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The Biggest Danger to VR - No AAA Must Have Games

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
VR is in its fledgling moments but to me it seems the battle for mass acceptance is already being made harder than it should be.  As a gamer what has always enticed me to new hardware is the prospect of playing awesome new games. If I give the Nintendo 64 as a prime example, when it released I was in awe of Goldeneye and how it looked and was desperate to play it.  I'm sure many of you feel the same when it comes to gaming and your purchasing decisions.

I get it, VR isn't a new console or PC but its a fresh display medium and frankly I am disappointed and worried at the same time that major publishers like Activision, EA, Ubisoft etc are not willing to take a bit of  a risk and develop a game for VR that everyone simply says "Wow, I must play that" when they see it.  Something that defines VR for the gaming generation and makes VR appear to be the must own device rather than at present an expensive toy for those who can afford it.  Sure, you can argue that it's the cost which dictates how many people can adopt VR right now but I believe this is nonsense even if it is mostly true. This conundrum shouldn't stop someone, somewhere grabbing the bull by the horns and putting in the investment to at least raise VR awareness.

The lack of investment in a AAA VR experience at launch speaks volumes about how publishers are viewing VR and frankly  I feel it's a bit of a cold shoulder treatment gamers are getting having given them [publishers] the opportunity to make massive profits from regular games in the first place over the years. It's like you have Valve at the forefront of VR with its Vive and yet where's the Half Life VR game at launch or at least a demo that people would no doubt lap up like drunken sheep? Again, people can argue developers are only just getting to grips with how to produce VR games and aren't ready yet, but once more I say this is nonsense and is tied to a willingness to invest in unproven hardware - both headsets weren't ready just six months ago as proven by how long the DK 1 & 2 have been available so software could have been developed some time ago.

What's really happening is the industry is looking at smaller indie studios to lead the way at the cost of stifling the progression of VR which is a shame. Let the indies take the risk and we'll mop up and take the reward if and when the time is right. Some people are suggesting the major players are waiting on the Playstation VR before showing genuine signs of wanting to put the cash down which is understandable, but again doesn't help VR by being tentative, cautious and uninvolved.  We have two massive operations one backed by Facebook and the other HTC and the almighty Valve who between them haven't managed to instil confidence as far as software is concerned which might be understandable for Oculus, but Valve? Really? I've already mentioned this is not a console launch - even if Sony believes their PSVR is being presented as a "new platform" (complete with a pricing model to match that ideal). So to expect a launch line-up of games that present VR in its best light doesn't appear to be the agenda, rather merely getting VR out there in the first place and planting the seed for much bigger things to come  even if it's years from now. However, I don't agree with this philosophy and  believe it's backward thinking. You only really need one or two showcase games to simply bowl over your potential audience and we just don't have those titles at the moment.

In my view the biggest threat to VR and in fact any new piece of hardware is the support it gets, and when you have such revolutionary tech being ignored by those who can make a difference in the industry, it's saddening. We've got E3 coming up in the next few months so maybe there will be a shift in perspective and much more interest from the major players, or at least Sony will be showcasing more of its products -  if Sony can do well then there's possibly hope for us all. But as far as Oculus and HTC/Valve are concerned, they both really need to get talking (not with each other but those who control the purse strings) and see some serious investment in AAA products otherwise VR is resided to a niche product rather than the foundations of a universal paradigm shift in how we play and interact with Video Games.

TL:DR version:

Where the hell are the AAA games from major publishers  and why haven't they invested a small % of their profits into VR experiences that SELL the idea to the masses?


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.
72 REPLIES 72

shadowfrogger
Heroic Explorer
I agree that the biggest problem now is for AAA companies to jump on board. Some investment is greatly needed from the big companies. Even if they start off with small budget but well crafted games. Or take a traditional game and make a mini DLC VR add on or stand alone purchase.
Or at the very least, a heavy VR modification from traditional games. Won't work for all games but better then nothing.
Visit my amateur homegrown indie game company website! http://www.gaming-disorder.com/

benplace
Rising Star
I would love to see a version of Madden where you look down onto the field and control the action...

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary

Chewie71 said:

By definition, Valve's The Lab is AAA title. So is Crytek's Climb. Both will keep you interested for a few hours. One is free with a full VR experience, the other is fifty bucks with nothing but a 360 view to call it "VR".

So there are your AAA titles. Welcome to VR.



Then you must have pretty low expectations or are deliberately misinterpreting what AAA means. Just compare what you've highlighted with games (and their budget) like Call of Duty, Battlefield and numerous other AAA games and then say yeh, The Lab (which is just  a collection of tech demo) is AAA.

Just to add a bit more, if we look at Tridef and VorpX why hasn't Oculus or Valve officially incorporated these pieces of software into their respective devices, why have they left it to third parties to do the work? It's staggering really to think between them they couldn't use this to their advantage and aid the experiences that require less work than fully investing in a new IP/product. I wonder if some people would have preferred these being offered and in working order than the free offerings like Lucky's Tale and Tilt Brush etc.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

bigmike20vt
Visionary
for me the biggest danger to vr is exclusive content for either hmd.  i am fine for temp exclusive stuff on the vive, after all we have no motion control yet, but once that comes both sets need to be supported, and both sets need to be able to access both stores imo.

Fragmentation means some people may ultimately not commit to either device not wanting to be in a betamax/vhs or bluray/hddvd scenario.... not to mention not wanting to get locked in so for eg being forced to buy a rift CV2 due to their games library being locked to oculus when they actually want a vive 2, or vice versa

there is already enough content out there for us to show confidence in VR and justify a purchase of a vr HMD in principle imo the only real questionmark right now is which one, and so long as both can run the same games, suddenly that decision becomes not such a big deal. (because even if you ultimately choose "wrong" it is not really the end of the world, kind of like if you buy an LG TV instead of a sony.. you may with hindsite decide it was a bad call and go a different route next time (I like LG btw) but ultimately you are not really left with a total lemon.
Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

RikkTheGaijin
Heroic Explorer


for me the biggest danger to vr is exclusive content for either hmd.  i am fine for temp exclusive stuff on the vive, after all we have no motion control yet, but once that comes both sets need to be supported, and both sets need to be able to access both stores imo.

Fragmentation means some people may ultimately not commit to either device not wanting to be in a betamax/vhs or bluray/hddvd scenario.... not to mention not wanting to get locked in so for eg being forced to buy a rift CV2 due to their games library being locked to oculus when they actually want a vive 2, or vice versa

there is already enough content out there for vr to show confidence in VR and justify a purchase of a vr HMD in principle imo the only real questionmark right now is which one, and so long as both can run the same games, suddenly that decision becomes not such a big deal.


Agree.

GenetixStudio
Superstar
Minecraft - that is a must play VR experience for me alone. The Climb just came out and it looks amazing, probably the best looking VR game available and certainly gives many AAA a run for their money, at very least with it's graphics. This is a new kind of gaming - we still don't know what AAA means for VR. I don't CoD or BF games, because I don't really play them a lot as it is - games like Chronos are already starting to define what a great adventure you can take in VR. The horror/survival genre could be amazing - and there is where I agree with you the most. I would love to see a Silent Hill game set in VR, that would be truly something special.

We will get there - and the big companies are dipping their toes in the water - Ubisoft's Eagle Flight looks great! Some are diving in, looking at Insomniac.

The best way to guarantee that AAA games, and more games in general keep coming to VR is to support them. I've not bought a single game on Steam, Playstation, etc since the Rift released. I plan to only purchase VR games for the next few months. I want to vote with my wallet, and show developers that they can be successful making VR games.

TheRedComet
Protege
Well, AAA games are made by developers that are just business. They only care about making money on the games, they don't care about what is cool, they just care about what will make them the most profit. 

We won't see AAA game developers jump in until they see a big incentive to spend money to develop that AAA game. 

bigmike20vt
Visionary
AAA is not really a term with any relevance for me any more. AAA to me used to mean highly polished quality title however nowadays i think it means yearly franchise same of carp with not enough time to fix any bugs or actually innovate.

Down get me wrong, we could do with some of the big franchises getting on VR as they do sell units, but the software which excites me is actually the more niche stuff, from smaller teams which actually  are clearly crafted with love.

just look at apollo 11, lunar flight, ETS2, and.... well there are so many really it is not fair to name drop some without name dropping others, but you catch my drift......  My jaw has been dropped to the floor more with these supposed "low budget" titles than all the CODs and BFs over the last 10 years put together!.

(and that is on my DK2, I have not taken delivery of my actual consumer unit yet!!! -roll on tuesday, my rift is currently sat in a warehouse an hrs drive from me now, i wish oculus had ponied up for sat deliveries!)


Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

nightauditor198
Adventurer
I kinda have to agree and disagree. I kind of aniticipated a bigger launch title from Valve, considering they are a software developer first. The rift launch lineup is decent, imo, but there is not a single "must play" title in there that would convince the masses.

However, I do think that there will be a lot of movement in the market as we move through 2016 to the christmas season. VR WAS the big talking point at GDC and that alone speaks volumes.

We´ll see what the first big title will be, but so far we haven´t seen it.

VizionVR
Rising Star
For my money, I'll take an experimental scratch built indie VR title over a AAA VR retrofit every day of the week. The former uses VR to its full advantage, while the latter tries to shoehorn VR into an existing product which leads to gimmicky, often broken gameplay.
Not a Rift fanboi. Not a Vive fanboi. I'm a VR fanboi. Get it straight.