To grow further, all forms of virtual entertainment need more content creators, say experts. Building the hardware and software is only the beginning. The greatest demand is for high-tech animators and designers to provide compelling, ever-changing images and characters

Jobs in virtual tech are found wherever video game, 3-D, and mobile app development is lively: Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle; Austin, Texas; Boston; North Carolina; and the Washington, D.C., metro area.

Much of the action is also happening overseas. Besides Southern California, Eon Reality has offices in Singapore and Sweden. Nintendo refers prospective employees to the DigiPen Institute of Technology located in Redmond, Wash., Singapore and Spain.

Virtual entertainment has not yet fulfilled its promise “of worlds spun completely from our imagination,” says Davidson. But breakthroughs in AR, gaming, filmmaking and corporate training are pushing it along.

“VR is barely in its teen years,” says one insider, “So there’s still a lot of growing to do.”

(Disclosure: Comcast owns 51 percent of NBC Universal, the parent company of CNBC.)

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