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Develop: PC VR sales has almost ground to a halt

After the masses saw what VR has to offer during all of the launch day streams the hype died so fast you could feel it.

Vive fucked up by providing shitty experiences both software and customer service. Oculus fucked up by well.. doing everything fucking wrong and getting too greedy too fast.

Those first week of launches were highlights of those screwups. PSVR may have an underpowered platform behind it but if gearVR is anything to go by it may just pull off VR even as a gimmick for a while. It's really hard for Sony to fuck this up given the disaster the other two companies in the game made.
 
I think so, too.

Have either of you guys actually tried it? Not even just mobile or a DK1 of Oculus (Which don't even have positional tracking), but something like full room scale with motion controllers? Shit is bonkers.

This stuff is just insanely expensive right now, and unlike 3D it really does enhance games made specifically for it, like I was playing a demo of a game called Racket NX where you're just in a giant dome arena basically playing pong/tennis. It seems super basic just watching it on a 2D screen but it's fucking exhilarating. And it's a super simple game anyway compared to other VR titles. I think anyone expecting VR to overtake normal gaming is wrong, but to think it's a fad? The tech works incredibly well, and it's unlike anything else. 3D was neat and even as a kid I was never that impressed with it, VR would have made me lose my fucking mind (It still did lol)
 
If VR can be considered an experience, what's that going to mean for PSVR when people are perfectly happy playing without it?
I'm sure people will buy it, but it's not like they're going to swear by playing with PSVR only then on in. (Well, probably some will. For a while.) VR isn't quite there, so it's not going to just explode.
 
VR has no future until we get a standard. As for PSVR, this is the next PS Move.
Yup, Oculus and HTC/Valve splitting up the hyped and excited day 1 userbase was a dumb move that could only end badly when launching with these prices, I honestly don't think the VR techs in general are mature enough for the mainstream market with prices like these, you see people hesitate even on getting the cheap mobile solutions, even the cables alone are making people (including myself) frown on PCVR.

PSVR could be much more successful depending on how Sony handles things in the long run, I don't think it'll end up like Move but maybe like Vita if they jump ship too early, they need to have the first party devs jumping in head first instead of just dipping the toes and they need to keep fleshing out the software library even if the sales go down. Personally I wouldn't go in day 1 on secondary Sony platforms until they have shown that they can handle it but I'm still more excited about PSVR than any PCVR tech right now.
 
people probably bitched about tvs when they first came out.

"i dont need no stinking tv, i got these perfectly good books with pictures"

I remember when my family finally got a color TV and none of the local stations broadcasted in color. I think it was Gilligan's Island was the first time it actually showed something.

I can tell you, the first time I put on the latest gen of VR, it was the same feeling.
 
I remember when my family finally got a color TV and none of the local stations broadcasted in color. I think it was Gilligan's Island was the first time it actually showed something.

I can tell you, the first time I put on the latest gen of VR, it was the same feeling.


The problem with this argument is that through the same analogy, VR is running black and white programs that are 5 minutes long and colored in with crayon. Try selling the public on that crap. Where's my planet of the apes? Charlie and the chocolate factory?
 
Dropped my Oculus order and glad I did. For as much talk they did about throwing money to developers they didn't get much out of it. Lucky's tale seems to be about it. Sony seems to be doing a much better job in that regards, hoping it works out for them.
 
Comparisons to linear content like music and movies do not seem apt. There was never much risk in putting Dark Side of the Moon or Star Wars on new formats. Studios that initially backed HD-DVD did not suffer much in the long run (and not nearly as much as Toshiba). Games require investment. Kinect sold a ton and still never got native content good enough to carry it into a fourth year on the market.
 
I've got the money saved up and ready to spend, but I'm waiting for one of a few things to happen.

Either some amazing new content that makes the current purchase price worth it, sale prices on the existing Oculus Rift ($450-500 would do it), or a new steamvr headset/controllers from someone like Samsung comes out to compete with the Vive/Rift with new features at the current prices.

I think one of those three things is going to happen sooner than later, so this feels like a bad time to buy to me.
 
This reminds me- I need to sell my Best Buy Playstation VR pre-order.

I have a feeling I won't be missing out on much the first year or so of release. I'll jump in later, hopefully they can iron out the tech by then. Plus, I guess I need a Neo to really take full advantage of it.
 
people probably bitched about tvs when they first came out.

"i dont need no stinking tv, i got these perfectly good books with pictures"

Television in the 50s was the biggest change communication and information since the telephone in the 1870s and such revolution wouldn't come again until the internet in the 1990s. I don't see VR really offering such a major change as a box that can literally beam the news to you within a matter of minutes.
 
Comparisons to linear content like music and movies do not seem apt. There was never much risk in putting Dark Side of the Moon or Star Wars on new formats. Studios that initially backed HD-DVD did not suffer much in the long run (and not nearly as much as Toshiba). Games require investment. Kinect sold a ton and still never got native content good enough to carry it into a fourth year on the market.

I am completely behind this. Investment is a big component of this and a large reason stuff has lagged behind here But there's also a large amount of people poisoning the well with babbys first intro to Unity games making trying to ask for $5.
 
Has Non-Gaming uses of VR been popular at all? Attending sports events, concerts, porn, etc? Or was all that stuff just as good on GearVR?
 
The oculus is the real deal. They're in a bad position though. They need more content in order to get more customers. But in order to get more customers, they need more content.

It's an amazing device though
 
Dropped my Oculus order and glad I did. For as much talk they did about throwing money to developers they didn't get much out of it. Lucky's tale seems to be about it. Sony seems to be doing a much better job in that regards, hoping it works out for them.

they funded one of the very best games this year in Chronos, hard to see that as a waste
 
Has Non-Gaming uses of VR been popular at all? Attending sports events, concerts, porn, etc? Or was all that stuff just as good on GearVR?

Well, 3D video doesn't involve positional tracking since it's just a video. So there's basically no difference in quality from mobile to high end in this regard. (Other than Res and Framerate but most video is probably being made with mobile VR in mind anyway.)
 
I really think the tech is there. The content isn't though. I'm really interested in VR, but there's literally nothing I want to play on there.

I don't think it is yet. It's still really rough around the edges and there's a lot of problems still to be solved.
 
Well, 3D video doesn't involve positional tracking since it's just a video. So there's basically no difference in quality from mobile to high end in this regard. (Other than Res and Framerate but most video is probably being made with mobile VR in mind anyway.)

But has it been popular / successful?

Right now there is no "cheap" VR solution for PC, like there is for mobile... but maybe there could be, just for those interested in using it for video only without positional tracking.
 
Cost effective low latency wireless connectivity.

Alright, I agree it's expensive as heck and that's the one thing driving people away. But the wire? You get used to it pretty quickly in my experience, however on the outside looking in the wire probably does odd people out. Wireless is basically mobile only at this point for awhile.

But has it been popular / successful?

Right now there is no "cheap" VR solution for PC, like there is for mobile... but maybe there could be, just for those interested in using it for video only without positional tracking.

Other than Porn I'm not sure there is even that much content for the others out there to really say one way or the other (3D video is probably the thing I've done the least in VR) OSVR DK2 seems to be the current possible canidate for cheap decent PC VR, it has the same res and frame rate as Vive and Oculus and only costs as much as PSVR.
 
People don't even like wearing 3D glasses for their TV's. I don't see why anyone thought people were going to spend $600+/$800+/$1000+ on an enclosed helmet that shuts you out of interacting with anyone around you.
 
I tried the OC in bestbuy and it didn't grab me at all. Was interesting but felt like a throwaway experience, not something I would play on a consistent basis.

I also notice a shit ton of dithering. Is that how it is suppose to look?

Anyway I am surprised everyone thinks PSVR is some savior of VR.
 
Right now it's just way too expensive for me. Needs time to be more affordable + have more games. It will, just not yet.
 
I remember back when Palmer was saying that the Oculus headset would release under $350. Then that changed and the reality set in that a lot of people simply can't afford VR. Ever since then, things have been real quiet on the enthusiast front.

VR is going nowhere until it gets a major price drop.
 
Move and Kinect latched onto the Wii coattails. VR is nowhere near comparable.

Comparisons to Kinect and Move are off-base for two reasons:

Price. Kinect and Move cost 1/3 of what PSVR is going to cost. And much of their sales came in the form of bundles costing only incrementally more than their non-bundle counterparts. When it was time to buy a PS3, I bought the Move bundle because it was only $75 more than the non-bundle system, and also included 50% more HDD space.

PSVR isn't in the same league price-wise. And it simply won't benefit from the ability to impulse upgrade to a bundle when someone is buying a console. Almost nobody who goes into Best Buy expecting to pay $299 for a PS4 is going to decided to spend $700 on PS4+PSVR instead.

Parental Concerns. Kinect and Move were a somewhat easy sell to parents because they could be presented as a form of gaming that was healthier for their kids. The idea that your kids might come home from school and dance in front of the television for hours on end was a beautiful dream, especially in a world where children are spending increasingly more time indoors and on their butts. Motion control gaming promised to get those kids active!

Not only does PSVR not present the same promise, it's going the wrong way. No parent is going to be super enthusiastic about their kid strapping a device to their face and groping around the real world looking like an idiot. If motion control gaming was a beautiful dream, the perception of PSVR is more like a dark dystopia. It's not a great look.


None of this is to say that PSVR (or VR in general) will necessarily fail. I just think expectations that it will be easy to sell at the same level as (or even a substantial fraction of) last-gen motion control devices is overlooking the fact that PSVR is facing significant obstacles not faced by those products.
 
I think there are three reasons why VR on PC hasn't been a big success:

1) Cost of entry

2) Lack of must-play software

3) Confusing messaging

I don't see VR on PC taking off until #1 is not a factor anymore. It just costs too much to try it.
 
What about the tech isn't there? Resolution, FoV ect?


GearVR:

Resolution, horsepower.
content pricing.
Generally okay but does nothing well aside from demo to people.

Oculus:
Barrier to entry:

USB touchiness. Why does this device have such enormous problems with getting USB to work correctly across its peripherals and itself? Vive doesn't have this issue. Yes they had to use a breakout box but it resolved the issue of drawing too much power.

PC specs. A lot of it is to ensure the maximum possible experience. This detracts people who don't know about our hobby

Resolution: apparent in desktop projector apps like hell. The amazing potential is there but held back

Nature of how they're generating content: funding in house and all is nice but they haven't created many experiences that are actually worth anything. Lucky's tail? Chronos? For that price?

Vive:
Fragile nature of the device.
Horrible customer service.
Kind if high barrier of technical knowledge for those that don't understand technology well.
Not as grab and go as Oculus.
Finicky in calibration and setup for audio and other devices. Often buggy.

Without the fabric of the Oculus Rift long term users have reported damage from sweat condensation. We don't even have a good way to vent the damn things.

Steam has generated loads of garbage content for the device.

Same resolution issues.


Price aside I can't in good faith go tell my friends who have the money to spend to learn how to do all the things they need to do to use those two devices.
 
But the wire? You get used to it pretty quickly in my experience, however on the outside looking in the wire probably does odd people out. Wireless is basically mobile only at this point for awhile.
The cable is my number one reason for sitting on the fence. I've tried GearVR and I simply can't go with cables now. Why can't a Nintendo/nVidia streaming tech be used on the current headsets?
 
Television in the 50s was the biggest change communication and information since the telephone in the 1870s and such revolution wouldn't come again until the internet in the 1990s. I don't see VR really offering such a major change as a box that can literally beam the news to you within a matter of minutes.

People already had radios, so the news thing wasn't much of a change.
 
Lets says PSVR when released is a success and gamers and the press love it.

Would it be wise for Sony to consider sometype of PC olive branch?
 
The cable is my number one reason for sitting on the fence. I've tried GearVR and I simply can't go with cables now. Why can't a Nintendo/nVidia streaming tech be used on the current headsets?

Are they good enough? (I remember the Wii U game pad actually being better than expected but it's distance wasn't that great)

VR NEEDS low latency as much as possible.

I'd suggest just try and find a store giving a demo of Vive or Oculus, when you have actual positional tracking and motion controllers, Mobile just doesn't compare (At least at this point, hopefully in a couple years they get some kind of tracking standard for multiple phones)
 
Alright, I agree it's expensive as heck and that's the one thing driving people away. But the wire? You get used to it pretty quickly in my experience, however on the outside looking in the wire probably does odd people out. Wireless is basically mobile only at this point for awhile.

So what you're saying is, the tech isn't there.
 
Expecting Occulus or Vive to hit mass-market sales numbers is like expecting a £500 graphics card to do the same. These devices are super niche right now. This news here should surprise no-one.

The PSVR will be when the mass-market is introduced to VR and this was always going to be the case. Whether they continue to buy into it after the initial buzz is another story.
 
People keep saying the software isn't there, that they should have waited, etc. But what developer is going to spend a bunch of money and resources devloping AAA software for a super tiny market? It's a guaranteed loss.
 
Aside from being half the price.

And still console priced. People will look at it like a peripheral and wonder why it costs the same as the console

People keep saying the software isn't there, that they should have waited, etc. But what developer is going to spend a bunch of money and resources devloping AAA software for a super tiny market? It's a guaranteed loss.

It's the same chicken and egg problem that the Wii faced, but at least Nintendo launched with a range of titles (Wii Sports and Twilight Princess) that used it, even if the latter was shoehorned in and not the best example. But that also highlights the value of this launching with a platform holder, because they can lead the way with their own software. Valve really dropped the ball not releasing a key piece of software with the Vive. Occulus should have secured some huge game for their launch as well, even if it cost them upfront
 
At this point all of the early adopters have the gen 1 headsets so now its time for the lower priced, mainstream options to push VR forward. We'll then see a price drop for the gen 1 PC HMDs, followed by the introduction of gen 2 HMDs that should be cheaper and better out the gate.

And yes I own a Vive and yes its amazing.
 
People keep saying the software isn't there, that they should have waited, etc. But what developer is going to spend a bunch of money and resources devloping AAA software for a super tiny market? It's a guaranteed loss.


Which is why it was up to Valve and Oculus to ensure their product had a good software library to support it. Just like console makers have done since forever.
 
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