All Mode
Last year in 2017, Microsoft made its official entry into the virtual reality space by launching its ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ headsets which are made by different manufacturers like Samsung, Lenovo, Dell, HP, and Acer. Moreover, the tech giant also announced that the Windows MR headset will be supporting SteamVR content on its platform.
Steam is the de facto platform for the HTC Vive but is also used by Rift and Windows users to play content. Recently, steam released the December results for its hardware and software survey. Valve Corporation, the parent company behind Steam, releases monthly surveys with baseline statistics to determine the popularity of particular kinds of hardware and software among users.
Windows Mixed Reality Headset Gaining Ground
As per the latest release survey, it seems that Windows Mixed Reality Headsets are making significant inroads in the VR market space. Its market share doubled on a month-on-month basis. In November, Windows Mixed Reality Headsets made up 2% of the market share. By December, this figure had increased to 4.4%.
This is a significant jump by Windows MR Headsets. However, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift still continue to dominate the market with a stiff competition between the two. The December results show that Vive has lost 2.2% of its share and now holds a 47.26% market share for VR Headsets used with Steam. While on the other hand, Oculus seems to have gained very marginally by 0.1% and now has 46.1% of the market share.
Image: Valve
Even though Vive still holds the plurality, the survey shows Oculus Rift as the ‘Most Popular’ VR Headset which is used by 0.17% of the Steam population against Vive’s 0.16%. The difference is very marginal, but this is the very first time we have seen Rift overtaking Vive since the launch of both the headsets in 2016.
Image: Valve
2018 Could Bring a Surge in Windows Mixed Reality Users
This growth in the market share is really encouraging especially knowing the fact that Windows Mixed Reality Headsets have only been available to users for the past two months. Also, the competitive price points offered by the manufacturers of Windows Mixed Reality Headsets gives them an upper edge over Oculus’ Rift and HTC’s Vive.
Another big push for the Windows headsets is support of SteamVR being made available to the devices. This gives owners quick access to a huge pool of content available on Steam. According to the recently published data by MSPoweruser website, 15 of the top 40 VR titles on Steam now support Windows Mixed Reality. This number is surely expected to grow in the year ahead.
2018 can provide the perfect launchpad for Windows headsets to take off and grab a larger pie of the VR market share. The Windows Mixed Reality Headset is also a good choice for VR Porn consumers. Downloading your favorite videos from VRPorn.com is pretty simple and only requires a few simple steps.
Makers of mixed reality VR headset offer an very interesting proposal in terms of price-points and SteamVR integration… I expect a further growth this year
exactly, for me graphics integration and combining with real world is very attractive point.
Most exciting VR news I’ve heard in a while! Love the increase in resolution.