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[Aguero9320]

I was really excited about VR until I tried it and realised it’s decades away from being any good.

Still keeping an eye on it, but the whole thing felt completely unnatural as opposed to being more immersive.

I do think they should partner with someone though, just to make it available, but definitely not make exclusive Xbox hardware.

 

[Foilz]

The biggest mistake was not incorporating the quest 2 into the Xbox. Just like we use our PC to play and stream to the quest 2 Xbox should have opened it up to the same thing. The xbox series X is strong enough for all be games.

 

[Jaybe]

Is the any technical reason why Valve’s Index wouldn’t work? MS should definitely partner with a third party. MS put there games in steam and hopefully HL Alyx could be put on Xbox. The people will either buy the hardware and the games or they won’t but at least the option is there for them.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

I know XsX(5Gbit/s) usb speeds are half of (10Gbit/s) PS5 USB speeds. PS5’s USB-C port isnt special, it’s also 10Gbit/s. Even though I think that might be a lie. Otherwise why offer a USB-C port that is somehow important for the headset. But I guess 10Gbit/s is enough.

TBH I don't think it's a bandwidth so much as a latency one why Sony are going wired; you will always have lower latency over a wired connection compared to a wireless one. The video signal is always going to be encoded when transmitted over the wire or wirelessly to the device, and with PSVR2's resolutions and refresh rates they'd need increased bandwidth for sure, so 10 Gbit/s Type-C is probably goo enough for Sony's. That should make it a Gen 4 2x2 link.

Xbox Series X deff would need a ugly PSVR1 breakout box. And they don’t have a single developer making VR software today.

edit: also we dont know if VR2 wouldnt have a wireless adapter for 50-100$. I dont see why it would need to be wireless unless theres basically a PS4 in the headset. It being wireless by default only makes sense if you dont need a PS5 to use it.

Actually, I think iD and Bethesda still have VR options for some of their games, the PC versions anyway. But no telling where that support will be at within a year from now.

And I guess if Sony's using good encoding compression they could get away with a wireless adapter option; it wouldn't be preferable compared to wired but if games are already upscaling from lower resolutions, and that improves (plus IIRC there's supposedly some customizations with features in the GPU to help with this, mainly in terms of foveated rendering), wireless adapter could be doable.

Asking, no.

"there's no excuse" is not asking, it's demanding.

Console manufacturers have their own focuses, and aren't obligated to do anything they're not interested in doing.

People were asking in 2017, and in 2018. In fact Phil himself at one point said they were considering it, so they set that expectation up for the fanbase. Since then they've gone around it and have now actively shut down any public acknowledgement anyway for providing any VR solutions for Xbox platforms, either 1P or 3P.

The latter in particular is what stings; if they don't want to build a 1P headset and have teams focus on VR internally that is perfectly fine. But not even providing compatibility for whitelisted 3P headsets on console is just...why not provide that? Give the players more choices, more options. Why be disinterested in providing more options for people in the ecosystem?

This is what Phil had to say in 2017 and it still holds true today.

Xbox Head Phil Spencer Clarifies Stance on VR for Xbox One X in Refreshingly Candid Interview – Road to VR

Microsoft’s E3 2017 presentation concentrated on the new Xbox One X console, but made no mention of VR. After dodging questions for the first few days following the presentation, Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, gave his thoughts on the games industry, the Xbox One X reveal, and Microsoft’s position...

www.roadtovr.com

I agree that once better wireless solutions are out is when it can really take off.

But Microsoft could be working towards those solutions in a consumer product right now. Why wait for someone else to bring it about? In fact, I'm almost 100% sure they have solutions to enable better wireless VR/AR/mixed reality today, given their WMR solutions in fields of military, medical professions, businesses etc.

Maybe they are working on these internally to get them to a point of being reasonable for a mass-market consumer electronics VR or such product, that could always be the case. But some of their more recent statements on VR or similar technology on Xbox seem to suggest they have no plans in the foreseeable future for that stuff. That's the part which is a bit disheartening. Combined with providing no solution via whitelisted 3P headsets, it feels like an unnecessary lock-out for certain players.

Is the any technical reason why Valve’s Index wouldn’t work? MS should definitely partner with a third party. MS put there games in steam and hopefully HL Alyx could be put on Xbox. The people will either buy the hardware and the games or they won’t but at least the option is there for them.

Nothing stands out spec-wise about Index that would make Series X incompatible with it. Series S seems mostly in line, too, though RAM capacity might be a limiting factor there.

I mean it's USB specification is 2.0 and that tops out at 480 Mbps. The Series systems are using 3.0 if not 4.0 and there's no reason they would run those at 2.0 speeds or even lower.

 

[Yoboman]

You're assuming any of the VR manufacturers have actually requested Xbox support

I doubt MS would oppose it if Valve approached them with Half Life Alyx and their VR peripheral. Assuming there's not a huge amount of work for firmware to support it

I doubt anyones really gone out of their way to do this thougb

 

[Slayer-33]

"It may be an awesome service, but just going by the numbers what makes something like GamePass any less "niche" than VR gaming?"

Lmao, what an incredibly silly take.

Lets compare a service being fully utilized providing a TON of value to an emerging tech that they don't want to jump into just yet in order to avoid their previous pitfalls when it comes to gimmicky hardware endeavors.

 

[Zannegan]

There are so many players in the space doing so much product research, I'm sure MS is looking into producing their own lightweight mid-range headset at some point. They'll probably go through through a partnership at first, like Valve with Vive, then an acquisition.

They're in no rush to jump in just now. If VR really starts taking off though, you can bet we'll hear an announcement in 6 months, and they'll have something on shelves within 12 after that. I doubt they'll just let you use any Windows headset, but it's possible if they go high-end.

VR is going to need its PUBG social media moment before they'll make their move to try and Fortnite it though.

 

[Isa]

I disagree. Outside of maybe AR as a building tool and even advanced kids toys, that's neat. But my girl and I just don't do VR. I'm happy for those that want it but it just means fewer titles we'd get to play and our interests are already waning with much of the current output from many publishers as it is. We've been mainly playing Switch and Series X this past year, and I think that like others have mentioned MS would do well to focus on establishing bigger and better first party titles than open up a new front. All these things drain resources and drove us away from the Wii and Kinect era 360. Not saying I want to take anything away from those who love VR however.

 

[DrAspirino]

Phil never seems very interested in VR when he talks about it in the past.
If i had to guess i'd say the best we will get is Microsoft licensing one or more of the PC headsets. In fact i wouldnt be surprised if they are waiting it out to see which one becomes the most mainstream, then license it.

I still dont think VR will be mainstream, proper mainstream as in 50mil+ sales, until VR headsets look like this -

Maybe when we get to this point, Microsoft will jump in.

Microsoft knows that the AR/VR future is still undecided. Going into VR now is not a business, its an investment that wont necessarily pay off.

lets face it, it needs to be wireless. probably waiting for that technology.

And there's your answer, folks: it's not "streamlined" or even "mainstream usable" yet to actually dive in. They dipped their toes with Minecraft for HoloLens and probably did some market research that showed that devices like such wouldn't be popular at all.

In fact, I think both Microsoft and Apple are waiting to see who goes first into "mainstream AR" so they can release a better product. Hence all the rumours about the next Apple AR glasses.

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they add a compatibility layer for Apple AR glasses if they're successful enough, just like Apple has a compatibility layer for Xbox controllers over bluetooth on their AppleTV and iOS devices.

 

[JLB]

Thanks.
But no thanks.

 

[Kerotan]

There was more kinects sold than psvr….would you consider psvr a failure??

Didn't MS spend like a billion advertising the thing?

 

[jaysius]

This new PSVR will cost as much or more as a PS5 and still will be a few generations behind PC VR whenever it finally launches.

MS is waiting for VR to plateau a little and be both GOOD and able to be REASONABLY priced.

Sony is more amenable to the idea of making gimmicks and dropping them when they’re a dead end. MS learned the hard way from Kinect how expensive an abortion of technology can be for your bottom line and reputation. PSVR 1 was awful, that stupid wonderbook was awful, that camera for PS3 was awful, so was all the Move junk, Vita was good but was abandoned too soon by Sony. The last off-the-beaten-path that Sony really gave half a fuck about was the PSP.

Both parties have done stupid gimmicks, just one doesn’t want to take a huge risk on a half-step.

GREAT console VR is still generations away.

 

[Leyasu]

Who is going to read all that? Lol

Anyway, it’s expensive and would require Microsoft to either have studios working on games or studios making a separate vr version.

Still, I would like to have 3rd party vr compatibility on my series x if the games were there

 

[Iced Arcade]

price and software ia key.


I don't think consoles are were it's at for VR but could see a partnership with another company.

 

[kyliethicc]

OP uses fake pics of PSVR2 & Sense controllers. smh

 

[Gameplaylover]

I could think of a deal with Quest 3, but only if VR keeps growing.

 

[Leyasu]

The WMR headsets are their own making.

As far as this topic goes though, I'll just say it. This is largely a community that will only get excited about VR (or anything else) when Phil Spencer tells them they are allowed to get excited.

Until then the blinkers will be on and nothing is likely to change. You can probably already see it in this thread (and pretty much any other recent thread on the topic) but you're fighting a steep uphill battle with this one.



Yawn.

They are already in the market. They are just arbitrarily telling Xbox users they are not allowed to participate. Instead of you telling them it's nonsense and demanding better you're all like "yes Microsoft, please take care of your cash flow first, innovation is too hard and expensive, don't worry about me".

Oh look, straight into the console warring.

Quick Joe, go and write some tweets about this. You might even get one of the Sony fanboys to link one of your nonsense tweets on here and make it seem like you are important.


I have an Xbox, and at the moment don’t feel like I am missing too much. If it changes in the future, then I will go where vr is if it becomes unmissable. I am sure plenty of Xbox fanboys will too.

 

[TheGodfather07]

They should do but for some strange reason, xbox fans seems to be totally against it. Why would you want less options? It's not like money is an issue for Microsoft. You want to be there early, not late.

 

[Ic3man]

I'm glad they aren't focusing on VR, not interested at all.

 

[FritzJ92]

Funny how quickly people go from "Microsoft are one of the richest companies in the world, look at the warchest" to talking about the need to be financially conservative whenever the subject of VR comes up.

All you should care about from this company in particular is getting the best experiences possible, don't worry, they can afford it.

You don’t become that big company with all that money by recklessly investing in stuff that isn’t profitable. You aren’t making any sense from a business perspective.
Apple could lead VR too and they aren’t even really pushing it either.

 

[FritzJ92]

They should do but for some strange reason, xbox fans seems to be totally against it. Why would you want less options? It's not like money is an issue for Microsoft. You want to be there early, not late.

Being early doesn’t mean a thing if you enter the market at prepared with well engineered products.
Apple, Tesla, PlayStation, Xbox all entered the market after a dominate organization had already existed and was able to make an impact and create their own userbase.
Early/=Win or else Windows VR would be the top VR software

 

[yurinka]

I think MS moved their focus away from Xbox -or any other MS propietary hardware- to focus on Gamepass, and not only for Xbox but also for mobile and specially Windows. So I think their focus will be on getting appealing 1st and 3rd party games for Gamepass.

What they could do would be to include PC VR games on PC Gamepass and their game store to be played on 3rd party PC VR hardware. If PSVR2 and Quest 3 become super popular (I think this generation the VR market will grow but won't be something mainstream, will continue being a niche) then they could get a deal with some 3rd party manufacturer to support in Series X some 3rd party headset that would run ports of PC VR games.

Apple could lead VR too and they aren’t even really pushing it either.

In addition to PSVR2, according to credible rumors this year we'll also see the release of Quest 3 and the Apple VR/AR headset. Apple is working on it.

 

[Schmick]

Why do they need an excuse? VR support is not mandatory. Nor it should be.

It's like saying "There's no excuse for Sony not to have a flight simulator on PlayStation"

Not all console manufacturers need to do everything. Pick the ones that do what you want.

Ironically FS is one example of a game that would blow peoples mind in VR on a console.

 

[Beer Baelly]

@ that poll

 

[Schmick]

VR is discriminatory. I can't play VR games since I get motion sickness too easily. Thus, pursuing VR is just disguised discrimination against gamers susceptible to motion sickness. I applaud Microsoft for not excluding gamers. I'm sorry that's just the way it is.

Let's cancel the XSS too for those who can't afford the XSX because we don't want them to feel discriminated.


What a weird take!

 

[Calverz]

Didn't MS spend like a billion advertising the thing?

Who knows. But they sold >35 million of them.

 

[ParaSeoul]

Why would Microsoft need VR? They already have the successor VRR.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I feel MS will jump in the VR space soon, but might not see the same success because they missed the boat earlier ... twice.

Apple is joining. Sony PSVR 2 is looking like it'll be a big success. Quest 2 has already been very successful. Metaverses potential is huge. MS will have to jump in soon.

 

[GHG]

You don’t become that big company with all that money by recklessly investing in stuff that isn’t profitable. You aren’t making any sense from a business perspective.
Apple could lead VR too and they aren’t even really pushing it either.

Apple are working on a VR headset/wearable. We are likely to find out the details this year.

It’s telling that you never once mentioned Nintendo or it’s fanboys in your post

Having looked at the thread title and read the OP why should I? To make you feel more comfortable?

We went through this all of last gen when people suddenly decided they didn't need/want a breadth of quality exclusive games anymore simply due to the fact that they weren't forthcoming. It's been happening again, but this time with VR.

All people need to do is ask for it, they already have in-house solutions that are ready made, both on the hardware and the software side.

 

[Chukhopops]

I was one of the early adopters of VR with a Rift and Rift S. I was on the hype train but now I’m not interested in VR anymore.

It’s good Sony is supporting it but Id prefer MS not to waste time and money on it.

 

[Godot25]

Fuck no. At least in terms of 1st party.
PSVR had pathetic 4% attach rate and you want Microsoft to get in? Why? Its literally a peanuts.

I want from Microsoft to focus on core gaming. Great first-party games. I don't want to split their focus so they can make VR games.

But I would have no objection if they would support external headsets without first party support

 

[DaGwaphics]

@ thicc_girls_are_teh_best @ZehDon Completely agree that MS should invest in getting 3rd party support for VR headsets. WMR should be in the bag without question, but supporting the better selling Quest line should be a priority. As far as first party studios go, they could always just go with VR modes on their traditional games (like Skyrim and Doom have already done) and allow 3rd parties to fill this void.

Speaking of WMR, MS should work with vendors on a wireless option there. Seems like you wouldn't even need as much hardware as the Quest 2 if you were only trying to emulate the airlink functionality (the device didn't support local play but streamed wireless from another device). But the real holy grail would be Quest, the pricing is phenomenal and their are a ton of units already out there. I don't know how hard it would be to get any of this working on Xbox, the systems do have a limited amount of ram for the OS available, so, it might be a bit harder than the PC space. But I think the efforts would be well worth it, especially when your competition is supporting VR.

 

[hlm666]

VR would be a perfect match for MS flight simulator 2021.

Not sure if joking or not, on the off chance this isn't a troll post.

 

[Goalus]

It's like saying "There's no excuse for Sony not to have a flight simulator on PlayStation"

They do have a flight simulator (looks a bit outdated though):

 

[dcmk7]

VR would be a perfect match for MS flight simulator 2021.

 

[nightmare-slain]

VR would be a perfect match for MS flight simulator 2021.

it does support VR on PC. xbox bros be missing out

 

[Godot25]

I feel MS will jump in the VR space soon, but might not see the same success because they missed the boat earlier ... twice.

Apple is joining. Sony PSVR 2 is looking like it'll be a big success. Quest 2 has already been very successful. Metaverses potential is huge. MS will have to jump in soon.

PSVR 2 is looking like big success based on... What?

You don't know price. You could see teaser for one game and you don't know price for that game.And you don't know if it will be any good. I mean PSVR had excellent game in form of Astro Bot and it did not made a difference

And you are coming out of PSVR with pathetic 4% attach rate

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

They should do but for some strange reason, xbox fans seems to be totally against it. Why would you want less options? It's not like money is an issue for Microsoft. You want to be there early, not late.

Allowing 3rd party VR support would open the door for people to clamor for 1st party VR games or experiences, which would divert resources away from traditional games. As somebody who still thinks VR is at least 10 years away (likely a lot longer) from being something super mainstream with tons of quality AAA games, Xbox allowing VR games, or their own VR headset, would very likely lead to less options for me.

 

[nightmare-slain]

PSVR 2 is looking like big success based on... What?

You don't know price. You could see teaser for one game and you don't know price for that game.

And you are coming out of PSVR with pathetic 4% attach rate

based on it's Sony (i assume). incase you hadn't noticed the forum is heavily biased towards Sony and apparently they can do no wrong. so based on that...PSVR2 will be huge!!!

let's also forget that hardly anyone can find and buy a PS5 to use a PSVR2 lol so whenever PSVR2 is available it's gonna just as hard to find. i think it will do quite well but nothing impressive. Facebook + Apple will be the big players in the VR market.

 

[Kacho]

I’m good. I’m glad they’re focusing on real games instead.

If I wanted to play a bunch of watered down “experiences” in VR I’d just grab a Quest 2, which is clearly the future for VR gaming.

 

[nightmare-slain]

I’m good. I’m glad they’re focusing on real games instead.

If I wanted to play a bunch of watered down “experiences” in VR I’d just grab a Quest 2, which is clearly the future for VR gaming.

VR games are real games too lmfao. yeah a lot of it shit but cmon... if you don't like VR (have you actually tried it?) then fine ignore it. it definitely has a lot of potential and can only make video games more fun. there is still a way to go but let's say if MS did get in then it would definitely help speed up things. they have more money to spend than Facebook who are currently offering the best VR experience. they have more than Valve and Sony too and by a longshot. If MS got into VR they could potentially become the 2nd biggest VR player assuming Apple's new headset does well (it probably will).

 

[Batiman]

Nah fuck vr

 

[Batiman]

They should do but for some strange reason, xbox fans seems to be totally against it. Why would you want less options? It's not like money is an issue for Microsoft. You want to be there early, not late.

Look at the studio power Sony puts into VR. I know it’s not much but that could go into traditional games that I enjoy. That’s why me personally don’t want VR.

 

[Andodalf]

How on earth can you look at psvr one and say that Ms “has” to do that? It’s only maybe viable.

 

[azertydu91]

Agree and it's sad as hell.

One particularly guy was a fan of Kinect, applauding it's innovation as well as being another way to immerse oneself into the game, but is dead set against this particular idea.

Post in thread 'Will there be a $399 Xbone available at launch? (Kinect-less/subsidy/price cut,etc)' https://www.neogaf.com/threads/will...ss-subsidy-price-cut-etc.605876/post-66678361

That level of fan loyalty is something else.

To see if that's really true we just need to check, I think it was the Xbox one X when they announced Fallout 4 VR.Because some people do want it on Xbox and other hate it but if some switched sides between the two story we then can really see whom are following Phil blindly and also those who will just always disagree.

 

[Kacho]

VR games are real games too lmfao. yeah a lot of it shit but cmon... if you don't like VR (have you actually tried it?) then fine ignore it. it definitely has a lot of potential and can only make video games more fun. there is still a way to go but let's say if MS did get in then it would definitely help speed up things. they have more money to spend than Facebook who are currently offering the best VR experience. they have more than Valve and Sony too and by a longshot. If MS got into VR they could potentially become the 2nd biggest VR player assuming Apple's new headset does well (it probably will).

Obviously real games = traditional games.

VR is still a side thing for console makers. Sony is the biggest supporter and they didn’t light the world on fire with their VR games. Most were shallow and forgettable experiences because traditional games are what matter. Unless you’re all in like Facebook it’s a waste of time and money.

 

[ZywyPL]

VR won't take off until it's 99$ just like Kinect/PS Move. The numbers speak for themselves, the attach rate of the hardware alone is already pathetic, and from there you have to take the attach rate for the games themselves, which is where the actual profit is being made.

Simply put VR is a waste of everyone's time and money. Especially given MS' strategy to be available on everything that has a flat screen with GP/xCloud, that's their endgame, and there's no room for VR in it, once they establish their main goal they can expand the services with VR, but not earlier.

 

[Punished Miku]

For me, Microsoft studios need to support the AUD$750.00 console I've already purchased and prove that they can deliver industry leading titles, not try and sell me another AUD$750.00 piece of kit on more promises. Sony can afford to support their VR because their deep stable of talent has proven it can do it. Xbox doesn't have that kind of luxury yet.

With that said, I think Microsoft needs to get third party headset support. Ideally, Quest 2 - most because I already own one, but also because its affordable and extremely popular. If they could figure out the business side of things, it feels like an easy win for both. Microsoft can put Xbox's foot in the VR space through a low risk partnership, and Oculus gets to sell more headsets and software.

Exactly. They're going for a cheaper console with the S, cheaper games with Gamepass. They don't need to muddle the messaging. If they worked out some insane deal to put Quest games on there then thats fine. But I dont know if we need yet another headset out when there are already many options.

 

[Dane]

Because VR is great and Kinect was shit.

Kinect had better games than PS Move, and that was a tested and proven idea with the Wii, I remember back when both launched and the launch catalogue managed to be worse than Kinect's, I think only Sports Champions was the worth one and pretty much some traditional games that enabled support for it like Killzone 3.

I just don't see what's wrong with asking for more options in the ecosystem. It's not like VR tech is in a state where the most fundamental aspects of the tech are 100% proprietary, esoteric solutions. A lot of the technology is rather well-known, as are techniques for software implementations catered to programmers and other developers. There are unified APIs supporting a range of various devices, even Microsoft are pushing for centralized API and featureset standard support with their Mesh.

Yes I'm a proponent for VR and feel it and AR will be the driving point for game innovation especially by the time of 10th gen (which could be the last traditional console generation), but I'm also measured about where it's at right now. Of course it could use improvements, and it isn't fully mainstream yet. But the platform holders are critical in helping to make it more mainstream and right now only one of them is providing any genuine support for the technology in the consumer electronics space.

Again, imagine if Sony and even Sega didn't support CD-ROM for 5th-gen systems, where would gaming still have been? What if analog sticks were never introduced to controllers, or if Nintendo decided to not go with the d-pad but stick instead with paddles or a digital joystick for NES? There's a lot of potential for VR, AR etc. to innovate control inputs and make gaming even more open for more people, but we'll never get there the longer big players drag their feet about when it comes to that technology.

@Stuart360 I can see what you mean but like @Romulus said there are VR games on PC that do exactly what you mention, and I think with more adoption of it by the wider gaming market and developers you'll see more design innovations which would include games doing the stuff you're more interested in WRT VR.

VR is good, but the price point is too high, and some people think that they will be the standard of gaming, we seen this with Wii, Kinect and Move and how it ended, that's why no one thinks it will be, not to mention motion sickness issues.

Your exames were the next generaton of iterations that solved existing issues: Catridges were expanding memory over the time, but were expensive, the CD made a huge jump at the cost of pennies, analog sticks were actually the standard for the Atari, they returned in because of 3D.

 

[tommib]

I’m good. I’m glad they’re focusing on real games instead.

If I wanted to play a bunch of watered down “experiences” in VR I’d just grab a Quest 2, which is clearly the future for VR gaming.

Someone never tried RE7. Sure, there’s not a lot of games with that level of quality but as a horror fan playing that in VR was a fucking revolution.