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2018 Was the Year of VR Headsets - Except it Wasn't, According to Steam Hardware Survey

Raevenlord

Raevenlord

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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.



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There needs to be more development on the software front before VR is seen as more appealing. Im guessing most of the people the list use it for nothing but VRchat and maybe 1 or 2 odd VR games/tech demos (Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades)

If there was such thing like Left For Dead VR then hell yeah there would definitely be a global shortage of VR headsets.
 
Gamers don't invest in VR because there is no games worthy of a substantial entry fee, developers don't make good VR games because of the huge risk associated with a tiny market, the catch 22 won't end.
At least investing in an RT ready RTX 2080ti (terrible value nonetheless) still give you the blistering fast graphical power for all games. VR headsets don't do much more.
 
I am pretty much the prime market for VR, and even I don't own one. VR really needs an absolutely killer game with excellent VR support before it gains substantial traction. Maybe if CDPR added sweet VR support to Cyberpunk 2077 it would sell a lot of headsets.
 
The Hardware COST = VR gear + suitably Powerful graphics Card) and the lack of Games or Apps have hindered the VR take off
VR Will Boom when the likes of Walmart sell it at Wallmart prices.
Then the Software Developers will kick in with Software . Untill then they probably see it as a Niche (small) Market.
 
FreedomEclipse said:
There needs to be more development on the software front before VR is seen as more appealing. Im guessing most of the people the list use it for nothing but VRchat and maybe 1 or 2 odd VR games/tech demos (Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades)

If there was such thing like Left For Dead VR then hell yeah there would definitely be a global shortage of VR headsets.
Click to expand...


Pavlov VR, Bear Saber. There are so many killer VR games already right now.
 
dorsetknob said:
The Hardware COST = VR gear + suitably Powerful graphics Card) and the lack of Games or Apps have hindered the VR take off
VR Will Boom when the likes of Walmart sell it at Wallmart prices.
Then the Software Developers will kick in with Software . Untill then they probably see it as a Niche (small) Market.
Click to expand...

Most Windows VR headset from Acer and Lenovo were well priced. Like ~$150

dorsetknob said:
I See no pole or list of Options
Click to expand...
There is a quick poll next to it.


Seriously TPU news staff is pretty much VR haters. I am surprised
 
Steam user base is so large, that even measly 0.8% means a lot.
Just to put it in perspective, it's more than a percentage of users rocking RX480 or RX580(0.62% and 0.64% respectively), which is a lot of people.
The state of software and content is still very sad, to put it mildly, but the hardware is already mature and even becomes cheaper year after year.
There are few very good games, and some cool old games with VR support tacked on, but we need a lot more than that.
I'm just waiting for Atomic Heart. If it releases with VR support out of the box, then I'll even buy a new headset (sold my DK1, only have a semi-assembled homebrew rig for experiments)
 
xkm1948 said:
Add one more option please @Raevenlord : Already rocking a VR HMD.
Click to expand...

NO choice of a no Vote ?
xkm1948 said:
Seriously TPU news staff is pretty much VR haters. I am surprised
Click to expand...

yup poll seems to be Biased as yeh VR yes VR so much for TPU Staff Being VR haters
 
No and not buying one any time soon. Current VR implementation is just awful.
 
I dont like audio headsets as is, this is just as bad...
 
Slow and steady wins the race, probably. Maybe year 2050 VR gonna reach 1% of Steam survey result
 
Bucketloads of cheap PSVR headsets were sold last year which wouldn't show up in Steam numbers, making the data pretty flawed. I would bet far more PSVR headsets were sold than all other types combined. $199 for a headset with everything you need plus a few games is a much better deal than VR or the PC right now costing at least $500-$1000 to get into. Not that an HTC Vive isn't much more powerful than the PSVR, but for the cost it's a great way to step into VR cheaply. Ancedotally, I own a PSVR and I know many people IRL that own them. On the other hand, I don't know a single person with PC VR.

BTW, if you haven't tried it yet the tech is amazing. Unfortunately there are 2 catches with it. #1 it's still pretty early so the tech has a ways to go in terms of getting the size and cables/accessories down smaller to be less of a hassle to use (and higher res). #2 it does for me and many others cause nausea after an hour or so of playing. It's great while you do it. I just don't find me using mine as often as I would have thought, even though it's amazing and very awesome fun, for those 2 reasons. So even though it's very close to getting there I think the tech has a little ways to go.
 
FreedomEclipse said:
There needs to be more development on the software front before VR is seen as more appealing. Im guessing most of the people the list use it for nothing but VRchat and maybe 1 or 2 odd VR games/tech demos (Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades)

If there was such thing like Left For Dead VR then hell yeah there would definitely be a global shortage of VR headsets.
Click to expand...
I think this disparaging data is not conclusive, many like me probably have it in it's box atm ,not attached ,not in use , which is not much better but it's not quite as bad either.
Your right that a killer app would help.
 
what Percentage of potential users are put off by having to wear Glasses ???
They (Glasses) have to be a problem as regard to comfortable wearing and focal adjustment ??
 
-vr headset are expensive, although they are not perfect
-no vr Aaa title.
-no clear vr standard
-mining craze and nvidia greed made proper vr gpus, unaccessible to 99% of gamers
 
VR is the new 3D, full of fail.
 
VR is BS. Who wants to move like a zombie inside his room, crash into things and get his head messed and on top of that to pay top dollars for the hardware.
Not all that is new is better. People use their brains and the survey shows just that.
 
I would like to try VR... But I'm not going to until I see a real selection of games.
 
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