VR Usage on Steam Remains Below 1% -- I.E. About 720,000 Users

Upload VR helpfully compiled stats of VR usage on Steam throughout 2018, but as is often the case, what the stats actually mean depends on how you read them. Upload's headline, "Share Of VR Headsets On Steam Doubled In 2018", is one way to look at the numbers:

If you read mainstream news coverage of PC VR, you might get the impression that the ecosystem is “dying”- or even “dead”, but that’s not what the data tells us at all... Here is how the data changed throughout 2018 [chart above]. The data here is clear — PC VR has almost doubled on Steam in 2018 with 0.8% of Steam users now having a VR headset.

Yes, you could say VR usage doubled -- but only in the same way that $1 is double of 50 cents. Because overall usage on Steam (at least in terms of people with connected VR devices) remains below 1%. Or to put it in install base terms, since there's an estimated 90 million monthly active users on Steam (as of last October), about 700,000 people on Steam use VR. (Roughly split evenly between Oculus and Vive.) 

To Upload's point, it is noteworthy that VR usage on Steam has doubled over the last year, a testament to killer app games like Beat Saber. But from a developer or investor's perspective, VR is still a highly, highly niche platform. And while it might not be "dying", it's doubtful any of them (outside dedicated enthusiasts) will devote much of their energy to VR until usage gets closer to something like 25%.

Comments

[JohnC]

Private Hudson : Nine meters. Seven. Six.
Ripley : That can't be; that's inside the room.
Private Hudson : It's reading right man, look!
Corporal Hicks : Then you're not reading *it* right.
Private Hudson : Five meters, man. Four. What the hell?
Sometimes you have to believe what you see

[Hamlet Au]

LOL!

[Adam]

Here's a interesting chart, which was pointed out to me recently.

https://steamdb.info/graph/?compare=342180,448280,471710,496240,555160,578620,611660,611670,617830,620980

That's 10 popular VR games over time (and yes, there's some selection bias there, it's not all of them) - the key thing to note is that these are all VR-only games (no desktop users).

The interesting thing here to note is staying power - Fallout 4 VR, Skyrim VR, etc all were flash in the pan, people picked them up, and dropped them. What we're seeing with newer titles like Beat Saber is retention - people are going back into the games over and over again, which has not really happened with VR titles until the past 6 months or so.

That gives me some evidence that there is some long term viability here - the problems though are still numerous. A lot of the fundamental hardware issues have not been addressed yet; weight, comfort, heat/sweat, etc are substantially better than two years ago, but still not nearly as solved as they need to be; and the other big issue is space - not everyone has room for a 2x2m+ play area where they can sprawl out; that said, I think if the market grows 5-10x from now (to 10% of the PC gaming population), that's enough for a solid, but niche market segment, like RPGs/RTSs which occupy a similar %.

[TonyVT Skarredghost]

As with all data, you can read it in different ways. I read it as that VR is slowly taking foot. So, it will work, but it will require years