Valve Embraces OSVR, Adds OSVR Content Category And Identifying Icon To Steam
Razer and Sensics, the co-founders of the Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) consortium, announced that Valve added official support for OSVR hardware and software to the Steam content distribution platform. Going forward, Steam users can filter the Steam Store to show OSVR-compatible content.
“This is a great milestone for VR, giving users access to more hardware and content and driving Valve’s and OSVR’s shared vision of totally open VR content to everyone,” said Christopher Mitchell, OSVR Lead, Razer.
In addition to the filtering categories, Valve added an OSVR icon to Steam to quickly identify which games and applications adhere to OSVR’s standards. The OSVR icon appears under the game title in the Steam store, where Valve displays the Windows, Apple, SteamPlay, Oculus, and Vive icons.
The inclusion of OSVR hardware and software on Valve’s Steam store helps to legitimize OSVR’s efforts to create an open standard for all VR hardware and software developers. By embracing OSVR, Valve is providing a distribution platform for developers that create OSVR-compatible software, which could help inspire developers to embrace the standard.
"We are delighted to announce support for OSVR titles," said Valve’s Augusta Butlin. "Steam is an open platform for all developers, and adding support for OSVR further expands the massive content offerings for the millions of gamers on Steam."
The list of OSVR compatible software is short, but its only a matter of time before the library grows larger. Razer helped spearhead the OSVR Developer Fund, which has $5 million up for grabs to incentivize developers to create OSVR-compatible content. OSVR said it received hundreds of submissions for funding.
In the meantime, the OSVR Developer Fund already provided capital for 32 OSVR-compatible titles--most of which are available now on Steam.
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| Game | Developer |
|---|---|
| Limb | Interdiction Studios |
| Abduction Prologue: The Jonathan Blake Story (Demo) | Red Iron Labs |
| Abduction Episode 1: Her Name Was Sarah | Red Iron Labs |
| PolyRunner | Lucid Sight |
| RC Soccer VR | Beatshapers |
| StarDrone VR | Beatshapers |
| Theme Park Studio | Pantera Game Studio |
| Alice VR | Carbon Studios |
| Infinite | Project: Gateway VR Studios GmbH |
| The Hum: Abductions | Totwise Studios |
| Redout | 34BigThings |
| The Brookhaven Experiment | Phosphor Games |
| A-10 | Futuretown |
| Descent: Underground | Descendent Studios |
| Radial-G : Racing Revolved | Tammeka Games |
| CDF Starfighter | Mad About Games Studios Ltd. |
| Bloxiq VR | Blot Interactive |
| Blind | Tiny Bull Studios/Surprise Attack Games |
| Chamber19 | Deepak M, Grant B |
| Leave The Nest | Kaio Interactive |
| Marble Mountain | Lightning Rock |
| Domain Defense: VR | Inclusion Studios |
| The Assembly | nDreams |
| 4089 | Phr00t’s Software |
| 5089: The Action RPG | Phr00t’s Software |
| Frantic Freighter | Phr00t’s Software |
| Spermination | Phr00t’s Software |
| MazerQuest|Revisited | RealityCheckVR Developments |
| Toy Coliseum | Reality Check VR Developments |
| Drift Into Eternity | We Are Bots |
| FIVE: Champions of Canaan | Kingdom Games |
| Mervils: A VR Adventure | VitruviusVR |
Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.
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Specter0420 OSVR's HDK2 is great, it just needs someone that can program to fix the tracking. The hardware is there to track, it has IR LEDs all the way around the back but the software only sees the ones in the front and expects 3 on each side that are not there. Basically we just need someone to fix the open source software...Reply -
bit_user If indulge my cynicism, I'd say they're trying to tie up more of the VR market before PSVR and MS can get a hold. While Vive doesn't have a low-cost option, they perhaps recognize that HDK2 has real potential and what they really care about isn't the hardware but that people get their VR content through Steam.Reply
Here's a pretty glowing review of it (if, like me, you've growing impatient with Tom's for one... *hint* *hint*):
https://www.amazon.com/review/R32VP1Z15K5MBW/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B01HDUVIZ0&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=541966&store=pc -
wifiburger see when half life come out and they introduced Steam everybody said ok lets wait it out and now we tons of games available, that's great,but this VR is not going nowhere, waste of time !Reply -
negusp "Is not going nowhere"Reply
You're very much right. VR is making leaps and bounds when it comes to use and application. -
bit_user To answer my own question, it seems you can use a Vive with OSVR content:Reply
http://access.osvr.com/binary/vive
It's not entirely clear who developed this, but profiles of the two main contributors on Github claim they're employees of Sensics.