Last month saw the Oculus Rift pull even further ahead of the HTC Vive in Valve’s Steam Hardware Survey results, but the gap has narrowed again in May.
This month’s results show less than 1% difference in headset usage between Rift and Vive, with the former holding 46.1% of the overall VR usage and the latter coming in closely behind at 45.31%. That’s pretty much neck-and-neck, whereas last month saw Rift at 48.92% and Vive at 44.06%. Is it possible that, with a few months on the market now, the new Vive Pro has helped HTC regain some of the ground it’s lost? The 3K resolution and improved design certainly make it an attractive headset, though the $799 entry price is very steep.
The Vive, meanwhile, now costs $499. That’s its lowest price ever, though still $100 more than a Rift.
Perhaps it’s instead concerned with a fix for the survey Valve implemented last month, which addresses ‘over counting’ of ‘cyber cafe customers’, though this seems doubtful. The rest of the results are business as usual: Windows VR headsets remain in the 5% territory and 1.48% of VR users still have an Oculus rift DK2.
As always, we have to point out that the survey results aren’t a definitive means of tracking how many VR headsets are out there. It’s an optional survey that requires users to have used their VR headsets that month in order to be registered on the charts. With the gap this close, there’s no way of knowing for sure if it’s Oculus or HTC on top right now. It also doesn’t tell us how many units either company has actually sold.
After the Vive Pro’s release, it’s set to be a quiet few months for PC-based headsets now. How will these results look at 2018 reaches its second half, and will HTC pull back in front?
