Monday, April 13th 2020
Half Life: Alyx - The VR "Killer App" That Likely Wasn't
VR was hailed as the next frontier in games entertainment. However, reality hasn't quite lived up to the narrative. Even with support from giants such as Facebook and Valve, and mainstream support provided by PlayStation in its PlayStation VR, the adoption of this technology for the mainstream crowd has been slow. At first, problems with expensive user-end pricing drove slow adoption rates; then, as technology progressed, and prices went down, users were met with a low number of high-quality apps or games that actually provided them with reasons to boot up or invest in the technology.
Half Life: Alyx could have been the "killer app" that VR needed for a booming mainstream adoption - much like the original Halo was the sales point for many an Xbox system back in the days. However, it seems that this isn't the case - and likely won't ever be. Half Life: Alyx is set in one of gaming's most iconic franchises; for all accounts, it's an incredibly acclaimed game, featuring a 93 aggregate review score on Metacritic, and a mightily impressive 9.1 in user reviews. However, as it stands, the game was not unlike a popping balloon: it peaked at 16,459 concurrent players on the day of release, and has since seemingly settled in a 3,000 average concurrent player count. This speaks nothing of the game's quality, as we've seen: it speaks to the adoption of VR.
As we've seen, PC hardware sales have seen an increase motivated by the "quarantine bubble" many countries across the world are now experiencing. And while PC hardware sales have increased, they have done so in products that are mostly geared towards reducing social distancing. The asking price for a new VR headset, alongside limited usage scenarios; low adoption amongst friends and relatives of would-be-purchasers of the tech; and the absence of a developed ecosystem; all seem to concurrently lead to there not being a relevant sales increase. No reports have surfaced on the increased sales rate of VR headsets since the quarantine has been enacted in many countries across the globe.
It seems that there still is a long way to go for VR to become mainstream: whether a new generation of cheaper products, the democratization of wireless adapter solutions, cross-platform support for your smartphone, PC and console... Whatever the solution for that particular equation is (and the solution will likely eventually be found), it seems that Half Life: Alyx wasn't the killer app to tip the scales. Which is a shame. But until that killer app, or killer conjunction of variables, surfaces, you can try to play Half Life: Alyx without a VR headset via some mods that have already been released for the game. It's not the same, obviously; and it's not Half Life 3. But it's something. It's something.
Sources:
Metacritic, Steam Charts, PC Gamer
Half Life: Alyx could have been the "killer app" that VR needed for a booming mainstream adoption - much like the original Halo was the sales point for many an Xbox system back in the days. However, it seems that this isn't the case - and likely won't ever be. Half Life: Alyx is set in one of gaming's most iconic franchises; for all accounts, it's an incredibly acclaimed game, featuring a 93 aggregate review score on Metacritic, and a mightily impressive 9.1 in user reviews. However, as it stands, the game was not unlike a popping balloon: it peaked at 16,459 concurrent players on the day of release, and has since seemingly settled in a 3,000 average concurrent player count. This speaks nothing of the game's quality, as we've seen: it speaks to the adoption of VR.
It seems that there still is a long way to go for VR to become mainstream: whether a new generation of cheaper products, the democratization of wireless adapter solutions, cross-platform support for your smartphone, PC and console... Whatever the solution for that particular equation is (and the solution will likely eventually be found), it seems that Half Life: Alyx wasn't the killer app to tip the scales. Which is a shame. But until that killer app, or killer conjunction of variables, surfaces, you can try to play Half Life: Alyx without a VR headset via some mods that have already been released for the game. It's not the same, obviously; and it's not Half Life 3. But it's something. It's something.
61 Comments on Half Life: Alyx - The VR "Killer App" That Likely Wasn't
Just a guess.
- kids have parents that spend a lot of money to just let their kids give it away to twitch channels.. Plus, VR is as cheap as ever. You can get a WMR for as cheap as a cheap monitor.
- They have drop-in vision correction lenses now
- Motion sickness isn't as bad as everyone thinks it was when the first round of hmds launched like the Oculus DK1. I mean there are people that get motion sickness from 3d games on monitors, but we still sell monitors.
If you like HL then you would be amazed at HLA in VR. It's truly amazing and Valve has gone above and beyond at making it as easy for anyone to start playing.Like me, most consumers are not willing to pay more then 300-350$ (tax included) for such a device - it's just not worth it - especially considering the fact that you also need to beef up your PC (another 500-1000$) with a top-end video card just to get good framerate and avoid motion sickness.
There's another huge issue - people who wear glasses. No manufacturer has bothered to come up with a solution for us.
The Oculus Rift S typically went for about ~$399 USD IIRC which IMO isn’t too bad. Lower would be better naturally. When the original Oculus Rift CV1 was discontinued its MSRP was lowered to ~$350 USD new. What that translates into with respect to exchange rate and tax / VAT globally will vary (unfortunately). There were other cheaper WMR HMD options as well.
The announcement of Half-Life: Alyx and the current global economic shutdown / slowdown translated into scarcity of PC HMD’s ranging from entry level VR HMD’s to the higher end models like the Valve Index.
Simply put, now is not the ideal time to be shopping for a VR HMD.
Having said that, as much as I would like to buy a Vive Index, I honestly don’t think it’s worth the $1000 USD asking price, at least not to me anyway. Also I’m still hearing about Knuckles controller defects and more issues so when it comes to the Valve Index it’s a be carful what you wish for proposition. RMAing tech expensive or otherwise is not fun.
I haven’t tried the Rift S but I’m sure it’s a great experience Since it should be a notch or two above the Oculus Quest.
The tech that went into the Vive Cosmos which allows for The default inside out tracking to be upgrade to Steam Lighthouse is IMO impressive and I would like to see more of that in future HMDs. Likewise the tech that allows the Oculus Quest to function as a stand alone HMD as well as supporting Oculus Link PC support is also a great approach. Flexibly and options are a great thing IMO.
PC gaming is a luxury in itself. VR PC gaming is a luxury on a luxury which makes it somewhat exclusive. Until there's some revolution that makes it inclusive, it's not going to get much market share.
Since I purchased the parts for a new system late last year I can strike motherboard, processor and RAM from my list. I had planned to upgrade the video card later since for the new build I took advantage of an old GTX970 I had around going unused. I intended to buy an RTX 2060 / 2070 Super or wait for nVidia Ampere. I also planned to buy an HP or Dell server. Failing that a rack mount Synology, QNAP or Asustore NAS With at least 10 HDD bays if not 12 (and HDD shelf support / expansion).
While we’re at it I wouldn’t mind a new all electric vehicles but I haven’t seen one that meets expectations and there is nothing wrong with the vehicle I have now.
All of that has been put on hold now. Not because it’s no longer obtainable but because it might be wiser to be a bit more conservative with the spending Given the state of the economy.
Sometimes waiting isn’t the best thing to do though. For example, if an Earthquake in Japan effects HDD availability and prices for some significant time.