Even Microsoft's decision to harness the power of the cloud to bolster the Xbox One won't be of much use to virtual reality, he says. Microsoft has said that each Xbox One will also have access to cloud-based processing equivalent to roughly three more consoles, which could be used for processing richer backgrounds in games, more realistic reflections and textures, and other detail.

The system has met with keen interest from game developers, but is unlikely to be of use to virtual reality systems like Oculus Rift, Iribe points out, because of the latency involved.

Virtual reality "wants a maximum latency of 20-30 milliseconds from your head moving to the headset updating your eye on screen - what we call motion-to-photon" he explains. "Right now it's at 30-50 milliseconds in the current versions, but we do expect that to come down and reach that 15-20 millisecond "Holy Grail" timing."