Was It Inevitable That Microsoft Would Go It Own Way in VR?

so long as their exclusives are store front exclusives and not HMD exclusives i have no issue with it.

MS have their own store front already so it stands to reason their funded VR titles would be locked too it.

MS have already confirmed there would be official streamVR support on their HMD.... i would expect (hope) then that would mean a similar deal for the rift as for the vive..... (rift users get to use MS store titles via steamVR, and MS HMD users will probably have some sort of revive type app so they can use oculus store...

(tho that said, "official" MS VR support on the oculus store would finally put to bed the old argument that it is oculus at fault for not having official vive support on their store).

as for lost time oculus working with them.......... you possibly know more than I on this but.....  to answer your question we need info on the following

1) how much time WAS lost working with them.
2) was that time fair payment for getting a good deal on the bundled xbox 1 pad (a pad i use regulary now and  an important pack in  considering touch was not ready back then)
3) maybe oculus helped out in good faith without any issue with MS going their own way....  You are assuming that oculus are sour that MS bought out their own headset. do you know this to be the case?  perhaps when oculus were helping out they just wanting more "good VR possibilities" out there and it was just a question of intelligent "VR people" sharing their ideas among themselves for the benefit of all parties.. (perhaps the time spent helped oculus with their own inside out tracking prototypes, with MS benefiting from seeing oculus touch prototypes???)

Also.. the sub $400..... that is without the motion controllers... when you consider that, then the MS HMDs are not much (if any) cheaper than the oculus offering which is a complete package. Price wise they look to me on a par, so it just comes down to how good inside out tracking is, esp with the motion controllers. IF its 100% as good as vive / oculus lighthouse/constellation then sure... oculus / valve partners may be in trouble... if its not however then it is just another set of compromises and will be down to the user to decide what compromises affect them the least.

as for superhot.

Oculus had their exclusivity period on that title which was paid for..... its now  a multiformat title and is free to go on other store fronts... this imo is a win win for all..... oculus get  their store front exclusive... for a time, but ultimately the title is available to benefit all VR and even go to other store fronts - which until other HMDs are officially supported on oculus store, is best for the consumer and best for the makers of superhot VR.

I agree - many questions. most of which will not be answered until the contractual handcuffs applied to exiting executives from Oculus VR recede. My own list of questions regarding the MS relationship would include:

- Was the MS Gamepad "component shortage" due to MS?
- Was more planned with CV1 running XBone games?
- Was MS/OVR ever considering having CV1 run on XBoneX?
- Did MS/OVR share prototypes (including did MS do the VR Room demo at OVR)?
- What was the reason for MS to stop working with OVR?

Regarding the Window VR support of SteamVR - I think it is incredibly unlikely we will see Oculus Store benefit from SteamVR to the level you suggest - possibly a factor in why MS decided on their own VR initiative separate of OVR? 

So this is another excuse for you to gloat about how right you were regarding any future Microsoft Oculus partnership being a non starter moving forwards?

I jest. >:)

I think MS made no secret of playing the waiting game and not openly committing to VR right away. Fair play really. I think people (myself included) made a number of assumptions way back when with regards to who they would partner with. Perhaps behind the scenes something didn't add up and couldn't be agreed upon between the two, and now here we are with a more competitive market. As long as savvy consumers aren't playing Apple like levels of blind loyalty then it's all good here and exciting times ahead. Hopefully as the market expands in 2018 (and beyond) the regular naysayers can find something else to direct their negativity towards.

Shadowmask72 said:

So this is another excuse for you to gloat about how right you were regarding any future Microsoft Oculus partnership being a non starter moving forwards?

I jest. >:) 

Oh, you!
You got my ire right up, till the end - well played sir!  :D

Shadowmask72 said:

I think MS made no secret of playing the waiting game and not openly committing to VR right away. Fair play really. I think people (myself included) made a number of assumptions way back when with regards to who they would partner with. Perhaps behind the scenes something didn't add up and couldn't be agreed upon between the two, and now here we are with a more competitive market.
...

I understand that some people defended assumptions - but many of them were fuelled by private briefing that claimed that a XBoneX = CV1 was round the corner, and that the MS relationship was much more than it has turned out to be.

I remember people blasting any comment on this forum that claimed that CV1 was not going to be shown in 2017 running on both the XBone and Project Scorpio - only for those posters to run to the shadows to lick their wounds with the reality of the situation. I just wonder how many of the internal OVR team were fed the same line - especially considering how many have now gone on to resign from OVR and take new jobs at MS?

For me, MS, not Apple, was always the bigger stalking horse into VR, and I had been impressed on how hard OVR had wooed them from the start to "tame the bear"! But then the appalling management of the relationship just surprised me. I understand that many are still fighting their corner that MS and OVR are still best buds - using the streaming XBone thing as an example - but that is a "chocolate fireguard" to the real situation.

I suppose the big issue will be how Windows VR content will work on CV1... if at all?
At that point there will be some interesting questions to answer.

If nothing else, this proves that the VR industry is healthy (and projected to continue growing) if a company like Microsoft is going to decide this late in the game that it's worth throwing their own hat into.

Also, Microsoft launching their own VR store doesn't necessarily mean they're at odds with Oculus, or that they won't have any more partnerships;  That'd be like saying that Internet Explorer is competing with Google Chrome, or that MS Paint is competing with Photoshop.   They're Microsoft,  they run their own versions of just about every kind of software and e-store imaginable, just to keep their branding relevant, I guess.

 It's good, because the more competition the better. Just as it would've been good if there had been more choices than just Macintosh and windows (and also-rans) or between iOS and android.  But the market gets confused if there are too many choices and it wants standardization. 

 PS out of curiosity, what is the link to the Microsoft VR website? 

CrashFu said:

...
Also, Microsoft launching their own VR store doesn't necessarily mean they're at odds with Oculus, or that they won't have any more partnerships...

Others may allude to a feud, I feel more that they have gone their separate ways, when once they were in step with each other. With the number of ex-Oculus VR devs that joined last year, we knew MS was planning their own approach. 

Based on what we have heard, I think you can say that for the time being, new partnerships between MS and OVR may be less likely for the time being - sticking with just the gamepad supply and the limited streaming capability.

Let's see how using WindowsMR on a Oculus VR CV1 works out before laying down any bets of future partnerships.