Friday, January 4th 2019
2018 Was the Year of VR Headsets - Except it Wasn't, According to Steam Hardware Survey
Steam, being the most widely used games platform for the PC ecosystem, has proven weight on current hardware employed by gamers. While not wholly representative, let's just say it caters to enough of the PC gaming population that we can infer some broad strokes of the current state of the market. And for all the hailing for a newcoming of VR in 2018, it would seem that happened, with a doubling of the attachment rate for VR headsets on Steam's hardware surveys. If we're only speaking relatively, that is.
More interesting and important than the "doubling" in VR headset attachment rate to Steam's user's is the fact that this only increased said attachment rate to around 0.8% of Steam's user base. Of these 0.8%, 0.37% of Steam users who took part in the December survey carry an Oculus Rift, with HTC Vive close behind at 0.33%. The overall increase in usage for each of these headsets was 85% and 65% throughout 2018, respectively - still definitely a far cry from the kind of market penetration that was expected of this latest generation of VR. As for Windows Mixed Reality products? They make-up 0.07% of the Steam survey's results.
Sources:
Games Industry, Steam HW Survey
More interesting and important than the "doubling" in VR headset attachment rate to Steam's user's is the fact that this only increased said attachment rate to around 0.8% of Steam's user base. Of these 0.8%, 0.37% of Steam users who took part in the December survey carry an Oculus Rift, with HTC Vive close behind at 0.33%. The overall increase in usage for each of these headsets was 85% and 65% throughout 2018, respectively - still definitely a far cry from the kind of market penetration that was expected of this latest generation of VR. As for Windows Mixed Reality products? They make-up 0.07% of the Steam survey's results.
82 Comments on 2018 Was the Year of VR Headsets - Except it Wasn't, According to Steam Hardware Survey
TBH i am totally fine with people don’t like VR at all. Your money your choice your opinion.
arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/04/amd-focusing-on-vr-mid-range-polaris/
It's like saying computers will never be adopted by the masses because the Intel Core i9 7960X cost nearly ~$2000 USD. While if that were indeed the only Intel process available then there might be something to that assertion but there is an entire lineup of CPU's at much lower prices and other options like AMD.
So the if the HTC VIve Pro is too costly then the Oculus Rift at ~$350 is an option. Then there is the PSVR at ~$200 or so and some WMR HMDs can be had for ~$99 USD. The prices will just keep falling.
Hardware survey aint gunna show a lot of them up, because not everyone leaves them plugged in 24/7
same here,....
So all that VR needs is the right title to make use of it, To bad programmers suck right now and no one has been able to make use of VR in a way that can appeal in such a way that people all buy into it like they do with other things.
I mean consider this: most people need to make choices with their spendings. Would you rather spend the value of 10 AAA games on a peripheral and have nothing to play on it, or would you rather buy the same 10 games to play them on your existing hardware. That is the choice many people are looking at. This is why the low-cost PSVR has the largest market share. Price is an essential piece of the puzzle here.Spot on. Competitive gaming is out of the question with VR. Immersive singleplayer is where its at. Esports is huge and growing. Again: not a mix that favors VR adoption.
Give us OLED Monitors without Burn-In.
I cannot justify the $200 to $400 on the hardware right now, I have other hobbies and life expenses. I thought about Windows Mixed Reality as a budget option but I am still on 7 and will be moving to 8.1 before I ever go to 10, therefore I am limited to Occulus and Vive which are well outside my budget. I don't want to risk my eyes to staring so closely at a screen and the HMD interface looks very cumbersome to wear. Eventually it might reduce in size and weight and bulkiness as well as cost, at that time maybe I will buy in. The games look little more than tech demos.
I do play VRchat to people watch because it is entertaining, and I guess it would be fun to have more interactivity with the objects in the game but not at that price.
People are always claiming that title X is "The One That Will Sell You On VR", but almost every time I go and look at one of these titles they fail my simple test: "does this game need VR to actually work, or could it work on an ordinary PC?" The answer is almost always "no", and generally when it's "yes", said title is actually just riding on novelty.
Shoehorning VR into an existing game is not gonna sell VR, novelty is not gonna sell VR, simulating walking by clicking to teleport is not gonna sell VR. Until a big-name studio crafts a unique experience that's built for VR from the ground up, that actually makes people rush out to buy VR headsets to play that game, VR is not gonna gain traction.
To be honest I haven't really considered that. For me the only thing that maters once you have access to the prerequisite VR hardware and VR software is whether or not the VR title its fun to play.
Echo Arena is a multiplayer VR game that is free and a real blast to play IMO. Its like football in zeroG with unnecessary roughness being mandatory. Most VR headsets have a built in Mic so when you play Echo Arena you're able to communicate with the other players immediately.
Echo Combat is similar but with weapons. I haven't played it yet as it was in development the last I heard.
Space Junkies is a zeroG multiplayer combat game that was in development too. I signed up for the beta but never heard back. It's high on my list of VR games to play either way:
It reminds me a little of the old Quake, Doom and Unreal Tournament days,...
There was another VR combat game that looked a little like Team Fortress 2 but I don't recall the name. I am sure there are more out there. I didn't mention games like Rec Room VR because those don't really interest me.
I also stated that I bought Star Trek Bridge Crew not too long ago with the DLC on sale from Steam. This is a multiplayer co-op game but can also be played single player.
The above games would require some room and movement in a play area. However, I have found that many VR games can easily be played seated on something like a swivel chair.
Edit:
I forgot to mention Firewall Zero Hour. If you like tactical team shooters then this is a really good game. I bought it on sale from Amazon (coupon code during the holidays) for ~$19 USD and downloaded it for the PSVR. This is likely a timed exclusive and should become available for other platforms soon. Despite its flaws it has a level or realism that other games have trouble replicating.