Why do agencies quote 8 to 10 weeks when you say 20 minutes?
Both numbers are real. They measure different parts of the same job, and the gap between them is almost entirely review rounds rather than rendering.
What the agencies publish
Roundtable Learning gives 8 to 10 weeks as the average for a VR training programme, as quick as 4 weeks and as long as 6 months or more. The Prime VR quotes 12 to 20 weeks from discovery to deployment, at $35,000 to $250,000 or more.
Those are honest figures for commissioned production, and they include instructional design, asset creation, development and the revision cycle.
What changes when you author it yourself
Deciding what the scenario teaches, capturing the space and getting sign-off still take the same time. What disappears is the handoff: every correction becomes an edit rather than a change request waiting on someone else's sprint.
- An afternoon to a usable draft with placeholder media
- One to two weeks to a reviewed, assessed scenario including a capture session
- Two to four weeks to live with a cohort, LMS integration and reporting in place
What people actually report
Most first-time creators publish a working scenario within 20 minutes. Merthyr Tydfil College took its construction safety scenario from concept to live for students in under three weeks, including filming and tutor review.