Valve says it saw an 11% growth in new VR users on Steam in 2021.
The company noted as much in a Steam Year in Review post earlier this week. “Years ago, we made it a priority for SteamVR to be open and accessible, and worked to support as much hardware as we possibly could (even if it was made by our competitors in the space),” the post reads. “That strategy continues to reward end users and game developers. New VR users grew another 11% in 2021, with unique play sessions up 22%.”
As always, there are no actual hard numbers on exactly how many Steam users have a headset. The current Steam Hardware Survey does suggest that 2.12% of users are in VR, though.
The post also points out that Quest 2 made up more than a third of VR headsets used on Steam last year. But, as we reported earlier this week, the Steam Hardware Survey now indicates that nearly half of headsets used on the platform are Quest 2, and if you add in the original Quest the figure jumps to just over half.
Valve also notes that it didn’t release any new VR games of its own in 2021 following the release of Half-Life: Alyx in early 2020. There’s been a lot of speculation as to if the company will work on another VR game but, for now, the company is focused on the launch of its Steam Deck handheld PC. Still, recent hints from Gabe Newell and the team do suggest that work on Deck could one day lead to a standalone VR headset of its own.
