch.
R-Zone and Virtual Boy weren't really VR unless you wanted a very poorly made entry level version of VR. R-zone was closer to full VR than VB though, which is hysterical in hindsight.
The Jagaur VR prototype was the first thing I used on consoles that actually provided a real VR experience, but look at how hard it is to sell VR now, how would you have marketed it back then? Yes the novelty from the commercials would gain some interest but back then paying tons of retailers to have demonstrations in stores would have costed a massive fortune, and would be a huge risk. It also wouldn't help that the online retailer component was very niche at the time, so you'd have to rely on retail only and those guys back than were vicious.
If you wanted Sears to place a VR demo in just a 3rd of their stores you were paying double the money and arguably would have to cut some of your shelf space for your other products. You'd also have to pay a premium to be among the front of their gift book.
Circuit City likely wouldn't have taken it because they barely got Jaguar stock outside of select large cities because Atari couldn't afford it, so they wouldn't risk the demo even if it did do really well and got 10's across the board, because they knew it would take awhile for Atari to take the new profits and manufacture more headsets.
3DO was working on a VR in response that would work for 3DO and PC and possibly be compatible with the PlayStation, but scrapped it because they they had a similar design to another company called Funtech and gave up under lawsuit threats when it turned out one of the engineers used to work for them. It also was going to start at a price of $1000. They only got Toys R Us on board from what I recall as well.
Isn't it hilarious that unethical multi-billion dollar mega corporations are the ones that got VR into more hands and retailers than ever before and not gaming companies?
www.vrs.org.uk
