The HTC Vive is a marvel of modern engineering, but it is sometimes critiqued for having a library filled with demo-like content. Despite having over 500 VR options for customers to chose from on Steam, the Vive still only possesses a handful of truly memorable experiences. That may be changing, and changing soon, according to one HTC executive.
In an interview with HTC’s VP of content, Joel Bretton, the following exchange took place:
UploadVR: Do you think it would be safe to say that within the next 6 months we’ll see an experience coming out on the Vive that is at the scope of what people want from this generation of VR?
Joel Bretton: Yes, absolutely. I’m confident that’s going to happen within the next 6 months. Hopefully we’ll be far enough along here in the next couple of months to let people know what’s being worked on but it’s absolutely going to thrill and delight VR fans when they get to know what’s actually being developed for them right now.
Bretton’s remarks indicate that HTC is actively working to cultivate top-tier VR content for its platform. This may seem like an obvious statement, but the truth is the industry at large has heard very few comments from either HTC or its partner company Valve on the subject of content compared to Sony and Facebook.
Both Oculus (Rift) and Sony (Playstation VR) have never missed an opportunity to point out the robust lineups on their platforms and, more importantly, the time and money they’ve spent to cultivate these titles.
Earlier this month Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, stood on a stage and revealed to the world that Oculus and Facebook had already spent $250 million on VR content development, and that it would be spending at least another $250 million in the future. Sony recently released the Playstation VR with 50 games of its own, many of which were produced by experienced development studios.
HTC and Valve, however, have taken what looked like a more hands off approach. Many of the titles available for Vive are either partially unfinished, limited in their scope, or created by small teams.
In another comment, Bretton revealed HTC is working with at least 30 development teams to bring this content to market. These quotes from Bretton could indicate that HTC has begun to take big steps toward software parity with Oculus and Sony.
This has never been more important now that the Vive’s two most significant weapons, its hand tracked controllers and “room-scale” capabilities, are being matched in part by the PS VR and will be met by the Rift once Oculus Touch launches in December.
Time will tell just how delightful these yet-to-be-revealed experiences actually are. Fortunately, it seems we will know more in less than six months.
