8 ms·

VR on steam grew 0.06% in july and 0.02% in august

20 points by aresant 10y ago

aresant 10y ago
Sourced from /r/oculus on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/50vst9/vr_on_steam_grew_006_in_july_and_002_in_august/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/50vst9/vr_on_steam_gr...
coralreef 10y ago
The Vive is outselling the Rift? Anyone have insight or data?
- billconan 10y ago
  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.
- billconan 10y ago
  also this http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/vive-oculus-survey-june/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/vive-oculus-sur...
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
GuiA 10y ago
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.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- runT1ME 10y ago
  Anecdotally, not true (for me). I finally tried my fiend's Vive and it's the first gaming 'system' I've wanted to buy in a long time. I'm going to wait until a few more releases and then I'll be buying one for sure.
- cartoonfoxes 10y ago
  > 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 10y ago
    Let's clarify. What matters is not who would want one. What matters is who wants one at the current price.
- Taylor_OD 10y ago
  I just bought one last month and I've wanted one since launch day. I actually had one preordered but decided I would wait a couple months and see reviews and how various games looked. I read that roughly 100,000 sold. I guess I'm a good chunk of that 0.02%
cableshaft 10y ago
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 10y ago
  Some Microsoft stores have demos.
  - cableshaft 10y ago
    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.
apatters 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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 10y ago
    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.
hashberry 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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...
saddestcatever 10y ago
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.
Zikes 10y ago
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.
vanattab 10y ago
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.

20 points by aresant 10y ago

Sourced from /r/oculus on Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/50vst9/vr_on_steam_grew_006_in_july_and_002_in_august/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Vive/comments/50vst9/vr_on_steam_gr...

coralreef 10y ago

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

billconan 10y ago
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.
billconan 10y ago
also this http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/vive-oculus-survey-june/ http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/vive-oculus-sur...

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

GuiA 10y ago

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.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
runT1ME 10y ago
Anecdotally, not true (for me). I finally tried my fiend's Vive and it's the first gaming 'system' I've wanted to buy in a long time. I'm going to wait until a few more releases and then I'll be buying one for sure.
cartoonfoxes 10y ago
> 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 10y ago
  Let's clarify. What matters is not who would want one. What matters is who wants one at the current price.
Taylor_OD 10y ago
I just bought one last month and I've wanted one since launch day. I actually had one preordered but decided I would wait a couple months and see reviews and how various games looked. I read that roughly 100,000 sold. I guess I'm a good chunk of that 0.02%

cableshaft 10y ago

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 10y ago
Some Microsoft stores have demos.
- cableshaft 10y ago
  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.

apatters 10y ago

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 10y ago
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 10y ago
  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.

hashberry 10y ago

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 10y ago
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...

saddestcatever 10y ago

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.

Zikes 10y ago

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.

vanattab 10y ago

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.