1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Why confidence in VR is rising — and Oculus Quest is to thank

By
Hand Tracking on Oculus Quest | Oculus Connect 6

Virtual reality has remained a relatively small niche in video game development despite the innovations made by products like the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift. But it isn’t down and out just yet, as the stand-alone Oculus Quest headset reinvigorates developers’ passion.

Recommended Videos

Virtual reality will be the dominant “immersive tech” in five years, according to 25% of respondents from a Game Developers Conference survey polling nearly 4,000 participating developers. That uptick in VR enthusiasm reflects a 6% increase from 2018, but augmented reality still reigns supreme. This year, and for several years prior, its edged out VR the go-to immersive platform despite increased VR interest.

VR headsets are increasingly accessible to consumers with offerings from PlayStation VR and HTC, but it’s the Oculus Quest that has developers feeling optimistic. Of the VR and AR developers surveyed, 24% said they expected their next title to launch on Quest, the most popular of any platform after a middling response on last year’s survey. The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive trailed slightly behind. However, nearly a third said they still weren’t sure which console to put their resources behind. The Quest’s jump and the Vive’s fall after being the top choice last year prove the VR market is still developing.

The support for the Oculus Quest is supported by the headset’s sales figures, which helped boost total VR hardware spending by about $500 million in 2019 compared to 2018. The Oculus Quest has been back-ordered for several months with purchases made in late 2019 expected to arrive in February.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Some of VR’s future is already apparent. One of the most-anticipated games of 2020, Half-Life: Alyx, scheduled to launch in March, will be a VR exclusive. The game takes place before Half-Life 2 and will be the first entry in the series in more than a decade. It will only work on PC-powered headsets and will be free for Valve Index headset owners. Unfortunately, that headset is difficult to find, though Valve anticipates it will be back in stock before Alyx debuts.

Though Xbox Series X will not support virtual reality, PlayStation will continue its VR push and will offer backward compatibility with the current PSVR headset with the PS5 comes out. Sony’s less-expensive competitor saw relative success since its 2016 launch, with more than 5 million units sold. It’s backed by a built-in console market and exclusive games such as Blood & Truth.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Impressive mixed-reality laser tag game may be VR’s new ace in the hole

It’s an early December afternoon in Stockholm, Sweden, where I’m sitting in a fancy office suite eating falafel amid a small group of journalists and VR content creators. This is my third day in the office-lined Norrmalm district of Stockholm, just a stone’s throw away from scenic Old Town, where approximately 200 game developers from all over the world commute each morning to work in Resolution Games’ labyrinthine three-story studio. It’s shockingly easy to get lost here amidst the chaos and excitement surrounding each of Resolution’s various virtual reality projects, but the atmosphere is so warm that you’d be unsurprised to discover the studio contains two rooms specifically designated “nap rooms” in accordance with Swedish law.

Unfortunately for me, I don’t get much time to nap -- at all, actually, given the extreme jetlag one experiences when traveling from Portland, Oregon, all the way to the snowy Nordic realm of Sweden. But that’s okay because I'm wired from my own excitement in anticipation of one thing: a unique mixed-reality arena shooter called Spatial Ops, which I and 10 others would finally get to test against one another only a few moments later. The VR game, which is out today, may very well be the tech's next big hit, showing the true potential of mixed-reality gameplay.
Parallel space
If you’re unfamiliar with Resolution Games, the studio is best known for creating highly original and somewhat quirky VR games like Demeo and Blaston, the former of which is arguably VR’s most faithful recreation of Dungeons & Dragons, simulating everything from the tabletop experience (allowing you to share a simulated space with up to four players across several platforms, in and out of virtual reality) to the miniatures on the board, which you can pick up and place by hand, giving them a lifelike feel. Meanwhile, Blaston is a physically active shoot-'em-up where you face off against exactly one other player in a duel, but the twist here is that each gun shoots very slowly and you have to outsmart your opponent by blocking off their ability to evade your bullets while they try to do the same thing to you.

Read more
What the Bat? is a sweet coming of age story (about having baseball bats for hands)

VR is a powerful tool. When used right, it can give users a perspective that they’d never be able to experience otherwise. I’ll always remember the first time I played Eagle Flight, a game that let me see the world through the eyes of a bird. As an avid bird lover, it was an emotional moment that highlighted how VR could really change the way I view the world when at its best.

I felt that again this past weekend. Finally, VR allowed me to have an experience I’d simply never have otherwise: what it would be like to have baseball bats for hands.

Read more
A multiplayer Ghostbusters VR game is coming to PlayStation VR 2 and Meta Quest 2

Sony Pictures Virtual Reality has a surprise treat for Ghostbusters fans this Halloween. Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord is coming to Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR2 in 2023.

Made by U.K.-based VR developer nDreams and announced at the Meta Quest Game showcase in April 2022, Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord introduces a new diverse cast of characters starting their careers running the iconic paranormal business in San Francisco. Their jobs are far from easy, especially when they're going up against the titular Ghost Lord and his ghostly minions spreading chaos and discord throughout the city.

Read more