It’s been eight months since we got our hands on our first VR headset, an AIO Oculus Quest 2. You’ve likely came across countless stories sharing its value for money, especially now that its price has been cut to $199 due to Quest 3’s debut. But there are some catches that make us believe virtual reality is still not a treasure for everyone’s noses, especially if you’re into PC gaming.
Runtime Spaghetti
Unless you rely on a remote streaming app such as Steam Link, your gaming sessions are going to be buried beneath three layers of menus: Quest’s native OS, Quest/Oculus OpenXR, and then SteamVR OpenVR. Getting used to so many menus isn’t what is going to give you headaches, though — the way they hit performance and fight over priority is.
This is rather confusing and annoying when you’re still getting used to it all, turning stuff as simple as setting a chaperone/safe zone into an annoying foray. And despite Oculus Killer being a thing, it’s just a workaround and not a definitive, official fix. In the long run, you’ll find yourself wishing you could directly jump into SteamVR or your runtime of choice and completely ignore the other ones instead.
Technical Inconsistencies
As if having so many layers and their implications wasn’t enough, there is also little to no consistency on how different developers deal with settings and even the controls. There are not as many publishers or as much documentation to assist on creating a great VR game, meaning developers themselves have to do a deep dive to comprehend what is necessary. The problem is the answers they come up with are their own, not exactly the definitive ones.
Admittedly, this issue has seen improvements across the years and developers seem to have agreed on at least a couple of good practices, likely due to newer headsets and their controllers being a lot more similar to one another than they used to and some games being considered examples to follow. But this is a recurring matter nonetheless.
Overall Bland Experiences
One of VR gaming’s biggest issues is, without a shadow of doubt, not having memorable IPs to make it relevant and entertaining. Most VR games (I’d safely say over 75% of them) rely on having the actual player and their soulless flying hands be the protagonist. This feels like a trick to escape having to craft a compelling story/setting with the excuse it won’t be as immersive. This is obviously a misconception, and the better part of the outstanding VR games we’ve had are proof of that.
Taking control of Alyx in Half-Life: Alyx , assisting Raz on Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin or being able to dance alongside Amigo and Ulala on Samba de Amigo: Virtual Party and Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash! respectively make everything much more appealing. As someone who really enjoys over the top character design/art direction, I can’t help but wish we’d get more charming games like these or Ultimate Swing Golf, Puzzle Bobble VR: Vacation Odyssey and Tetris Effect instead of simulators that feel more like tech demos, boring escape rooms or poorly designed last-minute flat screen to VR conversions.
If we are to consider the Oculus Rift as the parting point for modern VR gaming, it means it’s already been eight years, and the number of game IPs with a VR iteration is still super small. One could argue the IPs would end up being used as mere draw ins, which is unfortunately the way I felt when playing Metro Awakening, seeing it couldn’t live up to the expectations I had as someone who’s played the rest of the series before. But the reason that may come to happen lies on another of VR’s long lasting issues.
Developing on a Budget
With the exception of some big hits, VR gaming is in general very low quality and what is delivered will hardly impress anybody who’s used to playing even underground indie games with low asset variety. That’s because flat screen games can easily make up for low polishing with creative ideas, while VR has limitations both on the type of gameplay delivered and how little polishing can be provided before it turns unplayable.
Many PCVR games end up performing or looking quite badly when they have Quest native hardware counterpart. That’s because instead of creating a full-fledged version with more settings, the developers often decide to port the Quest version to PC. It’s great for people on the native hardware to be able to play games that would be otherwise too demanding for their computers, but not on the expense of the quality the PC versions end up with.
Now, not wanting to work on a proper PC version is understandable given that just 1.55% of Steam users have a VR headset. But at the same time, is this number ever going to rise unless the quality improves?
Unreasonable Extra Expenses
While the Meta Quest prices are excellent considering what’s included, it’s the accessories, extra software and games that turn it way less accessible than ideal. New straps, headphones, battery expansions, rechargeable batteries for the controllers, and prescription lenses are but a few of the extra items you may require to get the full experience. If you’re planning to use it with a PC, there are even more items to take into account, such as good quality cables, a quality router and softwares like Virtual Desktop, which you have to buy twice.
If you live in a country where VR headsets are not common, you’ll likely have to import the accessories and/or pay unreasonable prices for them as well. As for Meta Store content, you’ll have no regional pricing to assist you, meaning you’ll be paying around four times more than you would if they were to adopt a regional pricing similar to Steam’s. This is something that really needs to be addressed.
Unless you’re insanely happy with the few quality games being provided and intends on dedicating thousands of hours on them, all the time and money spent on VR is unlikely to pay off. Oh, and still on the topic of accessibility, for content creators, reliably capturing the native hardware’s output is a nightmare, which turns out to be quite an issue as more and more games — such as Asgard’s Wrath 2 — are turning out to be native hardware exclusives.
Hitting the Wrong Targets
Last but not least, the fact is that the gaming niche that could turn VR into a more worthwhile experience — people experienced on modelling, programming and overall developing that could lead us to more stuff like EmuVR and UEVR — has yet to be effectively attracted to the platform in a more wide manner. The struggle for success feature-rich UGC platform Resonite meets is but one of the evidences. Were it not for VRChat’s desktop mode and native hardware support, it would likely not be as popular as it is today.
To make things worse, this niche is one that would comprehensibly rather go for much more expensive VR headsets than purchase a Quest and being stuck with Meta’s software. In other words, those who are not interested in VR yet are probably not going to give it a chance by buying into Meta’s deal anytime soon. Valve Index’s hardware is amazing, but its $999 price tag is far from inviting for people who are not even interested in VR in the first place.
Speaking of native hardware support, if you get yourself a new all-in-one VR headset and try out an online game, you’ll soon come to notice that children under 13 (which are technically not even allowed by the ToS) comprise a surprisingly high sum of its user base. Consequently, the Meta Store is flooded with rip-offs of whatever popular YouTubers have been on to as of late.
It’s hard to pinpoint what caused VR gaming to attract such a young audience, but most people seem to believe the prices to be the reason. We’re talking about a hardware that can do more than a Nintendo Switch while still being cheaper, besides games being significantly cheaper ($15~$40 instead of $60) and the availability a subscription service that provides access to new games every month. Add parents wanting their kids to have some exercise at home and it won’t all sound as odd as before.
VR headsets are evolving in a very fast pace and we’re still somewhat hopeful a time where quality titles are released in a monthly basis is yet to come, especially if Sony wishes PlayStation VR 2 to thrive. With Steam Link, SteamVR and games such as Half-Life: Alyx, Valve has done much to enrich the PCVR experience. But as it is, we still find it hard to vouch for the platform if you are minimally concerned about variety and quality, which almost completely fade out once you’re done with the four games you were initially interested on.
