Will the performance ever improve for games on Go?

[Anonymous]

 I noticed that out of the 25 to 30 games I own 75% of them are not fully smooth.  This was the big reason why I bought Go because I always thought that it was my computers that were causing these problems with performance. Now that we are on an all included device I expected there to be no issues with performance at all.

Every game has some flicker or stutter that happens occasionally. I know that this is mobile VR but I feel that the performance should come before graphical textures being really high resolution and such. Don’t give me wrong I love some of these games still even with the kinks, but it would be fantastic to have a fully smooth experience even at the cost of some graphical fidelity. In VR immersion is king, and graphics are secondary.

 I know some of this comes down to the developer updating the games but if these games are on the store they should really push these developers to make them run really smoothly on Go. 

I am also wondering if this is just because this is just the first few oculus updates and they may figure out tricks like asynchronous space warp for mobile?

[Anonymous]

I guess everyone else is totally 100% loving the performance in some of these games on Go? The majority of the bigger games at that.

Just checking because I find it strange that out of the 200+ views only 3 people chimed in regarding this. 

I’d accept that this is as good as it will get because of limitations and I’ll get used to it and deal, but to say the all the experiences are smooth is a falsehood I’m sorry. 

Framerate > Graphics/Resolution = Better VR

[Anonymous]

I tried a third Go and the same hitches, loading lag and the like.

[AnnoyedDragon · Accepted solution]

Maybe I don't notice performance issues because I'm not 'in tune' with VR quirks, but the only slight judder I've experienced thus far was from the Darkness rollercoaster app; which I put down to porting. Drifting has been a far bigger issue for me and that's usually resolved by rebooting the device when on a flat surface, at least for me. There is also the odd crash to desktop, but that's usually caused by pressing the home button at a awkward moment.

We have to remember, pretty much all the content in store right now is a port from Gear VR. There is very little, if any, content that was designed for the Go from the ground up. Possibly the Oculus games but everything else is copied over, it's going to take time for things to settle down and we really start seeing native content.

[Anonymous]

@AnnoyedDragon very true that most of these games are just ports from Gear, and that puts things in more perspective and I appreciate your answer. I feel things will improve as time progresses like you mentioned and I can put up with these little issues until then. Thank you again for taking the time my friend! Cheers!!

[Anonymous]

Make the best of it for now anyone who feels the same about these older games. It will get better. It still would be nice to get these devs to improve these games since they will be making a lot more sales

[firagabird]

Based on your anecdotes & examples, I would guess that you're at the upper bound of the population that is highly sensitive to frame rate variations. You seem to be able to detect & get bothered by any form of reprojection, whether steady or brief. What I'm wondering is, does it bother you to the point that you can no longer enjoy any of the games you listed?

The thing is, the short answer to your question is: yes, of course performance will "ever" improve for games. There's always room for optimization in a title. The only question is whether the dev can afford to spend the time to do so. In practice, the vast majority of Go users are ultimately not bothered enough by occasional reprojection in games that their enjoyment is marred. Optimization is a process with diminishing returns, so devs won't work past that point. It's not ideal, but that's how you make a living in game development.

A great anecdote relevant to the question I posed to you at the start has to do with John Carmack (creator of Doom, currently Oculus CTO) and Minecraft for Gear VR (Go's smartphone-based predecessor). If anyone embodies the importance of maximizing the image quality in mobile VR, it's John. Graphically, Minecraft is not a perfect game. In its early versions, it broke basically every guideline that John set: it was horribly aliased, and stuttered occasionally, among others. Despite that, John found while he was testing it that he could set aside his many justified issues with the game and enjoy the immersion that playing Minecraft in VR provided.

I'm in a similar boat. I'm sensitive to technical imperfections in the experience of playing in VR. Whether it's noticing aliased textures or stuttering or blurry text, I'll notice it. Over time though, I've learned that these issues can be set aside if the game I'm playing is fundamentally engaging. I believe you can, too. If not, then unfortunately Oculus Go will not be a satisfactory VR experience for you. Your alternative though will be to return to PC VR & Rift, which is the only platform right now with ASW.