Oculus virtual reality headsets now make up over 50% of the VR hardware on Steam as of the end of September. This isn’t the first time Oculus has hit this mark, but we have reason to believe that it is going to stick this time. The last time Oculus held over 50% of the market share was when the Rift was reduced down to $399 and the Windows headsets and the Vive Pro had yet to come out. Now with all the hardware already on the shelves, and the Cosmos holding a high price tag, and the Oculus Link to be available soon, Oculus is going to increase in hardware share.
The biggest reason for jump was the Rift S increasing in sales. They jumped from 10.85% in August to an impressive 13.03% in September. Although it doesn’t sound like a huge jump, for one pice of hardware, that is an incredibly impressive number. The Rift S is the older brother to the Rift, as it is better in all aspect of virtual reality. It also had a cheaper release price, which has been leading to more sales in the first half year. You mix all of that with the ability to track from the embedded cameras on the headset, and you have a recipe for top-selling virtual reality headset.
The Valve Index has also seen an impressive jump as well, as it went from 3.32% in August to a humble 4.98% in September. For a headset that is one dollar cheaper than $1,000, it is impressive to see that number early on its life. The resolution and field of view are much better than any other consumer headset on the market right now. It also has incorporated more realistic audio with near-field speakers and controllers that are a premium in virtual reality.
Windows Mixed Reality headsets continue to take major dives into the ground as the months continue. Not only are they not being sold at the same rate they once were, but they aren’t being used by nearly the same amount of people as before. This month was their biggest plummet in months seeing their usage rate go down from 8.24% to 5.87%. It seems as though all of those users directly hopped onto the Valve and Oculus bandwagons. With that being said, it is unlikely to be linked to the lack of production of the headsets, just lack of interest to use them. The original Rift and Vive are hard to find, but they are still being used as heavily as ever.
Microsoft’s headset is a simple $150, but the quality of product and the compatibly with Steam to be enough to keep a large amount of customers from buying this headset.
More important than all of this hardware information, the virtual industry is growing at a rate that is getting very fun to keep up with. In August, out of all users of Steam, only 1.04% were using virtual reality headsets to play games. The number in September jumped to 1.09%, the largest number Steam has ever seen for this platform.
The numbers will only continue to grow as Stormland, Asgards Wrath, and more AAA games hit the market at the end of the year. That along with the Oculus Link adding another PC VR headset to Oculus’ stash could make the end of year more important than ever before. We are expecting an all time high in January for Steam VR usage, and record breaking months along the way. For more VR news and updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
