There have been studies about VR and empathy. I don’t know how conclusive they have been or if there’s a prevailing theory in the field. The first I saw said that VR does increase empathy, but now there seem to be articles and research saying that it does not (as well as those that say it does). My non-expert hypothesis is that VR increases immersion, suspension of disbelief, etc., which allows the viewer/player to think of the on-screen experience as their own (at least while it is ongoing) and thus VR can amplify empathy-inducing storytelling; so I would think that VR would be the most likely medium to create empathy, but may still not succeed in doing so.
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