It’s not very often we get insight into Valve’s thought process, as the company tends to let actions speak for themselves. But at a ‘Steam Indie Connect’ event in Korea, the company says it still believes in VR, and outlined some of the challenges ahead.
We still believe in virtual reality,” Giardino said. That said, Giardino noted Steam Frame users are mostly now playing standard flatscreen games rather than VR titles.
One of VR’s biggest challenges is a ‘chicken-and-egg’ dilemma, Giardino said: developers wait for the VR market to expand, while players wait for more VR games. Meanwhile, flatscreen games continue to grow more diverse and compelling, making it more difficult to justify making VR games. That, and expensive, popular flatscreen games launch every week, which is the biggest hurdle facing VR developers, Giardino said.
It’s kind of the same problem the original Steam Machine had.
You can’t really expect most devs to support the platform that’s not very popular.It’s too bad VR requires specialized hardware and the Frame had to launch when it did…
But the overwhelming demand despite the price proves VR is far from dead, we just need a device worth the price (and is actually available to buy…).Possibly one of the reasons why the Steam Deck rocks? Standardization helps.
On the other hand the Frame works so well that I love using it for flat games too. It looks like you’re playing on a giant cinema screen. You notice little details you never did before.
Now if only the autonomy was better.
VR is pretty much like the kinect, if you stop to think about it. Compared to a typical computer or console, you need more space for it to work best. It also lacks a “killer app”, kinect had a bunch of dance games, but VR’s best offer thus far is VRChat, which relies entirely on community.
There’s also the matter of money. Meta Quest is the cheapest option, but you’ll be stuck with Meta tracking and will have to shell out extra for Steam VR games.
VR’s “best offer” is actually Beat Saber (which is sadly owned by Meta).
VRChat is a tiny little niche in comparison.
If I were Valve, I’d develop addicting/super fun games that require mild exercise like Beat Saber—if they want more adoption/excitement around VR.
I remember seeing Beat Saber for the first time many years ago and thinking to myself, “holy shit that looks like fun!”
They need more games like that. Not sophisticated games like HL Alyx (even though it’s amazing).
Additional selling point: I lost 15 pounds after playing Beat Saber every day for three months. I still play every day, four years later.
I’d be playing it on a Steam Frame if I could get one!
Some of the most fun things in VR are mods for non VR games, but those are chunky/not user friendly. Though, for the tech savvy, that’s where the fun will probably be for the next 2-5 years if you already have the hardware. (And can pick through the slop for the gems).
Edit; At the risk of saying a bad word. LLMs will make porting to VR trivial, soon enough.
LLMs are already making the porting trivial. Most of the new releases heavily rely on coding agents.
But yeah, that’s really where the fun is. So many games are already good and are even more immersive in VR. I’m currently playing Jedi Outcast. And I think for Doom 3 VR is the definitive way to play.
Edit: This enormous list of what has been released in the last 41 days was just posted on the Flat2VR Discord: https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://gist.githubusercontent.com/elliotttate/62874c06da42b6942587038711742bb2/raw/5f4f74bdd401543b0d82488b8a9c82fba9ad07b5/index.html
It even has recent games like Silent Hill Townfall.
I’d be playing it on a Steam Frame if I could get one!
Yeah, tell me about it. I just want my quest 3 to survive till I get a frame so I can ditch Meta’s shitty platform. I know they own Beat Saber but as long as they don’t make it exclusive, that’ll do. I bought it and almost all my VR games on Steam anyway.
Probably more than half of my VR library is rhythm games, really. Between motion and flow that kind of game works great in VR.
There’s no such thing as exclusive in the Steam Frame universe.
I’m playing Lone Echo 2, Resident Evil 4 and the Quest version of Beat Saber on my Frame already.
You mean stuff you’d get through the oculus PC app? If so, interesting.
I still have some stuff I won’t be able to get out of my quest though, because I got them as embedded apps, not PCVR. Very little though.
Also, not really comparable but your “no such thing as exclusive” just made me think of it… Technically, I still got stuff stuck on my PS4 I’m probably never getting elsewhere. Like Dreams. Fuck Sony for gutting Media Molecule and cancelling the PC version, apparently it was basically done. Dreams needed more people on it to really develop.
You mean stuff you’d get through the oculus PC app?
Both! Quest native versions launch directly on the Frame through Lepton (Android emulation) and PC titles launch through RiftLift (Linux) and Revive (Windows) via streaming.
Like Dreams.
With shadPS4 making such big strides it would not surprise me if it works on PC next year. Would also not surprise me if somebody builds a community server for PC like they did with Super Mario Maker and the Souls titles.
I played like 3 rounds of Beat Saber, and I gotta say, I just don’t get the hype. Seems like a good workout though.
But other than that? Super underwhelming.
Just like many games, to get the most fun out of it you need to install the community mods.
The BeatLeader mod/leaderboard and custom sabers increase the fun factor by like 1000. Join a clan and have fun with friends!
I also appreciate silly mods like Nya 😁
I’ll have to keep that in mind, thanks
and beat saber offers no benefit from being VR as you look in one direction only, the same thing could’ve been achieved on the wii
I can’t even imagine trying to play beat saber on a wii, haha
It’d be a funny port, though. Wonder if someone will try.You want to slam your controller into your TV? Because that is how you slam your controller into your TV.
Beat Saber does have a “the blocks come from all directions” play mode but it’s not very fun. Rather, it adds nothing.
If you want “any and all directions” gameplay, Superhot is amazing.
Add cool vr features to flatscreen games?
I’ve been saying this from the start. I’m even interested in 3rd person action games as long as they do the work of adapting the camera to be comfortable. Just take already incredibly popular titles and port them. I played GTA V start to finish in 3rd person in VR and it was an amazing experience.
where are my nano robot pills that activate and co ordinate interactive psychedelic gaming experiences? I want to game and jerk off without moving. skip the haptics and talk right to my nervous system. no matrix plug required.
As a VR developer, who loves that stuff, yes, I want to believe, too.
Man I wish they could have come out with the new vr device in 2023.
How about the chicken-and-where-is-my-Frame dilemma?
Outside of flight/ driving sims I don’t really see any uses for it that aren’t ultimately clunky and gimmicky.
I think that’s always been the biggest hurdle. VR is one of those things where once you’ve seen it, you’ve pretty much seen it all. Even Half Life Alyx couldn’t get the general public interested and I have heard nothing but good things about it.
No matter how good a game is.
No matter how many hardware gimmicks you add.
Nothing will be more immersive in gaming then just hitting a button without thought.
It seems awesome for flight/driving sims, though without a motion sim rig those kind of games are unplayable for me due to motion sickness issues. I still have an OG Vive, which I don’t use very often, but every time I put it on it feels like entering a magical world. I mean I agree with you that there aren’t a lot of games that are suitable for the VR format but at least for me VR in itself never feels old.
Can’t even order one.
If it was any good there wouldn’t be a chicken and egg situation. People would flock to vr if it wasn’t a steamy pile of dog shit.
