VR "A smashing success" - Steam

"Steam survey suggests VR adoption has skidded to a halt"

The VR market hasn’t grown over the past two months. Back in September, data from Steam showed just 0.18% of Steam users as owning a Vive headset, with 0.10% of those users owning an Oculus Rift, TMCNetreported. These figures showed the Vive as having added just 0.3% of Steam users across July and August (Oculus added 0.1% over the same time period).

Surprise, surprise. Fad turned out to be a fad.

expensive with very little real content, it's not too surprising really

next up PSVR babay! woooohooo

I love how people are jumping to conclusions and calling PSVR a smashing success (I think that is what the title is referring too)

In reality though it's soley the very tech savy that buy this tech and PSVR is selling well... but it's nowhere near breaking through with the general public. It's only a select few that will ever buy it ... and will ever use it.

Of course, the average consumer (people that buy Macs, Iphones, etc) does not/will not attach a toaster to their face.

Not to mention the setup of VR is rather cumbersome and clunky.

Hololens has a chance since its much sleeker in design, literally just glasses. Plus AR has the advantage of being portable, you can take it outside. Imagine Pokemon GO Augmented Reality.

Im still waiting for a few years to see if vr will be worth it. I also want the prices to go down before i buy...

@speak_low said:

You don't just count Vive units and say VR is done. There's nearly 1.5 million Gear VR users, and that's VR for a very specific series of Samsung phone owners. Wait for Google Daydream View (other Android users) and Apple to jump in too, and then tell me no one has interest in VR when those things sell like crazy.

Vive + Rift are in the hundreds of thousands, and PSVR will be adding another two million to the total very easily, and very soon.

Hollywood and others major companies are just starting to make things for VR. They needed those headsets out first. This is already an outdated list (the new one is even bigger) showing attendees at the VR Society tech summit.

Major players are just getting started in 2016, and SW acting like experts, thinking VR is done. I can't wait to see how wrong you all are in three years.

Yup, it's hilarious how fanboys think they are experts at business. People claiming VR is doomed will be looking very foolish in the coming years.

That shit will be a product of divine intervention to hit a million lifetime, let alone two million "very easily, and very soon"...

You are sorely mistaken if you actually believe $400-$500 console peripherals are going to succeed in any capacity regardless of what they are or the experience they provide. Are you forgetting that these are fucking console gamers? The same people who bitch about money at every turn, the same people who almost started World War III over the price of the PlayStation 3 at $600, a brand new next-gen console... and you're going to sit there with a straight face and somehow think the general population is going to adopt a $500 peripheral? Especially in the face of Sony not having a single successful peripheral in the history of the PlayStation brand?

The same hype that initially sold the Vive and Rift is the same hype that is initially selling PSVR, and the roadmap will be identical, it's already falling off. I don't know if you're naive, fanatical or just plain delusional, but the core market for this device has nearly already exhausted itself four days in, another month or so and it will be extinguished completely with only stragglers buying it at random afterward.

Are you also forgetting that the PlayStation 4 Slim, Pro and PSVR are all cannibalizing each other by releasing in succession over a three month period? Whose bright idea was that, because it was poorly thought out, not to mention people are saving their money for Black Friday, that of which none of these devices will be on sale, they're all new releases... This was absolutely horrible planning, the timing is off and the expectation for something like this to succeed in the console space with its cost relative to the consoles themselves and when it isn't even succeeding in the PC space with its much larger resource pool, is damn foolish.

PSVR will be on life support by the end of the year.

Bookmark this post, I encourage it.

It's just such a hastle for a little bit of extra immersion.

Sure, the immersion is nice, and for gaming immersion can make or break a game.

But:

-You need expensive hardware to run VR: meaning at least a high end PC or a PS4/PS4 pro
-You need expensive hardware on top of the expensive hardware: VR hardware ranges from 400, 600 to 800 dollars
-You need expensive hardware on top of the expensive hardware on top of the expensive hardware: buy some motion controllers, if you don't have any from last gen. Or entirely new controllers
-You need a lot of space for room scaling VR.

and at the end of the day, when you paid all that money, when you did all that effort to have your room scaling VR up and running, when you have your controllers and whatnots... you find out it's just a bunch of tech demos that are fun for half an hour and you return to traditional gaming.

Some people are so damn sour that they want to see products fail. No surprises there. I see creative minds making amazing movies, games, and many more things with this new tech. I watched part of Allumette and I have to say I was impressed.

Meanwhile you guys are not acting like experts at all, claiming VR will be a huge success

The irony xD

It's not that we want it to fail, it launched much too early and cut its legs out from underneath itself by lacking worthwhile experiences and content. VR should have had years of game/developer preparation and full integration in the kinds of AAA games that we play now. It could have released as the next innovative step in modern gaming, but all it has done now is shown itself to be a non-integral gimmick, one of the very same things that killed VR in the 90's, execution and content is everything, and they shit the bed.

We're not the ones betting against multi-billion dollar corporations here.

Lack of quality content, cost and the low visual fidelity of current gen VR displays are holding VR back. These issues need to be addressed before VR really takes off. They can start with the content.

I thought this was a forum where we discuss stuff ?

Everyone can give their opinion about what they feel will happen, right ?

Why do you have to accuse people of pretending to be experts, whilst pretending to be an expert yourself ?

Just give arguments to what you feel is right. Nobody can predict the future.

Not you, not me. Not billion dollar corporations.

Here is the thing to, they need to be addressed fast or it's total game over, and we both know they're too slow to quell this mess in time.

@brah4ever: It's because there's no real problem with non-VR gaming. If we were limited by how games played as they are, VR might be able to solve something. As it is, it can only enhance existing features of games, and this isn't enough of a reason for most people it seems.

It's one of those things where the harder they push it - the harder it's going to crash on them. If they can't capture the mainstream, then support will inevitably diminish.

@brah4ever: hololens is 3000 dollars psvr is 400

Whatever makes you folks feel better about not owning a VR device...

HoloLens is a productivity tool, not a gaming device. Of course it's gonna be more expensive, plus it's a self contained computer not a tethered device like PS VR. Of course HoloLens has much better potential. It doesn't seem like the price has stopped developers or companies buying HoloLens.

https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-opens-its-windows-holographic-platform-to-other-headset-makers/

Plus Microsoft seems to open for OEMs to adopt their VR/MR/AR OS. Many have partnered with MS for this case.

@quadknight said:

@speak_low said:

You don't just count Vive units and say VR is done. There's nearly 1.5 million Gear VR users, and that's VR for a very specific series of Samsung phone owners. Wait for Google Daydream View (other Android users) and Apple to jump in too, and then tell me no one has interest in VR when those things sell like crazy.

Vive + Rift are in the hundreds of thousands, and PSVR will be adding another two million to the total very easily, and very soon.

Hollywood and others major companies are just starting to make things for VR. They needed those headsets out first. This is already an outdated list (the new one is even bigger) showing attendees at the VR Society tech summit.

Major players are just getting started in 2016, and SW acting like experts, thinking VR is done. I can't wait to see how wrong you all are in three years.

Yup, it's hilarious how fanboys think they are experts at business. People claiming VR is doomed will be looking very foolish in the coming years.

VR is not doomed. PSVR is doomed and if by any chance VR dooms I'll be blaming Sony for poisoning the well.

Seeing things that suck fail does make me feel better, thanks.

@so_hai: VR doesn't need to "solve" anything. It is its own medium, and your post makes me suspect you've yet to try it, as many others in here do as well. VR literally changes the way you play. Your movements and play area you walk around in become the controller (at least in room scale with the Vive), and intuitiveness and immersion are the keys.

I feel sorry for people who write this tech off or desire its failure. Probably some because they cannot afford it, or lack the room or PC to run it. Others, because they're myopic fools. Really, it couldn't be more different from traditional gaming as we've known it.

PSVR will sell much more since it's cheaper and it actually has games.

Seeing how many System Warriors react to VR makes me wonder if our ancestors had to fight off the other savages who thought they were witches for cooking with fire. Ya'll can be so un-woke.

Or maybe they're not teenagers who live in their mom's basements and don't need VR to enjoy life.

What a dumb argument xD You as a gamer use a argument usually used against gamers against other gamers, nice one. By this logic nobody needs gaming to enjoy life? But guess what, you are much more immersed in VR than by watching on a screen, but you need to actually try it to know it :P

But VR doesn't suck... What leads you to believe it sucks? Have you tried it? PSVR is actually quite good. I wouldn't be surprised that if 5 days in, it has already outsold Vive and Rift combined. That kind of exposure will only help VR as a whole. Vive and Rift are hurting for software, and the success of PSVR will only help.

So,

1 - VR doesn't suck
2 - It won't "fail"

Folks like you and others in this forum are like the folks that were against DVDs, touch screens on phones, Blurays etc... Technology is always moving forward. Which is a good thing because I was terrible and remembering to rewind my tapes before taking them back to Blockbuster.

I think VR will become a success through areas other than games. It'll have its place there too, but I think mass adoption will come through avenues shch as VR sports, VR world events, VR travel (VR safari), and other such things.

As mass adoption occurs from branching out to all these other channels, VR will come down in price, and be more affordable to use for gaming.

Given that we are still in the first iteration of these devices, the high cost, and the lack of content outside of tech demos: I'd say it's too early to say one way or the other.

Then imagine all the deaths by idiocy.

@speak_low said:

You don't just count Vive units and say VR is done. There's nearly 1.5 million Gear VR users, and that's VR for a very specific series of Samsung phone owners. Wait for Google Daydream View (other Android users) and Apple to jump in too, and then tell me no one has interest in VR when those things sell like crazy.

Vive + Rift are in the hundreds of thousands, and PSVR will be adding another two million to the total very easily, and very soon.

Hollywood and others major companies are just starting to make things for VR. They needed those headsets out first. This list below is already an outdated one (the new 2016 one is even bigger) showing attendees at the VR Society tech summit.

Major players (that aren't even in the video games industry) are just getting started in 2016, and SW acting like experts, thinking VR is done. I can't wait to see how wrong you all are in three years.

You constantly beg for more time for your flop consoles, but don't even give VR a full year to mature. The VR clock officially started in 2016. Let us get to 2017 at least before making VR forecasts.

VR is here to stay look at all those companies U CAN"T BEAT ALL THOSE.

You can't fight a tide this powerful.

Its time. Xbox get a VR device or get out of industry.

Ditto.

£800 saved.

Darwinism

I'd love to try out Hololens, VR... not so much.

But right now Hololens problems is that it's just not in the pay range of what the average consumer would spend on something like that.

@speak_low said:

Most of these are movie studios, the same studios that hopped on the 3D hype. While 3D did ok with movies, it didn't do so well with games. Matter of fact 3D gaming is dead. So just because all these big companies will start making things for VR, it's for the entertainment side and it doesn't mean VR gaming will take off too and share the same level of success. Also these big companies supports 4K blu-rays. Guess which console has a 4K blu-ray drive. So I guess you could guess the console with a 4K blu-ray drive will do better too because of these big companies.

It was very predictably a fad.

The only VR I would have time for is Vive, but even then I wouldn't bother unless it was cheap

Like people don't need video games to enjoy life? Look around you.

I wonder what % of the people hating VR across multiple threads on here have even tried it. All this rambling about eye damage and vomit and crap visuals... makes me think very few of you.

IMO vr's worst problem right now is content. The tech needs to and will continue to improve, but it is sufficient for fun experiences right now - and that all that GAMING is about. So make good games devs.

You mean hardware sales slowed during the time of year that hardware sales slow down to a trickle? I'll alert the press...

It's like people have to learn this about late Summer/early Fall Every. Single. Year.

**THUMP*** Did you hear that sound? Its the sound of VR flopping and that includes the PSVR which maybe the one to really sink the ship.

Vr will be a major hit in the arcade halls, the manufacturers just don't realize that yet. They don't have to make this thing cheaper, they have to make it better, smaller, better resolution. Then you will be playing a lifelike call of duty in a arcade hall that is the size of a shopping mall. Entry fee will be slightly higher than disneyland and you will be making reservations from days ahead.

Complete new sports will be invented because of this tech.

Just like the arcade in the 80's you will need a designated system. Something that is extremely stable and has a crazy amount of horse power to run the sets at 8-16k. The home versions will be there, just like the home consoles in the eighties and nineties but it will not be as good as the real deal. Home vr will be succesfull but it won't stay that way, ar that can also do vr is where the future is at for home devices.

The vive is in no man's land at the moment, it's too expensive for the average consumer and it doesn't have any product selling games.

Let me rephrase that and change the term movies into entertainment companies. Entertainment and gaming are separate. Just because the entertainment side won an Emmy doesn't mean the gaming side will also win awards. And yes all these entertainment companies did heavily back 3D and motion controls even voice controls. But once again that didn't change the landscape in 3D & motion control gaming. The point still remains just because all these diverse companies invest in VR entertainment doesn't mean VR gaming will flourish and share the same level of success, since they are different entities. And yes more people will remain playing on their 23" monitors, better yet 80"+ 4K UHD HDTV sets with surround sound and get more immersion than 5" screens glued on their face.

Bingo. That is the future of VR.