August’s Steam hardware survey results are now in, and the Oculus Rift takes its biggest leap over the HTC Vive yet.
Last month’s survey showed less than a 2% difference in the usage of the two leading PC VR headsets on Valve’s gaming platform, but that gap grew to just under 4% in August. Vive came in with 42.58% of the total share (down from 44.35% last month) and Rift took home 47.11% (slightly up from 46.18%). Valve also deemed Rift the most popular VR headset in use on its platform by 0.35%. Could the launch of Oculus’ Marvel: Powers United VR bundle have given the headset a boost in any way?
It looks like Microsoft’s Windows VR headsets will have had a part to play in that gap widening, as its share jumped from 6.41% to 7.18% this month too. This category covers a broad range of devices, many of which are regularly put on sale for prices well below the $499 Vive and $399 Rift, which has no doubt been helping them creep up the chart since launch last year.
The Hardware Survey is an optional survey that collects data about the hardware customers are using. Given that it’s opt-in and requires users to actually use their headsets instead of simply saying they own them, it’s by no means a definitive way of telling which VR headset is in the lead, though it does give you a hint as to some overall trends. Since launching in early 2016 neither Oculus nor HTC has provided official sales data for their respective headsets.
September brings a handful of big releases like Zone of the Enders 2 to Rift and Vive, though nothing that looks like it could really boost headset sales. All eyes will be on Oculus Connect 5 at the end of the month to see what Facebook’s VR team introduces to the future of VR hardware.
