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Nzyme32

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,245
Considering the additional amount of Steam users in general over this period, that increase is likely very significant
 

Fishsnot

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,967
Japan
Half Life Alyx Most probably.
Yeah, I know it pushed me to pull the trigger.
Slightly off topic, when I booted up the lab, I was struck at how that some of the scenes in Postcards, (Venice town square and Lava Tube) look exactly like locales from Alyx.

seJlCNY.png


No lie I thought a Strider would appear at any moment.

0bVOHNz.png


And this had me looking for barnacles.

It then blew my mind that we went from that demo to a full blown game that maintains that almost photo realisim that we were witnessing all the way back when the lab debuted.
 

Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
I think the jump was more of a result of the recent change that Steam made as far as calculating the number of VR sets connected...
 

Alucardx23

Member
Nov 8, 2017
4,713
Monthly-Connected-percent-of-headsets-april-2020.png


The launch of Half-Life: Alyx saw nearly 1 million additional monthly-connected headsets over the prior month, a leap that nearly tripled the previous largest monthly gain.

Each month Valve collects info from Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and software is used by the platform's population, and to see how things are changing over time, including the use of VR headsets.

The latest Steam Survey data is the first time we're seeing the impact of Half-Life: Alyx in the numbers; although the game launched in late March, Valve advised that most survey data is collected early in each month, so the impact of the game's launch wasn't truly revealed until now. And it's a doozy.

www.roadtovr.com

Analysis: 'Half-Life: Alyx' Adds Nearly 1 Million VR Users to Steam in Record Gain

The launch of Half-Life: Alyx saw nearly 1 million additional monthly-connected headsets over the prior month, a leap that nearly tripled the previous largest monthly gain. Each month Valve collects info from Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and...
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
I think the jump was more of a result of the recent change that Steam made as far as calculating the number of VR sets connected...

that change was march 1st. This is the report from april. This is the jump from march to april. The change you are talking about already resulted in a huge bump for the month of march. This is a second bump on top of that original bump that accounted for the change. The bump in march from their change in methodology accounted for a 28% bump.
 

SolidSnakeUS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,616
After recently finishing Alyx and Boneworks, I legit hope that games this good keep showing and keep pushing the boundaries of VR and making it more viable. Seriously, VR is so damn good.
 

Lant_War

Classic Anus Game
The Fallen
Jul 14, 2018
23,580
Yeah but Half Life Alyx was supposed to be VR's big moment and it wasn't though
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Imagine if all the major headsets werent backorded the whole time.

It manifests in ways people wouldnt consider. My company is actually having trouble sourcing new headsets for a new project we're starting right now, specifically the quest. It doesn't just limit consumers ability to play these games, it also limits developer's ability to create content.

It's a pretty good problem to have, all things considered, though, when VR headsets are selling so well that you have to set alarms on your phone when they come back in stock.
 

-COOLIO-

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,125
Nice.

I'm thinking 10% by 2024. Might be too optimistic but I feel like the next gen headsets will really nail price/performance with foveated rendering and AMD doing very interesting things on the mobile gpu side. i'm also expecting ps5 vr to be spectacular
 

1-D_FE

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,260
that change was march 1st. This is the report from april. This is the jump from march to april. The change you are talking about already resulted in a huge bump for the month of march. This is a second bump on top of that original bump that accounted for the change. The bump in march from their change in methodology accounted for a 28% bump.

I didn't realize the changes had already taken place.

As expected, Quest benefited from removing a lot of that friction involved with surveys. Not that far behind all the WMRs.


Cause fuck major pandemics completely destroying the ability for manufacturing to meet the demand (that was already exceeding supply last holiday). But clicks! Get them clicks.
 

Quample

Member
Dec 23, 2017
3,231
Cincinnati, OH
Really good news. I'm sure it will drop some next month but it's crazy that it basically doubled within a few months. Oculus Quest seems to be doing great as well(disregarding Steam) based on Facebook's earnings call.

Nice.

I'm thinking 10% by 2024. Might be too optimistic but I feel like the next gen headsets will really nail price/performance with foveated rendering and AMD doing very interesting things on the mobile gpu side. i'm also expecting ps5 vr to be spectacular

I don't think it's too optimistic, but I do think next gen headset quality/timing will have to do a lot with adoption rate. If key tech like you mentioned is included and properly executed by then, I would imagine it will surpass 10% pretty quickly on Steam. More important than SteamVR numbers is general VR usability across multiple modes; if that hits a certain rate of adoption it could cement it's place as a popular medium and will compound upon itself across all forms of use. In other words, we don't want VR to be primarily or exclusively a gaming device, because it would ironically lessen it's full potential to be just that.
 
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Oct 27, 2017
2,165
Yeah but Half Life Alyx was supposed to be VR's big moment and it wasn't though
Then I guess it's big moment is still to come? Here is an idea. Maybe we need to accept VR adoption will be a slow but steady crawl with occasional spikes in growth and we should stop expecting it to be in everyone's home overnight just because a single big name title launched. I'm so tired of VR riding on single moments when the tech will be around and continue to get better for decades to come. The original expectations that it would be adopted by everyone immediately were wrong, it doesn't mean it won't keep gaining traction as improvements are made to cost, content and tech.
 

Quample

Member
Dec 23, 2017
3,231
Cincinnati, OH
Then I guess it's big moment is still to come? Here is an idea. Maybe we need to accept VR adoption will be a slow but steady crawl with occasional spikes in growth and we should stop expecting it to be in everyone's home overnight just because a single big name title launched. I'm so tired of VR riding on single moments when the tech will be around and continue to get better for decades to come. The original expectations that it would be adopted by everyone immediately were wrong, it doesn't mean it won't keep gaining traction as improvements are made to cost, content and tech.

Diffusion of innovation starts slow, but when it hits a certain percentage of the intended base, it will speed up quickly. We haven't reached that point yet, though. So yes, it will probably be fairly linear for a few more years with some spikes here and there.
 
OP
OP
DarthBuzzard

DarthBuzzard

Banned
Jul 17, 2018
5,122
Then I guess it's big moment is still to come? Here is an idea. Maybe we need to accept VR adoption will be a slow but steady crawl with occasional spikes in growth and we should stop expecting it to be in everyone's home overnight just because a single big name title launched. I'm so tired of VR riding on single moments when the tech will be around and continue to get better for decades to come. The original expectations that it would be adopted by everyone immediately were wrong, it doesn't mean it won't keep gaining traction as improvements are made to cost, content and tech.
If you want to see explosive growth like the iPhone, you first need the iPhone of VR. The solution is in the hardware. Quest is not the iPhone, it's the iPod.

- We need a standalone device that is half the size of current headsets using new display technology that solves visual comfort issues.
- It needs to be as crisp as 1080p TVs with a decent boost in FoV over today's headsets.
- It needs to ditch floating hands and provide standardized full-body avatars with body, hand, eye, and face tracking.
- It needs powerful mixed reality reconstruction capabilities.

Once this happens, likely in 5 years, the market should grow very fast and start churning out console-equivalent numbers per product line.
 

Nola

Member
Oct 29, 2017
8,061
I welcome all the new VR users.

I'd love to hear what you think.
One of those very rare unforgettable moments in your gaming life.

And amongst them, there are very few moments that come close to what my first experience in VR was like.

Eased in with The Lab and some smaller titles, then had the next big unforgettable moment booting up Half Life and being dropped in City 17....Still haven't finished the game but the whole experience has been incredible.

Makes you realize the potential of the medium. I hope adoption keeps ticking up because I would love to see more AAA titles, As the possibilities seem really pretty crazy. As I think the way it affects your sensory and the way it immerses you really allows a whole new approach to gaming that you cant really do with standard console experiences.

I will agree with the one poster above that mentioned we are probably still a few innovations away from really having that iPhone moment, but I think given the undeniable experience that it is almost inevitable barring some sort of outside force that prevents it.
 

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,115
NYC
It makes sense. Alyx was the most high profile release in a long time, and actually broke through to a new audience in a way that most vr games aren't capable of through PR.

That is to say, there's tons of great games out there, but very few are well known AND good enough to back up potential PR to gain interest in a significant new audience.

I hope there's more to come and it doesn't flatline from here.
 

SpartyCrunch

Xbox
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
2,499
Seattle, WA
Does anyone know how Valve measures Quest Link owners? Does it measure whether you've ever connected one or only if it's actively connected at the time of survey?

Since the Quest is inherently not supposed to be connected at all times, maybe Valve was under counting somehow.
 

Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
He's quoting a clickbait article headline from a forbes contributor in sarcasm.

so it's considered click bait-ey only if it goes against your opinion?...or does the article actually make some good points?...same way that people are called 'haters' if they don't like a game as much as someone else?
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
Does anyone know how Valve measures Quest Link owners? Does it measure whether you've ever connected one or only if it's actively connected at the time of survey?

Since the Quest is inherently not supposed to be connected at all times, maybe Valve was under counting somehow.

These are measured through SteamVR, when you launch a game using SteamVR with the quest, it uses the SteamVR drivers. There's a breakdown of headsets somewhere, I dunno if they release that info out of the developers portal though. It counts if you've connected a headset and launched steamVR within the last month, not during the survey.
 
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Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
so it's considered click bait-ey only if it goes against your opinion?...or does the article actually make some good points?

The entire point of the article was, quite literally, "Half Life Alyx was supposed to sell tons of headsets, but the data shows not many heads have been sold, hence it didn't move the needle," ignoring that headsets are supply constrained and are sold out constantly. As in, they literally cannot sell any more than they are at the moment.

But then again, I don't know why I'm replying to you, since this very information has been relayed to you multiple times in these threads, since you post in this fashion every single time including in the OT thread.
 

I KILL PXLS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,542
If you want to see explosive growth like the iPhone, you first need the iPhone of VR. The solution is in the hardware. Quest is not the iPhone, it's the iPod.

- We need a standalone device that is half the size of current headsets using new display technology that solves visual comfort issues.
- It needs to be as crisp as 1080p TVs with a decent boost in FoV over today's headsets.
- It needs to ditch floating hands and provide standardized full-body avatars with body, hand, eye, and face tracking.
- It needs powerful mixed reality reconstruction capabilities.

Once this happens, likely in 5 years, the market should grow very fast and start churning out console-equivalent numbers per product line.
I'd still put it closer to 10 years before we see ALL of that in a non-enterprise headset. Maaaayyybe closer to 5+ if generations get shorter or a big breakthrough in some of that tech happens soon. I do think we'll see some of that in a consumer headset within 5 though.

Personally, I think if we got the Quest's level of tech (maybe slightly better) in a glasses or goggles form factor, standalone, with good integration for phone notifications (or use), minimal mixed reality support (specifically for seeing people in your actual space like the gif you post often), at $200-$250, and a good ad campaign push, you'd get a huge jump in mainstream adoption. That all would cover most concerns about comfort, price, multitasking, and social isolation that people bring up often.
 
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Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
The entire point of the article was, quite literally, "Half Life Alyx was supposed to sell tons of headsets, but the data shows not many heads have been sold, hence it didn't move the needle," ignoring that headsets are supply constrained and are sold out constantly. As in, they literally cannot sell any more than they are at the moment.

But then again, I don't know why I'm replying to you, since this very information has been relayed to you multiple times in these threads, since you post in this fashion every single time including in the thread on that very topic.

I don't believe that VR is going to be the next big thing in relation to gaming...I've always been consistent, I think it has better uses outside of gaming...but it doesn't mean that I 'hate' VR...the VR fans hate hearing anything that may go against their established beliefs no matter how neutral the opinions are

as far as sales numbers...obviously if you put a limited supply in the market then it's easier to sell out...if Valve or the other VR manufacturers really believed that this was going to sell like the iPhone then of course they would flood the market with product
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
I've always been consistent

Oh you most certainly have.

as far as sales numbers...obviously if you put a limited supply in the market then it's easier to sell out...if Valve or the other VR manufacturers really believed that this was going to sell like the iPhone then of course they would flood the market with product

An example of said consistency, posting from the gut.

BTW, it's funny how you don't comment at all on your earlier attempt to downplay the topic's statistic in your last post when you incorrectly claimed this was solely because of the change in methodology.
 

Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
BTW, it's funny how you don't comment at all on your earlier attempt to downplay the topic's statistic in your last post when you incorrectly claimed this was solely because of the change in methodology.

there was no need to follow up...you were correct with that...you want me to make a follow-up post saying 'good job Krejlooc'...OK there it is
 

I KILL PXLS

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,542
so it's considered click bait-ey only if it goes against your opinion?...or does the article actually make some good points?...same way that people are called 'haters' if they don't like a game as much as someone else?
The article completely left out the fact that headsets have been sold out or hard to get for months and basically says all they've heard people talking about for the past two weeks (at the time) was Animal Crossing and FF7 Remake so no. The only data it used was the concurrent player numbers and could otherwise be summed up as basically "I haven't heard as much about it compared to these two other huge mainstream games and I expected VR to go mainstream when HL:Alyx released and it didn't so I guess it never will". It really didn't have a good point.
 

EllipsisBreak

One Winged Slayer
Member
Aug 6, 2019
2,156
as far as sales numbers...obviously if you put a limited supply in the market then it's easier to sell out...if Valve or the other VR manufacturers really believed that this was going to sell like the iPhone then of course they would flood the market with product
Flooding the market with a high tech product is not a trivial task. It's not something that a company can just decide to do. Especially during COVID-19.

Believe me, if they could produce more headsets than they currently are, they would. Because there is clearly a lot of demand for them right now.
 

Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
The article completely left out the fact that headsets have been sold out or hard to get for months and basically says all they've heard people talking about for the past two weeks (at the time) was Animal Crossing and FF7 Remake so no. It really didn't have a good point.

more people bought VR headsets in March/April because of HL: Alyx...that cannot be disputed...I think the point of that article and others is that VR as a whole is still a tiny niche and other non-VR games will always take the spotlight over it which is what the point of comparing it to something like Animal Crossing was for...along with the point that if a game like Alyx can't move the VR needle in a considerable way then nothing will...I personally compare it to Bloodborne, I bought a PS4 to play that game
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
The article completely left out the fact that headsets have been sold out or hard to get for months and basically says all they've heard people talking about for the past two weeks (at the time) was Animal Crossing and FF7 Remake so no. It really didn't have a good point.

notice he completely changes the topic when you bring that up.

"the article wasn't click bait, it made good points about how well it's selling!"
"the point it made about not selling a lot doesn't apply, because it's sold the maximum amount literally possible at the moment."
"that's because Valve/Oculus/Etc don't believe in it, so they don't produce enough"

like, ok, even if you believe that, then that still makes the article's points very poor, because the consumer has absolutely no control over the supply. The article is framed upon consumer demand, and demand is literally at the maximum right now, so what is the "good point" being made?

Notice how his framing is nothing but conspiratorial dreck, without any statistics to back them up. "VR fans don't believe anything that goes against their narrative" in one breath, then "who cares if the headsets are sold out, they are only sold out because they are purposefully producing so little because nobody want them" in another, without a hint of self-awareness.
 

Kalik

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
4,523
Flooding the market with a high tech product is not a trivial task. It's not something that a company can just decide to do. Especially during COVID-19.

Believe me, if they could produce more headsets than they currently are, they would. Because there is clearly a lot of demand for them right now.

let's not blame the supply issue on COVID-19...the Valve Index has been sold out since November or so...