Following its official unveiling in China earlier this year, HTC has finally made the Viveport online store available to the rest of the world. Vive headset owners can now access the application storefront and can even purchase a few titles at a heavy discount to celebrate.
HTC’s Viveport offers an alternative to Steam, which since the launch of the Vive virtual reality headset earlier this year, has become a de facto marketplace for HTC Vive virtual reality applications.
It comes with a comprehensive slate of VR-compatible apps across multiple categories, and integrates with HTC’s existing Vive Home VR hub, allowing HTC Vive owners to browse and purchase compatible apps without leaving the realm of virtual reality. Although that was possible before with the Steam overlay, it was a little clunky in places — this should offer a more streamlined (dare we say it, Oculus-like) experience for consumers.
Along with games, Viveport also hosts VR edutainment titles, creative apps, and 360-degree video content, in addition to VR-focused news, sports, health, travel, and shopping information.
To celebrate this launch, HTC has teamed up with developers to offer theBlu, The Music Room Mini, Mars Odyssey, Firebird — La Peri and Stonehenge VR, all for just a dollar each. Although most of these titles are far from the most expensive at their traditional pricing, this still represents a big savings.
It’s a nice addition for anyone just getting into virtual reality, as it means they will be able to flesh out their library for less.
With more than 300 pieces of gaming software for the Vive on Steam alone, the marketplace is a lot more crowded than it once was. It’s hoped that Viveport can help highlight some of the non-gaming experiences that are available for the HTC Vive, to show that it’s good for more than just swords and shooting galleries.
Launch titles for the new store include the aforementioned, discounted experiences, as well as Everest VR, Apollo 11, Titans of Space 2.0, Cineveo, Heaven Island, Surge, Cloudlands: VR Minigolf and many more.
