
VR on steam grew 0.06% in july and 0.02% in august - aresant
http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
======
GuiA
Everyone who wanted a vive/rift has probably ordered it at this point.

And the software offering is so abysmal that developers are going to have to
work a bit harder if they want new interested users.

Sony is releasing their own VR system soon, we'll see what comes out of that.

If Steam really wanted to make VR adoption shoot up through the roof, it'd be
simple: release a VR exclusive Orange Box 2: Half Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, TF3
or Portal 3, and a new IP. Boom, 10 million sold the first weekend.

Of course, the hardware is still a bit immature, expensive, and the computers
required to drive it need to be beefy- so they might be saving that card up
their sleeve for 18-24 months from now.

~~~
cartoonfoxes
> Everyone who wanted a vive/rift has probably ordered it at this point.

I'm not convinced. In my small sample of ~10 friends, all would like one, but
no-one can afford one.

~~~
stcredzero
Let's clarify. What matters is not who would want one. What matters is who
wants one at the current price.

------
cableshaft
While there's some interesting and fun games on VR from the looks of it, I
don't think it's found it's killer app yet, the thing that really captures the
mainstream's attention.

Also, I'd love to try it, but I'm not motivated enough to shell out $1400+ to
do so (I'd need to upgrade my computer too), when I suspect I'll play it a lot
for a month and then shelve it for a long time. Maybe my mind would be changed
if I could actually try it, but I don't know anyone who has one.

The closest I've gotten is watching some annoying personalities on Youtube
gush and gawk over them while displaying a video of what they're seeing, and
that hasn't been enough to win me over yet.

So one thing I think should be done, that isn't, is these things need a place
that people can go to try them, like a setup in Best Buy or something. If I
could see it for myself how much it changes things, maybe I'd be more
motivated.

And this is coming from someone who used to be in the game industry and wants
the next hobby game I develop to be designed with VR support in mind. That's
how bad these companies are at getting these systems in front of people to try
them out.

I'm sure it's not easy to get in the big stores, but Sega did a 'bus tour' to
show off the Genesis to people 20+ years ago, they can figure something out if
they want this to succeed long-term.

~~~
dsernst
Some Microsoft stores have demos.

~~~
cableshaft
Actually if we're talking specifically the HoloLens, I'm going to be attending
a meetup for a local developer group in a couple weeks that goes over
developing for it and I'm hoping I'll be able to try it as well.

I was thinking more specifically the Oculus or the Vive, though. If those are
demoed at the Microsoft stores too, then I'll happily check them out, but I
don't know why they'd have them.

------
vanattab
As other commenters have pointed out there is the chicken and egg problem
right now with little interest from big software houses until hardware
adoption increases and consumers hesitant to spend the $800 + $400(gpu
upgrade) for access to some neat but still limited games. Based on my
experience with the vive so far I am certain that VR is going to catch on
eventually however I am not sure it's going to be this hardware generation. If
anyone is interested trying to do some VR dev I highly recommend Unity with
the SteamVR plugin. With about $40 dollars in assets and about 8hrs worth of
programming I was able to build a VR demo of a procedurally generated dungeon
I could walk/tele around and pickup and through objects that looked pretty
good.

------
apatters
It's not like we don't know how to launch a new gaming system at this point:
you package up everything the consumer needs to get started for around ~$500,
you line up a couple of launch titles that are really great games or license
famous IP, you strike some massive retail partnerships and spend massive cash
on marketing.

You are building an ecosystem and it's all about getting critical mass which
is hugely expensive. Even new peripherals for already successful console
systems are quite hard to launch because you can't put the marketing behind
them that you'd put behind a whole new system launch. VR tech obviously has
great potential but the ecosystem, the mass market product and marketing, the
titles are all not there.

~~~
solatic
But VR costs way more than $500, because the true cost is not just the VR
headset itself but a new high-end graphics card to drive it.

After the headset, the graphics card(s), and a couple of the few VR games that
are out, you're easily over $1,000.

~~~
apatters
Fine, but the gaming market is what it is. The model that would work for mass
adoption would probably look something like: sell a console with 1 VR headset
and 1-3 games for $700, take a loss on it, and turn a profit later on more
games and headsets.

------
saddestcatever
How fast is VR changing? I keep hearing about new hardware / manufacturers /
versions - so even though I want to pickup a headset, I'm planning to wait
until the market and options settle down and a clear winner stands out.

------
hashberry
I demoed HTC Vive and wasn't impressed by the resolution. Current VR games
look cartoony. Apparently realistic VR requires 8K+ resolution per eye, and VR
is 10 years off from becoming "mainstream." So I'll wait. There are plenty of
awesome "2D" games that look incredible in 4K in the meantime.

~~~
WilliamDhalgren
I think compute is more limiting to the graphics than mere pixel density.
Certainly if what bothers you is that it seems low-poly.

Now if you can track one's fovea fast enough to render just where you're
looking at, then you don't need anything as far off like 8K+; your eye is not
nearely that dense.

You do still need a screen with such a density though...

------
Zikes
I just got a Vive a couple of weeks ago, and I do not regret my purchase,
however it is certainly not for everyone at the moment.

I'm sure most of you are aware that right now VR is suffering from a
chicken/egg problem. There are too few VR owners to attract large studios to
make great content for the platform. Similarly, there is too little content to
attract a large number of VR hardware purchasers. I went into my purchase
understanding this, and that even though the hardware is now being marketed to
consumers it should still be considered an "early adopter" piece of kit.

I do feel like I am getting my value out of it, however. I have tried several
games and demos, and I am regularly impressed as I find various developers'
new and innovative approaches to the platform. I've also demoed the Vive to
several friends and family, and so far everyone has found something to love
about it. Just about everyone that's put the headset on has been caught with
their mouth agape at one point.

Some of the older folks were reluctant, afraid of handling the controllers or
trying to figure out what to do. In those cases I would show them a more
"experiential" application, especially the ones with little to no interaction.
theBlue, Kismet, Impossible Travel Agency, and The Lab's "Secret Shop" were
big hits in that regard, though each one of those is largely a one-trick pony.
Once you've experienced them once or twice they have relatively little to
bring you back.

The younger crowd found enjoyment in Space Pirate Trainer and Fruit Ninja, but
there is little variety in the gameplay. The games prove a mechanic, but don't
have a huge amount of content or plot to speak of. You could chase after high
scores in an arcade-like fashion, but apart from incrementing numbers there's
not much reward or progression.

There are some games that are Oculus-exclusive which I would really like to
try, such as the newly released Obduction (from the makers of Myst & Riven). I
understand the developers are working on Vive support right now, which is
nice. I haven't looked into Re-Vive yet, which is supposed to offer limited
support for Oculus exclusives on the Vive headset, and honestly I'd like to
try to avoid such things if I can. I've been pretty disappointed in Oculus for
how it's trying to create platform lock-in by paying developers for
exclusivity. I understand it from a business standpoint, but at this early
stage in the VR market a shared game library would be vastly more beneficial.

------
aresant
Sourced from /r/oculus on Reddit

[https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/50vst9/vr_on_steam_gr...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/50vst9/vr_on_steam_grew_006_in_july_and_002_in_august/)

------
coralreef
The Vive is outselling the Rift? Anyone have insight or data?

~~~
billconan
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12219043](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12219043)

you can see this previous discussion. many people who own both claimed they
shelved oculus.

