There is no technology beyond VR. You can only add to it, and luckily what will be added will make it a very different technology in your timeline.
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If Half-Life: Alyx succeeds in sales, can we expect Half-Life 3 to be in VR as well?
- Thread starter Empyrean Cocytus
- Start date
HL:Alyx doesn't scrap the innovations of the previous Half-Life's just because they've been done once already. It builds on them. Similarly, they can make Half-Life 3 a VR game but still have it push boundaries Half-Life Alyx does not. For example, Valve have been talking about advanced AI for like a decade. Something like having AI that truly reacts to what players are doing in ways that aren't preprogrammed or designed could be a key feature.
That said, before HL3 I wouldn't mind if Valve did what they did with the HL2 episodes and make a couple smaller games in short order that explore some gameplay ideas using Alyx as a base.
Wait, do we really expect Half Life 3?
If that fairy land exists where HL3 is going to be released it's probably going to be with a VR option.
If that fairy land exists where HL3 is going to be released it's probably going to be with a VR option.
It was in full development for 4 years and uses a lot of concept and ideas for 10, and for most of the latter 4 years was the largest team at Valve. I don't think projects at Valve really get bigger than that.
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Hl alyx probably sealed that valve wont be going back to vr. Just checked and 8k concurrent players, ouch.
Id never think a hl game could be a non-hype event but putting it on vr did the trick.
Then we have that next gen consoles ignore vr. I guess there may be a psvr2, but still. Its just not really part of the discussion. Teraflops was the discussion.
Id never think a hl game could be a non-hype event but putting it on vr did the trick.
Then we have that next gen consoles ignore vr. I guess there may be a psvr2, but still. Its just not really part of the discussion. Teraflops was the discussion.
Yes they spent all that money developing their own headset to make one game which broke records for VR concurrent players and now they are done. Valve are in VR for the long haul.
That's pretty terrible, if we're being honest. Especially for a brand new game in a time when many people are isolating at home.
The average gamer isn't buying a relatively expensive gaming PC AND a 400 dollar or more headset to play just a handful of good VR games. WE DO THAT, not the average guy and for big sales numbers they need the average gamer to buy in. IMO of course.
It pushed the PCVR platform forwards a bunch in terms of mindshare. A year ago anybody saying a VR game would have 40k+ concurrent on Steam would have been called insane.
they must have expected these numbers or maybe even be surprised by them being this high. its not like the guys and girls at valve are oblivious at the cost of entry for this game. surely this was part of their calculations and projections. also this game will have long legs if more and more people get vr over time. probably gonna be an evergreen title that everyone that gets a vr set is gonna try
Doom Eternal had 100k...
You are telling me a VR game pushing half the Doom Eternal numbers is bad?
The idea that Valve expected this game to sell millions upon millions is so ridiculous.
They have literally all the numbers, they knew exactly how much the game would sell.
They have literally all the numbers, they knew exactly how much the game would sell.
Seriously? The game requires VR headset and way above average PC to run it on low, 40+ k ccu is probably above Valve's expectations if anything.
Perhaps it is just too early to tell but if Half-Life is not the one VR seller which game will it be in the future?
VR games won't sell big numbers until the hardware reduces massively in price.
Logic would say that, but Valve is a company that forsakes logic (and that is not a bad thing). Gabe and his team does what they want, regardless of whether it makes real financial sense.
If they wanted to sell more of their games they would have ported things like Portal to the Switch. But they are not really in that business anymore, most of the stuff they do is to push technology and change how existing tech works.
Most of this freedom is because it's a private company. They don't have to answer to shareholders and can do a lot of passion projects.
Not exactly true. Gabe has been talking about brain interfacing, and Elon Musk is starting to trial early versions of it.
I love that people seem to speak as if Valve didn't know exactly what it was doing when it developed this game. They're one of, if not the most knowledgeable companies on the VR market, they have a load of data that should tell them how their game will perform.
They knew this and did it anyway, because presumably - their primary goal isn't just to sell as many software units. It's to elevate the medium of which they've put significant investment into and continue to.
It's weird that people seem to so easily 'get' first party console exclusives, but don't seem to get this. By the same definition, it's a "wasted market opportunity" for Sony to only release The Last of Us 2 on PlayStation, but they do it because there are other benefits beyond just software units sold.
They knew this and did it anyway, because presumably - their primary goal isn't just to sell as many software units. It's to elevate the medium of which they've put significant investment into and continue to.
It's weird that people seem to so easily 'get' first party console exclusives, but don't seem to get this. By the same definition, it's a "wasted market opportunity" for Sony to only release The Last of Us 2 on PlayStation, but they do it because there are other benefits beyond just software units sold.
I suspect some of these posts are disingenuous.... Anyway, I won't lie, I'm mad jealous right now. Gonna stay away from major spoilers as eventually I'll get to play this game. Hope it ends up on PS5 as I won't be getting my hands on a Quest or upgrading my PC anytime soon 😔
After having played Alyx... I really hope so. Everything would be backwards and would suck in comparison. People are seriously missing out.
The takes in here lol. The game broke the current concurrent user record of 8k by about 5-6x. It's a success for Valve.
The takes in here lol. The game broke the current concurrent user record of 8k by about 5-6x. It's a success for Valve.
Yeah... So looking at PC requirements I don't see a PS4 version arriving at all, what is the cheapest VR headset that gives you the opportunity to play Alyx? And what are headsets that give the best bang for buck? Mind: I am a couch gamer first and foremost. Any advise is greatly appreciated!
This weird anti-VR sentiment is weird. I get that Mat is an analyst so he's probably more interested in sheer numbers but HL: A is a seed to grow the VR userbase. If the only thing that mattered were raw numbers then we'd never see any evolution, companies would just release the same types of games that sell well over and over.
The ending of Alyx, from what I read, heavily ties into a potential HL3
Mats tweet is also outdated.
Concurrent players yesterday were 42k at most. In comparison, a non VR game like Doom Eternal had 104k players.
Precisely, this is Gabes company and he is doing it to push the medium. It doesn't matter how much money it could make, as to him unless it pushes the tech he doesn't want to do it.
It's pretty fucking great actually, for VR. Context matters.
Not a Sony fan, but a Spiderman/Uncharted/God of War AAA VR game for PSVR on PS5 with real Sony marketing would be my guess for most likely to break VR mainstream hard.
Or Nintendo making good affordable VR in a post Switch time with Mario/Pokemon/Zelda VR. But I think this is pretty unlikely.
Call of Duty or Assassins Creed VR could also push more people, but no AAA third party publisher will make something so unsafe. They only follow trends.
TL,DR:
A non-dead IP on a large market with affordable VR option (console).
Ubisoft are reportedly working on AC and Splinter Cell AAA VR games, but they'll be Oculus exclusive.
More like 40% of Doom numbers, with an install base of 1% of Steam having the VR hardware able to play it. Seems pretty impressive.
AAA and 'Oculus exclusive' sound contradictory to me. Is it really going to be AAA? And not just like all pre HL:A VR games? I'd be very surprised and eat crow if it really turns out to be a AAA Assassins Creed on Oculus and I only believe it when I see it. And I still think it is not the right platform to push mass market VR.
Go find the top selling games of each system, Sony first party games aren't going to make a breakthrough as much as you think.
Well that's what the rumor stated last year, and then last month Ubisoft announced they were developing a AAA VR game with one of their greatest IPs, so everything lines up.
I don't see how it's not believable, Oculus has Facebook money behind it, and Oculus exclusives like Asgards Wrath and Lone Echo can be categorized as AAA if we go by budget and polish.
Sony could have sold more copies of Uncharted if it were on Xbox and PC too. Understand why they didn't, then apply that to Half Life.
No matter what IP are used I don't see any way VR becomes a major mainstream part of gaming anytime soon. The experience is so simply too limiting and awkward in a variety of ways.
Facebook has deep pockets. They've already paid Insomniac and Respawn for exclusives on top of securing the licenses for Star Wars and The Avengers.
So you're saying this is about Valve selling headsets? Do you think they're likely to sell large numbers of their expensive headset in an already over saturated segment? I don't think the VR market is big enough to justify half a dozen different headsets.
Nah, Valve is a company that can afford to work on things they want for a hardware they want, nothing weird about it, their bottom line hasn't been dependant on how many units of games they can sell for years.
The early GPU market was flooded with brands too (remember 3DFX, Rendition etc), it will eventually consolidate. And it wasn't just about selling headsets, but pushing the platform and technology. The platform being SteamVR and the technology being VR hardware/software R&D. A lot of money has been invested in this platform and VR technology. It would be dumb not to expect them to support it with content.
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Doubt it.
Half Life Alyx changes a lot of gameplay elements to fit the VR play-style and atmosphere which is fine since it focuses on Alyx instead of Gordon. She doesn't have a HEV suit so it fits. But if Half Life 3 is a slow paced VR game it would just feel wrong.
No sprinting, proper jumping, or two handed weapons on top of tight, claustrophobic levels in a numbered Half Life title sounds lame as hell.
Half Life Alyx changes a lot of gameplay elements to fit the VR play-style and atmosphere which is fine since it focuses on Alyx instead of Gordon. She doesn't have a HEV suit so it fits. But if Half Life 3 is a slow paced VR game it would just feel wrong.
No sprinting, proper jumping, or two handed weapons on top of tight, claustrophobic levels in a numbered Half Life title sounds lame as hell.
Not a chance. It might have a VR mode, but I think more realistic is that there's a sequel to Alyx, and then HL3 for every damned system it's possible to release it on.