HTC considering Vive VR business sell-off, says report

[HEXUS]

Or it might even sell-off of the whole of the company, say Bloomberg's sources.

Read more.

[spacein_vader]

It's almost as if VR is not the new HDTV and is more the new 3D TV.

[3dcandy]

The amount of VR kit for sale in my local CEX tells me it ain't ready for primetime yet

[Dmint]

disclaimer ( i have a HTC Vive )

i dont think VR is ready for mainstream just yet, which i mean half of the people will have a VR setup who own a pc or console.its purely down to the hardware requirements to run it plus it makes some people motion sick ( that does wear off the more you use it though ). and software companies are making a decent profit from the VR games and software market to such an extent that they are developing more.so the chicken and the egg problem is past. its a case of getting the entry price for the full setup to a point where people don't say " HOW MUCH !! " when you tell them the price,get that right then it will go mainstream.

[DaMoot]

disclaimer ( i have a HTC Vive )

i dont think VR is ready for mainstream just yet, which i mean half of the people will have a VR setup who own a pc or console.its purely down to the hardware requirements to run it plus it makes some people motion sick ( that does wear off the more you use it though ). and software companies are making a decent profit from the VR games and software market to such an extent that they are developing more.so the chicken and the egg problem is past. its a case of getting the entry price for the full setup to a point where people don't say " HOW MUCH !! " when you tell them the price,get that right then it will go mainstream.

The requirements these days are pretty lax. You need a 970 or better for current VR equipment, which pretty much means you have to have a mid-range gaming PC. Not a big deal at this point for anyone who can afford the outlay for VR equipment.

Obviously consoles can't meet these requirements and will lag far behind in the VR experience. Though from what I've read PSVR has been successful.

Motion sickness is being found not to be related as much to refresh rate as once thought, but to resolution and FOV. There was a 4k Chinese headset that made waves a few months ago that only supported 30 or 60fps and people weren't getting sick with it, yet Vive and Oculus run at 90+ and people do get sick.

I have a blast with my OSVR (upgraded to 2.0) using a pair of PSMove controllers (with that little joystick accessory they come with too for the gun controller) and 3 PSMove cameras for tracking. Pretty easy to set up these days, too!

IMO $300 should be the price point for the headset and tracking set, and maybe $50 per controller.

[Biscuit]

For those who can afford it, the novelty eventually wears off. I see this as a bit like the Wii. Everyone is like woooooeeeewwwww this is the future of gaming, then... It's not

[Ttaskmaster]

For those who can afford it, the novelty eventually wears off.

Being friends with several of those who can afford it, I disagree.
Specifically, those who can afford a DK2, then a Vive, then an Occulus, then the Vive add-on headstrappy thing, before switching between them all (which having each connected to its own PC, of course, because they can afford that as well) to see which has the best quality...

Eventually each individual picks one and sticks with it, mainly for playing things like Elite, before going on to tell me how I so need to get one... But they do stick with it and none would ever go back to playing those games on a normal monitor.

[shaithis]

Expensive items normally get tagged with the novelty factor, normally by people who can't/won't justify the cost. Its a defence mechanism. Personally, I wish I had more time to use my Vive!

I'm not surprised by this really, HTC have backed themselves into a corner as a company that puts out expensive products, yet don't spend the same on marketing as the likes of Apple and Samsung....sooner or later this was going to catch up with them.

[Ttaskmaster]

Expensive items normally get tagged with the novelty factor, normally by people who can't/won't justify the cost.

So does that mean you will be purchasing the non-novelty, fully functional motion-simulator GameCab cockpit for Elite Citizen and Star Dangerous, then?

I still think the big problem is in how little content is particularly suited to VR headsets, with part of that being the control mechanics - Teleporting everywhere isn't as good as normal WASD-based movement in FPSes, but the latter is still too nauseating and so there's little adoption from the big AAA titles to make people want to buy VR.

[shaithis]

So does that mean you will be purchasing the non-novelty, fully functional motion-simulator GameCab cockpit for Elite Citizen and Star Dangerous, then?

I still think the big problem is in how little content is particularly suited to VR headsets, with part of that being the control mechanics - Teleporting everywhere isn't as good as normal WASD-based movement in FPSes, but the latter is still too nauseating and so there's little adoption from the big AAA titles to make people want to buy VR.

As which most things, that's a matter of opinion. I personally find the teleport function most use to be brilliant. Of course an omnimill would be more accurate/realistic but I don't want to get super-fit to play a game!

[Ttaskmaster]

As which most things, that's a matter of opinion. I personally find the teleport function most use to be brilliant.

As intended, I agree it works great... but it's a bit immersion-breaking, and beaming to different static points is not a patch on actually 'walking' around a full-3D environment like in 2D games.

[Biscuit]

Expensive items normally get tagged with the novelty factor, normally by people who can't/won't justify the cost. Its a defence mechanism. Personally, I wish I had more time to use my Vive!

I'm not surprised by this really, HTC have backed themselves into a corner as a company that puts out expensive products, yet don't spend the same on marketing as the likes of Apple and Samsung....sooner or later this was going to catch up with them.

And people who have bought it will always belittle those who's opinions and expectations drove them to make a different decision. Its a defence mechanism.

[Ttaskmaster]

And people who have bought it will always belittle those who's opinions and expectations drove them to make a different decision. Its a defence mechanism.

And people who cannot afford it, but have tried it in the shop, might occasionally get to borrow one off a mate and still dream of having one will try to make peace between both sides, while offering contrary opinions to each because someone has to be Lucifer's Advocate and they've nothing better to do on a Friday.
It's a Ministry of Defence mechanism.

[Xlucine]

The requirements these days are pretty lax. You need a 970 or better for current VR equipment, which pretty much means you have to have a mid-range gaming PC. Not a big deal at this point for anyone who can afford the outlay for VR equipment.

Obviously consoles can't meet these requirements and will lag far behind in the VR experience. Though from what I've read PSVR has been successful.

Motion sickness is being found not to be related as much to refresh rate as once thought, but to resolution and FOV. There was a 4k Chinese headset that made waves a few months ago that only supported 30 or 60fps and people weren't getting sick with it, yet Vive and Oculus run at 90+ and people do get sick.

I have a blast with my OSVR (upgraded to 2.0) using a pair of PSMove controllers (with that little joystick accessory they come with too for the gun controller) and 3 PSMove cameras for tracking. Pretty easy to set up these days, too!

IMO $300 should be the price point for the headset and tracking set, and maybe $50 per controller.

The latest consoles are about equal to a 580, so should manage VR ok.