XR’s $250B Future: How to Overcome Scalability Hurdles
The extended reality (XR) market, encompassing virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), is poised for explosive growth, projected to reach $250 billion by 2028, according to McKinsey’s 2024 report.
With a 250% surge in search interest over the past five years, as noted by Exploding Topics in 2025, XR is capturing the imagination of industries from gaming to healthcare.
Yet, scalability remains a critical bottleneck, with 70% of companies lacking the IT infrastructure to support XR deployment, per Gartner’s 2025 tech trends.
To uncover actionable solutions, we asked tech leaders and industry experts:
“What is one solution you’d recommend to improve XR scalability in your industry?”
Their responses, ranging from cloud-based platforms to modular hardware, reveal practical strategies to bridge the IT gap, empower businesses to adopt XR, and unlock its transformative potential in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Read on!
Chris Brewer
To improve scalability in XR, I recommend investing in cloud-native infrastructure combined with edge computing.
This approach reduces latency and offloads heavy processing from local devices, enabling smoother XR experiences without demanding costly hardware upgrades.
It also allows companies to scale quickly by leveraging flexible cloud resources, making XR deployment more accessible across industries despite existing IT limitations.
Chris Brewer
Managing Director, Best Retreats
Praveen Gupta
In addressing the scalability challenges that many companies face in implementing XR (Extended Reality) solutions, it’s crucial to leverage cloud-native microservices architecture as a foundational approach. From my extensive experience in software engineering and cloud computing, particularly my work at leading tech firms like Uber and Adobe, I have found that transitioning to a microservices-based system significantly enhances scalability.
Microservices enable the modularization of applications into independent, manageable services, which can be developed, deployed, and scaled autonomously. This architecture facilitates the rapid adaptation required for XR applications, which demand high levels of concurrency, low-latency processing, and seamless integration with various cloud resources. At Thomson Reuters, for example, we successfully refactored monolithic applications into distributed microservices to improve transaction processing and scalability, resulting in enhanced performance and maintainability.
Furthermore, incorporating cloud services, such as AWS or similar platforms, allows for dynamic resource allocation, ensuring that the IT infrastructure can handle sudden spikes in demand as XR technology continues to gain traction. Platforms like AWS Lambda, with its serverless computing capabilities, are particularly beneficial in this context, as they offer automatic scaling without the need for provisioning or managing servers, thereby reducing overhead.
Additionally, adopting a robust cloud-native development toolkit like Spring Boot or leveraging containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes can streamline the deployment and management of microservices, ensuring they remain resilient and scalable. During my tenure at Uber, the integration of Kafka-based streaming services and a continuous focus on cloud infrastructure optimization played a pivotal role in enhancing the scalability of our core systems, lessons which could be directly applied to the XR domain.
Ultimately, the key to overcoming the XR scalability bottleneck lies in embracing a cloud-native culture and architecture. Organizations should invest in training their IT teams on new technologies and agile practices to support this transition effectively. By doing so, businesses not only boost their current application capabilities but also future-proof their infrastructure to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving technology landscape.
Praveen Gupta
Senior Software Engineer, Uber
Georgi Petrov
One effective solution to improve scalability in the XR market is investing in cloud-based infrastructure with robust edge computing capabilities. This would allow companies to offload data processing and storage to the cloud, reducing the strain on local IT systems.
By integrating scalable cloud services, businesses can ensure their infrastructure can grow with increasing demand without requiring extensive upfront investments in hardware.
Additionally, this approach allows for seamless updates, better data management, and the ability to scale resources dynamically based on usage.
In my experience, leveraging cloud-based platforms has enabled businesses to improve performance, reduce costs, and make it easier for smaller companies to adopt XR technology. This would be a key step in overcoming the current scalability challenges in the industry.
Georgi Petrov
CMO, Entrepreneur, & Content Creator, AIG MARKETER
Nikita Sherbina
To improve XR scalability, I focus on building a flexible cloud-based infrastructure that can dynamically allocate resources as demand shifts.
Early on, we faced challenges where local hardware couldn’t keep up with rapid XR content growth, causing lag and frustrating user experiences.
Moving critical processing and content delivery to the cloud allowed us to scale efficiently without huge upfront investments in IT hardware. We also standardized APIs to integrate XR platforms smoothly with existing systems, which reduced complexity for clients.
This approach lets companies start small and grow XR capabilities on demand, avoiding the costly bottlenecks Gartner highlighted.
Scalability isn’t just about hardware—it’s about creating adaptable systems that align with evolving business needs. For our digital signage SaaS, this cloud-first strategy has been key to supporting hundreds of daily new registrations without service disruptions.
Nikita Sherbina
Co-Founder & CEO, AIScreen
Max Shak
The rapid growth of the XR market is exciting, but the gap between demand and infrastructure readiness is a real challenge. When 70% of companies lack the IT backbone to scale XR effectively, it signals that the issue isn’t just about adopting new technology—it’s about building the right foundation to support it sustainably.
From my perspective at Zapiy, the solution lies in focusing on modular, cloud-based infrastructure that can adapt as XR needs evolve. Instead of forcing companies to overhaul their entire IT systems upfront—a costly and complex endeavor—cloud platforms offer scalability, flexibility, and integration capabilities without the heavy upfront investment.
Cloud infrastructure allows organizations to gradually introduce XR solutions while relying on elastic computing power and storage that can grow with their needs. This approach lowers barriers to entry and gives companies room to experiment, optimize, and expand XR applications without risking major disruption.
Additionally, adopting open standards and APIs within the XR ecosystem is key. This promotes interoperability across different platforms and devices, reducing the complexity that often stalls scalability. Companies should look for XR solutions designed with integration in mind, so they can leverage existing IT assets rather than replacing them.
Finally, investing in workforce training alongside technology upgrades is critical. Even the best infrastructure fails without people who understand how to use and maintain it effectively. By combining cloud-based, modular tech with a skilled team and open, flexible systems, companies can create a scalable foundation for XR that supports growth rather than limits it.
In short, the path to improving XR scalability isn’t about chasing the newest gadget or solution in isolation. It’s about building adaptable, cloud-first infrastructure paired with open standards and capable teams. That’s the strategy I believe will bridge the gap and unlock XR’s full potential across industries.
Mike Chappell
For implementing XR into your product or services, you need an IT infrastructure for it. It sounds obvious, but many companies don’t really understand the scale of it, especially for having it all done in-house.
If there is a goal to implement XR or try it out at least, I’d recommend adopting modular, cloud-based platforms specifically designed for XR integration.
Flexible cloud systems won’t create the problem of your technology being outdated or not following the latest standards. And storage, processing and cross-platform functions will be there.
At our company, we’ve also tried cloud-first systems as they significantly speed up experimentation and let teams roll out new tools in phases. In this way, it’s much easier to test what works before committing to a full-scale launch.
Mike Chappell
Co-Founder & CEO, FormsPal
Bill Stevenson
The hardware for the XR market has become quite functional, with both Quest 3 and Vision Pro providing excellent pass-through AR capability, although not yet in a comfortable form factor. Hardware advances continue and new headsets like the NTT/Sharp MirZA (available now) and Meta’s forthcoming Orion/Artemis (2027) will enable all-day use.
The big issues in “IT backbone support” include the need for MDM tools to manage large fleets of headsets, the ability to integrate XR headsets into collaborative processes with colleagues using mobile and laptop devices, and the complexity and cost of developing high value use cases that are integrated into enterprise data systems (vs siloed processes).
Development platforms combining spatial computing and physical AI that simplify the development of XR applications, including API management for enterprise systems, real-time collaboration across hardware types and the management of the runtime on each device, will be central to addressing these obstacles.
Bill Stevenson
Chairman, Umajin
Chip Giller
One of the most effective ways to improve XR scalability is to increase accessibility, both in terms of who can use the technology and who gets to shape it. Right now, too many people are left out due to cost, technical complexity, or lack of support.
At Agog, we believe XR will only reach its full potential when it is inclusive by design. That means creating lower-barrier entry points, sharing knowledge openly, and centering the needs of diverse users and creators.
When more people can access XR, especially those outside of the tech mainstream, we unlock new ideas, new stories, and new solutions. Scalability is not just about expanding infrastructure; it is about expanding opportunity.
Chip Giller
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Agog
Gyan Chawdhary
With XR (Extended Reality) growing rapidly, many businesses are excited about the possibilities—but most aren’t ready on the back end. One practical way to improve scalability is by adopting edge computing combined with 5G.
XR experiences demand real-time responsiveness and low latency, which traditional cloud setups often can’t deliver. By moving some of the processing power closer to where it’s needed—at the “edge” of the network—companies can dramatically improve speed and reliability.
When paired with 5G, this setup reduces the load on central systems, making it easier to scale without major overhauls. It also improves data security by limiting how far information needs to travel.
This hybrid approach helps businesses lay a stronger foundation for XR, solving a key challenge many are facing today.
Gyan Chawdhary
Founder & CEO, Kontra
Regan Black
One way to improve scalability in XR is to move away from bespoke, in-house platforms and adopt cloud-based XR infrastructure instead.
The barrier is often the backend: companies want to experiment with immersive experiences but lack the systems to support deployment at scale. With cloud platforms, you reduce the need for specialised hardware and can update content remotely, which means faster rollouts and better long-term flexibility.
For industries like healthcare or training, where updates are frequent and consistency is key, this shift makes a huge difference.
It also lowers the cost of entry, since you’re no longer building from scratch. More companies can test, iterate and expand without a massive upfront investment in infrastructure.
Regan Black
Founder & CEO, GuestCam
On behalf of the Techronicler community of readers, we thank these leaders and experts for taking the time to share valuable insights that stem from years of experience and in-depth expertise in their respective niches.
If you wish to showcase your experience and expertise, participate in industry-leading discussions, and add visibility and impact to your personal brand and business, get in touch with the Techronicler team to feature in our fast-growing publication.
