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Question

Steam Hardware Survey - July 2025 results included (see latest post in this thread)

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Latest results:

These results are compared, at least for the Rift, to August when Rift peaked at 0.35 %. Since August 2018 Rift has decreased about 6 % (from 0.35 to 0.33). Vive also decreased.

Compared to other HMDs we see from April to September (note that this image hasn't been updated to October yet):

When updated to October I'd expect:

Rift = 45 %
Vive = 42 %
WMR = 8 %
Vive Pro = 3 %
Rift DK2 = 1 %

Source: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

BTW - some history:

April 2018:

Oculus Rift 0.20%

HTC Vive 0.18%

Windows Mixed Reality 0.01%

Oculus Rift DK2 0.01%

Oculus Rift DK1 0.00%

Unknown 0.00%

July 2018:

Oculus Rift 0.32%

HTC Vive 0.31%

Windows Mixed Reality 0.05%
HTC Vive Pro 0.01%

Oculus Rift DK2 0.01%

Oculus Rift DK1 0.00%

I guess it's more or less a stand still since July for Rift and the original Vive... I don't think the Odyssey+ has had any impact on the WMR results above, the Odyssey+ is much too new - if it'll have any impact, it won't be before the Steam Hardware Survey November 2018 results.

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RuneSR2Author

Honored Contributor

Seems things are moving forward for Quest 2 and Index, but not so much for anything else:

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

For the first time ever, there are more Indices than Rift-S hmds, but Rift-S isn't being made anymore, Index is.

One Index is still more than 3 Quest 2s, so the price difference is massive, impressive to see such a big gain for the Index. HTC is not moving at all.

Especially Rift-S and Quest 1 got reduced, could mean a transition to other hmds. Similar trend for WMR. Interestingly. the good old CV1 saw a small boost - maybe autumn is kicking in, and some are reconnecting hmds.

Overall we got a few more Steam users with hmds, but nothing to write home about. Not much new here too:

Oculus is still behind about 60% of the hmds.

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Zenbane

Honored Contributor

RuneSR2 wrote:
Oculus is still behind about 60% of the hmds.

No it is 57.11%

If you are going to call a 1.51% gain for Index a "big gain" then you can't round Oculus down nearly 3%! 🤣

Oculus still has the greatest market share overall on both PCVR Platforms: Steam PCVR and Oculus PCVR.

Index is still behind 82.5% of the total Steam PCVR Market. Oculus is still the leading PCVR headset over any other individual HMD on both Steam PCVR and Oculus PCVR.

Oculus being behind 57.11% on Steam PCVR is an accomplishment considering that Steam PCVR is NOT the native platform for Oculus. Whereas Steam being behind some 82.5% on its own native platform speaks volumes.

I do think that Valve will begin to push back heavily against Oculus once Valve's new stand-alone is released.

A

Anonymous

Zenbane wrote:
I do think that Valve will begin to push back heavily against Oculus once Valve's new stand-alone is released.

Not sure how Valve releasing a stand alone would push back against Oculus Quest being used as PC-VR, which is what all those Steam numbers represent. Unless of course they were to release a much cheaper headset as standalone with the same capabilities to link to the PC as Oculus. Somehow I don't see Valve doing that but who knows. And where would the games come from for their stand alone.

It will be very interesting to see what they have in mind going forward. And who knows when that might be.

P

pyroth309

Up and Coming

Double post.

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

I'm thinking the same thing @Nalex. Putting the Steam Deck CPU in a headset makes more sense than hooking a headset up to a Steam Deck I think. Having said that, I guess there may have been the thinking that all the Quests out there would be a great resource to mine if they could be used that way.

I don't see PCVR being a possibility in any way other than using the resource of a full-fat PC unless devs wrote PCVR games tailored to the Steam Deck capabilities as you mention and that would depend on how popular such a headset becomes and how popular using it as a stand-alone PCVR headset is, rather than a tethered PCVR headset.

Quest ports could be a thing but people would need an incentive to do that instead of just getting a Quest.

It would have a lot of catching up to do and would depend on Oculus hardware announcements coming up and price. The Steam Deck is really cheap but I assume that's a loss leader based on customers buying Steam games. VR titles probably aren't numerous enough to use the same economics right now unlike value placed on facebook accounts being present at the point of launch.

Also depends on how much people value not requiring a facebook account but don't mind requiring a Steam account. Not sure that's a big factor but I'm sure it is for some.

Should be a good couple years ahead for VR either way.

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

RuneSR2Author

Honored Contributor

Better late than never, RoadToVR just made an article about Index being the second most popular hmd on Steam:

https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-index-second-most-used-headset-steam-vr-hardware-software-survey-september-2021/

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Zenbane

Honored Contributor

RuneSR2 wrote:
Better late than never, RoadToVR just made an article about Index being the second most popular hmd on Steam:

https://www.roadtovr.com/valve-index-second-most-used-headset-steam-vr-hardware-software-survey-september-2021/

Reading that article makes me feel like this is all happening in the Bizarro World or something lol. This news keeps being presented as "good news" as if the expectation is to completely ignore the fact that Steam is the Native Platform for the Index. While also ignoring the fact that it is not so much that Index "went up" but that Rift-S "intentionally stepped back" due to being at its end-of-life.

It would be like me celebrating being the leader of a company... after everyone else quit and I'm the only one left. Na' mean?

Being 2nd Place in your own home is a "cause for concern" and "call to action." This news should be about what Valve needs to do to get their own product in 1st place on their own platform.

Valve is a great company, and Index is a fabulous product. Perhaps I have spent too much time in the Info Tech Business realm. But news like this puts images in my head of business leaders screaming about why they are so far behind in their own backyard; not celebrating how a competitor came in to their backyard and took over.

The competitor in me just can't see how anyone would be happy to step in to 2nd place in the type of situation where 1st Place is the default expectation and this 2nd place recognition is only earned because someone else left the race.

I'm not trying to be intentionally cynical; I just feel like I am looking around a room trying to figure out if I'm the only one who sees the problem here. 🤔

A

Anonymous

Valve does not care and is quite happy with their Index product as is evidenced by their continuing to maintain the price of the kit rather than offer cuts. I don't think they ever intended to shoot for number 1 in this case.

But is is good that a native PC-VR headset with this level of quality and pricing structure continues to be ranked decently.

As far as Oculus , yeah it is great the Quest 2 is ranking so high in the Steam VR charts and Oculus has done a tremendous job with the Quest 2 regarding PC-VR. Just the image sharpness increase in the latest update of the software is quite the accomplishment for them. From my perspective I hope Oculus is paying good attention though to those Steam VR numbers and maybe realize there is a market there for the higher end stuff.

The more options we as consumers have the better.

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

Well, I've said it before, a Valve PCVR headset is an insurance policy against another software platform becoming a competitor to Steam. It was never about the headsets themselves.

As long as Oculus headsets can use Steam, there's no reason to have a no.1 headset but there's still every reason to maintain an insurance policy in the event they stopped being Steam capable but had a reasonably attractive alternative library, which is less likely as time goes by.

But from Facebook's point of view, it's all about the headsets being attractive propositions which means maintaining Steam capability... and the status quo works for both companies.

The risk now however is shifting from Valve's point of view in that there's a possible future that has a non-Steam dominated stand-alone software market that starts to eat into Steam sales. Hence the Steam Deck and possible Steam-Deck based headset. This has the potential to be a real risk in the long term. Even though Link connected Oculus headsets need Steam capability to be popular, they don't when being used as stand-alone, and the risk is that stand-alone VR becomes more popular than PCVR, popular enough even to eat into PC pancake software sales, at some point in the future.

This may never happen but from Valve's point of view, it's all about software sales and insurance policies.

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

Zenbane

Honored Contributor

Well said, Daft.

DaftnDirect wrote:
As long as Oculus headsets can use Steam, there's no reason to have a no.1 headset but there's still every reason to maintain an insurance policy in the event they stopped being Steam capable but had a reasonably attractive alternative library, which is less likely as time goes by.

I can definitely see the reasoning here. My next thought is: Wouldn't the situation be interpreted differently if it was Oculus in 2nd place on their own store?

Facebook never reveals their numbers. But for the sake of fun conversation, lets imagine that Facebook did reveal some statistics and it turned out that everyone using Revive with a G2, Vive, and Index was the majority of Oculus platform usage; and Quest/Rift was in 2nd place.

Is it reasonable, based on the history of how things have been presented here, to assume that the narrative would be less about praising Oculus for being 2nd place on its own platform and more about highlighting Oculus failing at meeting an expected 1st place?

If so, then the difference is down the the perception - if what I am reading and understanding from you and dburne is accurate. In that... It would be bad for Oculus to be 2nd place on its own platform because Oculus is clearly "trying to be in the lead" but it is okay for the Valve Index to be 2nd place on its own platform because Valve isn't really trying/caring and Index is just an insurance policy anyway.

Is that fairly accurate a presumption?

I kinda makes sense, and it does help shine some light on to what I have always observed as an usual double standard in how Oculus VR is judged vs everyone else.

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

tbh Zen, in this instance, I'm kind of more interested in the business plans of the companies involved than the perceptions or motivations of some members who may or may not have their own reasons for pushing a narrative.

People are people 😉 and ain't gonna change. I'll question anyone who I think is wrong but sometimes it's useful to try and understand company business strategies more than poster viewpoints... and in this case its useful to try and shine a light on possible directions they're going and future headsets we can expect.

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

Zenbane

Honored Contributor

DaftnDirect wrote:
tbh Zen, in this instance, I'm kind of more interested in the business plans of the companies involved than the perceptions or motivations of some members who may or may not have their own reasons for pushing a narrative.

Agreed. In this case, I was a leaning a bit more towards the UploadVR article. Upload, and other VR news sites, have had their share of pushing narratives as well. That said, your point still applies to those outlets as well.

For business strategies, my prediction is that this rumored Valve Stand-Alone HMD will very quickly move in to 2nd Place on Steam once it is publicly available! 😁

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

Understood... I hadn't in fact read through that article, so maybe I should. I guess the authors of articles can have there own spin on things sometimes as much as anyone else, maybe more so if it gets views and views are important to publishers as much as accuracy is. If they're showing bias though, I may give it a miss.

I'm home for the weekend and the Honeycomb throttle quadrant arrived so am having some VR and non-VR fun testing it out, will probably add a quick review to the FS thread when I get a chance.

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

RuneSR2Author

Honored Contributor

October 2021 results:

October was a great month for Quest 2, and Vive Pro 2 saw a small increase, while most other hmds decreased. Especially the Rift-S decreased a lot. The percentage of Steam users with VR hmds increased very slightly.

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

Having played with my Quest 2 for a couple days, it won't be replacing my Rift-S until I get the comfort sorted out, it's worse than the Quest 1 for large headed glasses wearers... very tight on my temples The Oculus fit pack doesn't look like a big enough difference but if someone equally big-headed can recommend an option that would be great.

Otherwise my Rift-S is going to continue to be registered in the surveys!

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

T

TomCgcmfc

Honored Contributor

DaftnDirect I actually replied with a fairly long post explaining my big-head Q2 comfort mods and I included a number of links but this seems to have disappeared for some reason?

In short, I've found the best solution for me is the stock strap with an inexpensive pad that wraps around the bottom and top straps. Then I use 2x3/4" velcro straps and attach a 20000mahr battery pack to the rear head strap. I also use a short 1.5ft battery cable. I'm mainly using my Q2 for PCVR wireless with Air Link. This pack perfectly balances the Q2 and takes a lot of weight off my face. The external battery pack keeps the headset battery close to fully charged all the time and gives me almost unlimited runtimes with both Standalone mobile VR and PCVR with Air Link. I just need to top off this pack about once a week using my Q1 charger/cable.

I also do not have any problems with my glasses (I use the spacer) with any VR headset. Mine are 140mmx40mm ti rimless frames with high index lens (thinner/lighter).

Anyway, this is the short version so hopefully this will post properly. If you need some links to the products I use PM me and I'll pass them on to you. I think that once you get your Q2 comfortable and experience the freedom of wireless with Air Link, your Rift S will start collecting a bit of dust imho. Actually, this is happening with my poor old Vive Pro, lol! Cheers mate.

i9 13900K water cooled, RTX4090, Z790 MB w/wifi6e, 64Gb 6400 ram, 2x2TB SSD, 1000W PSU, Win 11, QPro, Q3, w/Link and Air Link, Vive Pro1 with 2x2.0 base stations, Etsy lens mod and Index Controllers

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

Thanks for that TomCgcmfc , the supplied faceplate pulls my glasses off every time I take the headset off, way too snug. These are my smaller glasses too as I chose them for VR, the prescription is also for VR (and working on my car) rather than far distance.

I wish Oculus had chosen a more flexible plastic for the cowl the faceplate fixes to. the DK2 seems to be the last headset that used that type of plastic. The Quest and Quest 2 are completely rigid but the Quest 1 is wider so is ok. Even with no glasses, I think the pressure on my temples would be bad.

At the moment I want to use the Q2 for media viewing as well as PCVR so I'm delaying getting an elite or halo type strap as you can't really rest back on something with those. So right now I'm just looking for the best facial interface. I'm about to order the VR Covers one and see how it goes, looks like you've got a little flexibility in positioning the cover so you can maximize the width.

Edit: I thought I could remember someone post about large heads and the Q2 but I couldn't remember who it was and a quick search didn't bring it up!

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

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DaftnDirect

Honored Contributor

That sounds very promising, I may be finally retiring the Rift-S.

13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)

RuneSR2Author

Honored Contributor

Results for November 2021 - Quest 2 still going strong, not so much for everything else:

Be careful when evaluating these numbers though - because if the number of Steam users grew the last month, then 2% in November is more than 2% in October. And this year the number of Steam users may have increased a lot:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/308330/number-stream-users/

The only thing we can read from the charts are the proportion of Steam users having hmds connected to their rigs vs. those who don't have hmds (attached to their Steam PCs).

- and we can get an idea of market shares - for those using PCVR:

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD "Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

N

Nekto2

Inspiring

Seems we could combine those numbers of concurrent users with percent of VR hmds and have approximations of active VR users 🙂

And if those are PCVR users, then we see that Quest 2 actually is a PCVR headset and I would not fight it to make PCVR bigger 🙂

I think in addition to popularizing PCVR we could have a community willing to pay for PCVR games and pre pay for their creation. It seems like narrowest point is not Quest but game developers. If they know they could earn on PCVR that will solve.

But that will not be $10-20 per game. It could be $50, $100 and more so it will be created.

Some services for croudfunding could be used to see if community likes future game ideas. Or there could be funding to make a demo first a then you could decide if the game is ok to make a complete version (or may be next level/chapter).

And more money we'll need to keep game alive (multiplayer servers) and updated.

How would you think are there people willing to pay developers much more then it is for ordinary game so PCVR will grow? Will you create a community? 🙂

Or there could be games supporting 2-3 VR platforms (like Vertigo games) or even some VR+2D games (Myst and others). So cost could be distributed.

And if a game exists both for Arm proc and PC then it could be a driving force for some to buy a PC with the same Quest to play same game with a more detailed graphics 🙂

And... there are rumors on Apple+(some other companies) hmd that could be Arm based also.

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