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The Rift now represents about 47 percent of all VR headset users on Steam, according to the survey, sneaking just past the Vive at about 45 percent. Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality initiative, launched late last year, accounts for just over 5 percent of the VR users on the platform.
[...] The Valve hardware survey is a self-selected voluntary sample of all Steam users and only detects VR headsets that are actively plugged in to the computer when the survey tool is run. Still, the rough parity between the two headsets is noteworthy given the Vive's use of the SteamVR standard, which Valve continues to update.
While the Rift is relatively easy to set up and use through Steam, the HTC Vive isn't officially supported on the competing Oculus Home platform.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:51PM (6 children)
I hadn't seen any media coverage of VR for over 6 months now. I assumed it was DOA.
Saturation bombing for two years, then nada.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 06 2018, @12:56PM
Nada!
Never go bare back. Always carry just enough bubblegum.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:53PM (1 child)
On one hand, we're only supposed to be interested in 4K, today.
On the other hand, remember when the other site had a schedule for posting e-ink stories (or, remember e-ink?) and I used to call them out for fun, but they just kept arriving on time? That this isn't a scheduled promotional posting on other sites would imply it might be organic natural consumer interest as opposed to astroturfing, so maybe its good news for VR.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday March 06 2018, @01:57PM
4K? It's 8K time... [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Tuesday March 06 2018, @02:41PM
Mainstream coverage will be nil. Even in gaming media it remains a niche because, well, it is, and will remain that way for at least 5-10 years and at least generation of hardware.
I got the Playstation VR last month on sale, as a mid-point between inexpensive phone-insert headsets and an expensive Occulus/HTC setup that required an expensive gaming PC on top of that. It's been a lot of fun but some definite issues that need fixing in their next-gen hardware.
Based on my experience so far though, I do believe VR will continue development, and while it's still a niche, it is not a fad like 3D TV, which died a couple years ago.
(Score: 2) by Techwolf on Wednesday March 07 2018, @03:59AM (1 child)
It was the selling of the most promising VR to facebook that sour all the tech fever. It was a betrail by the community held celebratory that did not go over well.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 07 2018, @06:07AM
And thus, the Facebook headset supplanted the HTC headset as the top VR headset on Steam. ... Wait, what? I guess most people don't care about Facebook's ownership at all.
If there was a fever that ended, it was during a time of niche early adopter products and less content. Newer smartphone-based headsets and affordable standalone headsets will have wider appeal (and more often than not, 6 degrees of freedom). If the premium headsets drop the tether and go wireless (using 802.11ad to communicate with a desktop computer), they will be more convenient (although an 802.11ad-capable NIC would probably be needed, unless connectivity could be added using an accessory with a Thunderbolt 3 cable).
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