Valve thinks mainstream consumer VR tech is two years away and confirms it doesn’t have any plans to developer its own VR hardware.
While virtual reality tech Oculus Rift has been making waves since it was first announced, Valve thinks mainstream consumer versions of the hardware won’t be ready until 2015. This was revealed by the company at the developer-only Steam Dev Days conference. According to conference attendee Dave Oshry, Valve pegs that by 2015, it will be feasible for VR tech to feature: 20 ms motion-to-last latency, 3 ms pixel persistence, 95 Hz refresh rate, 1K x 1K resolution per eye, offer high-quality and well-calibrated optics, and millimeter-accurate tracking.
Also from the conference, Valve confirms that it has no plans to develop its own VR hardware, but mentions it will work with Oculus “to drive PC VR foward,” since it’s “the obvious candidate.” As for VR development, Valve claims “the PC will be the hotbed for VR,” and that Linux, Windows PC and Mac will be the “VR epicenter.”
In related VR news, Valve has launched SteamVR beta for the Oculus Rift just before the Steam Dev Days started. While VR tech might be the future of gaming, actual games on the tech might be more expensive — a notion Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe thinks is a real possibility. If you’re curious what it’s like to use the Oculus Rift, make sure to read our hands-on impression of the device at this year’s CES.
Do you agree with Valve that VR for consumers is two years away or will it take even longer than that?
