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Is this the Poor Attitude from Developers/Publishers which hold VR back?

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
CDPR spill some inner thoughts on VR and it's quite disappointing. It's a poor attitude many developers and publishers most likely share.  Whilst it's understandable it's all about the mainstream $$$, at the same time where are the inner gamers from these people. Have they lost that spark? VR enthusiasts all know VR is more immersive than 2D gaming so why aren't these developers taking a leaf out of Valve/Oculus' book and trying to push the medium further? I mean look at the developers of Hellblade who dedicated a team to make the VR version. They were a passionate crew who had a vision for their game and made it happen. Look at how successful Resident Evil 7 was/is with the 2D/VR combo. The 2D game subsidised the VR offering so the problem of mainstream and lost $$$ wasn't an issue at all. I am saddened when I hear such things.

I will mention again my chat with developers at Gamescom this year with one game looking like a perfect candidate for VR and asking them about it. Their response was it made them all sick so they decided not to pursue it further.  So it looks like the chicken & egg scenario here. Developing for VR isn't ever going to progress at any reasonable pace when the numbers of users is so small.  Consumers aren't going to adopt VR if the software isn't there. Valve is somewhat different to most as they have a vested interest in the medium given their hardware production, the same with Oculus. Everyone else it seems sits on the fence and plays the waiting game ( the lovely Bethesda excluded). 

My takeaway from this is and bear in mind the huge PROFITS these companies make.

"WE LOVE VR BUT ONLY WHEN OTHERS TAKE THE FINANCIAL HIT."

https://twinfinite.net/2019/11/cyberpunk-2077-developer-comments-on-next-gen-consoles-multiplayer-an...

Asked about whether they’re worried that Half-Life Alyx could pull some gamers away from Cyberpunk 2077 and CD Projekt could release some of its games on virtual reality platforms, we hear that VR remains a “nichy niche” market. Alyx is probably a big effort from Valve to expand that niche, which is defined as “very, very, very, and I could add a few verys here, small.”

From a market perspective CD Projekt isn’t worried because it’s a very different niche. While Valve is trying to push the market, CD Projekt is targeting the mass market as it is now, which is major consoles and PC without the need of VR gear.   

In their conversations with other publishers, CD Projekt is unaware of hard pushes for VR, and they have not heard of anybody building an actual solid business on that niche.

That being said, this “can very well change” in the future, but it’s definitely not going to be the case in the first half of next year, and probably not even further in 2020. 
At some point VR might become mass-market entertainment that will validate the business around it, but that’s not the case for CD Projekt right now.

Speaking further of possibly releasing past games on VR, the executives mentioned that to prepare a game for VR one should design for VR. They’d “rather work on new great things than on older stuff.” That’s not always true as we can see with The Witcher 3 on Switch, but that’s the general attitude.
Incidentally, the release of  The Witcher 3 on Switch is generating additional revenue, but it isn’t comparable to the release of a new game. Sales are in-line with expectations.

Polish studio CD Projekt has just published its third-quarter earnings report for 2019, and has cited the release of Witcher 3 on Switch as one of the key reasons for a 38% revenue jump year-on-year.

In the last quarter, CD Projekt Capital Group posted 92.9 million PLN in sales revenues, scoring a net profit of 14.9 million PLN (£2,977,832.05).



System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.
32 REPLIES 32

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
When talking about Microsoft and VR - article published today:

VR is a 'very high' priority for the Microsoft Flight Simulator team

(Image credit: Microsoft)

I've noticed plenty of people saying that they'll finally jump on the VR bandwagon because of Half-Life: Alyx, but there's another game that makes strapping a big ol' headset to your face an incredibly seductive prospective: Microsoft Flight Simulator

Last month, head of Microsoft Flight Simulator Jörg Neumann said that VR hadn't originally been part of the plan, but the reaction to the E3 reveal and the assumption that it would support VR straight away made Asobo Studio and Microsoft reconsider things. In a new interview with Der Standard (cheers, AVSIM), Neumann has now confirmed that it's a "very high" priority for the team. 

"Asobo and I have years of experience with VR," Neumann told Der Standard. "We know what a lazy and a good implementation look like. We want to bring a good solution, for example by cutting off the cockpit from the rest of the world. Then you can move freely in it, and the world in the background does not start to shimmer. We have started with VR, but we want to do it right."

Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/vr-is-a-very-high-priority-for-the-microsoft-flight-simulator-team/#article-comments


Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Anonymous
Not applicable
Well those comments from Spencer means we'll have to wait longer for mainstream gamers to collectively adopt VR.

However they may still decide to implement a VR headset for the NextBox at a later date. Consoles these days in terms of hardware are pretty close to PCs. We won't see it happening for a while though because they're not going to make this happen without decent exclusive launch titles.

We won't see big name publishers bringing big name mainstream franchises to VR until they have three platforms and over 15-20 million headsets out there to sell them to unless they're funded by one of the headset manufacturers the way that Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR and Resident Evil 7 have been.

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Microsoft does not need to make its own Xbox VR headset merely make the console compatible with VR. Not sure how much investment that would require. If it took on one of the current PC ecosystems  (cough Oculus) or even its own WMR platform which people feel they have abandoned aside from Hololens then half the work is done surely.

Spencer seems to think VR is too solitary an experience though. So really he's gunning for more lucrative Multi-player gaming. 

FFS. I hate how short-sighted the gaming industry has become.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

Wildt
Consultant


I'm not so sure that Valve's Half Life Alyx announcement is going to increase sales of the Valve Index dramatically.


Told you so 😉
PCVR: CV1 || 4 sensors || TPcast wireless adapter || MamutVR Gun stock V3
PSVR: PS4 Pro || Move Controllers || Aim controller
WMR: HP Reverb

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Meh well sales have increased so I'll eat my words. But in the grand scheme what sort of numbers are we looking at here?

SONY is probably looking at 5 million+ PSVRs sold after this Holiday season (Current RRP with Camera £179).
Valve Index numbers?

Sadly SONY is still selling the Move controllers for around £75 for a pair rather than making a proper bundle. Now would be a good time to Bundle the complete package for £250. Headset, camera, two move controllers and 2 Games. People are still asking does the PSVR come with controllers and does it need a PS4.

When you start adding the complete bundle (PSVR+ PS4+Controllers) it's heading to over £500 territory. This then makes the Quest attractive aside from not playing any PS4 games!

It's all fooked-up right now imo. Companies not willing to push-the-boat-out further for mass adoption.  It's all small drops in a very large ocean where consumer confidence and knowledge is unsurprisingly low. I think consumer interest could be there right now, but it's not helped by a massively fragmented commercial floor-space.

Just imagine Oculus would be killing it this holiday with Oculus Quest at £199. That's cheaper than a PSVR and no need for a CPU or PS4. I suppose this time next year will be quite interesting.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

Protocol7
Heroic Explorer
At the end of the article the gaming editors at wccftech give their opinions about VR. They are very negative.

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
I'm generalising here a bit but...I believe it's because they cannot afford the VR headsets and PCs to run them. A lot of these websites are all in the same boat. Some that I spoke to who are listed on Metacritic.com don't even own a VR headset. They simply lack the resources to focus on VR - just do a search "VR" on their website and see how much coverage they have given it. I am pretty sure had they all been given a Rift or Quest from Oculus and had a capable PC they would sing a different tune.  This is gaming enthusiast writers (I refuse to use the word "journalist" because they certainly aren't that) ignorance 101. I feel sick in VR therefore it must suck mentality after trying it once or twice for 10 minutes.  I mean, you have to be pretty ignorant and moronic to publicly state you're not spending $1000 on a VR headset for just 1 game. I think a person can be justified in not gelling with VR but at the same time understand its merits for those who do like it. Their poll suggest  ~60% of people polled are interested. Speaks volumes how out of touch their attitudes are with their readers.

Fook-off!

 😛 


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

Maxxgold
Rising Star

Wildt said:



I'm not so sure that Valve's Half Life Alyx announcement is going to increase sales of the Valve Index dramatically.


Told you so 😉


That’s funny because now Steam has sold out of all their stock of the Valve Index, and they are still taking orders. Might want to rethink those statements. 

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
Until you can provide some numbers then don't be so sure it's going to catch-up any time soon with PSVR's 4-5 million. Sales have increased but I am going to focus on the key word "dramatically". Running out of stock might be because the inventory was low to begin with. When Valve announces one gazillion new sales since the announcement then I will humbly eat my words even more.  😛

In the UK here I can still order an Index from Steam and have it delivered in 4 days. It was only the NA store that sold out iirc.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary


Until you can provide some numbers then don't be so sure it's going to catch-up any time soon with PSVR's 4-5 million. Sales have increased but I am going to focus on the key word "dramatically". 
....

Understand your point - though I dont think anyone was alluding to INDEX racing towards PSVR numbers...yet!

To be frank, none of the VR manufacturers have revealed numbers, and some have overtly tried to confuse any attempt (even obscuring sales to game devs). The only reason we have PSVR and GearVR numbers is because of investor disclosure.

We are getting very close to seriously needing authorized sales numbers from the pack in order to gain any authority / credibility. Avoiding this just adds weight to the questions on the validity of claims ("...selling faster than we can make...!" etc.,). Especially as we are aware that OVR has set a 1m sales by end of year target on Quest.

Note - the Steam survey data is not real data, especially considering the number of headsets in circulation not using Steam, and the validity of the survey gathering.
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959