Elite Dangerous VR news article...

[Zac Antonaci]

Hi everyone,

A news article has emerged which talks about Elite Dangerous and Oculus Rift. The article can be seen here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-confirms-no-official-support-for-oculus-rift

In case people are alarmed by the headline or confused on the details, we thought it best to reiterate what we've been saying since the release of the Oculus 0.6 SDK. As quoted in the story, we are actively working with Oculus and will keep the community updated as soon as we are able to do so.

We are keen to support VR in all its forms and we are proud to be leading the way in VR gaming.

Thanks,

Zac

 

[xyphic]

Hi Zac,

Are you able to comment on the following quote from the Kotaku article that quotes the Eurogamer article (phew!)?

"Frontier says it's deal to release Elite on the HTC Vive first has not stopped it from supporting Oculus but it is focussing on the one headset for now."

I've highlighted the concerning bit. Is this something that Kotaku have pulled out of their proverbial, or are Oculus owners really going to have to wait until Vive ships before we see proper support in ED?

Cheers,
xyphic

 

[Ozric]

Hmmm journalists making deliberately misleading titles to get people to read their articles...

Once again makes me think of the petition I signed to force newspapers to print retractions in the same size and place as the original article.

 

[Zac Antonaci]

Hi Zac,

Are you able to comment on the following quote from the Kotaku article that quotes the Eurogamer article (phew!)?

"Frontier says it's deal to release Elite on the HTC Vive first has not stopped it from supporting Oculus but it is focussing on the one headset for now."

I've highlighted the concerning bit. Is this something that Kotaku have pulled out of their proverbial, or are Oculus owners really going to have to wait until Vive ships before we see proper support in ED?

Cheers,
xyphic

Hey Xyphic,

I certainly can. I can confirm that there is no deal to release Elite on HTC first. Valve released a stable driver before Oculus but we remain in close contact with Oculus.

 

[Karnath]

Appreciate the update Zac

 

[Zac Antonaci]

No worries.

 

[xyphic]

I can confirm that there is no deal to release Elite on HTC first. Valve released a stable driver before Oculus but we remain in close contact with Oculus.

Thanks! It certainly looked like they'd made a dodgy inference in their article, nice to have confirmation.

 

[CMDR MAIN SEQUENCE]

Zac many thanks for the ultra-swift clarification. Looks like shoddy journalism by both websites.

 

[Tinman]

Zac many thanks for the ultra-swift clarification. Looks like shoddy journalism by both websites.

Now now...don't be like that.

Usually it's just shoddy journalism by one website...

...since all the other ones will just copy and paste...

 

[Arithon]

Thanks for the quick response here and on Twitter Zac.

The game news sites are all running with the click-bait headline, either implying Oculus is finished or Elite is.

Annoying as hell. An official response is helpful to reply with.

 

[JoshuaCalvert]

Hi Zac,

Thanks for clarification.

I have one question tho:
Even if you will manage to get both HMDs on par with launches can you confirm that there won't be any gameplay dumbed down in the future for any of the headsets (bacause of the superior walk space of Vive or differences of the controllers)? I think if there would be plans to create gameplay interactions that give superior experience on specific headset you should inform people of those plans before anyone buy the Headset. Of course until the first generation of VR passes.

P.S. Sorry for my not so good english..


Cheers,
Josh

 

[Voyager_NL]

Hi everyone,

A news article has emerged which talks about Elite Dangerous and Oculus Rift. The article can be seen here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-confirms-no-official-support-for-oculus-rift

In case people are alarmed by the headline or confused on the details, we thought it best to reiterate what we've been saying since the release of the Oculus 0.6 SDK. As quoted in the story, we are actively working with Oculus and will keep the community updated as soon as we are able to do so.

We are keen to support VR in all its forms and we are proud to be leading the way in VR gaming.

Thanks,

Zac

Hi Zac,
Thanks for clearing up yet another clickbait article. It's sad that these keep happening. It must be upsetting for both you and your user base (us).

As I pre-ordered an Oculus CV1 mainly for Elite (and Star Citizen) purposes it would be really nice if FD AND Oculus would/could give some more (technical) details on what is going on.
I am thinking along the line of:
- What kind of talks are you having with Oculus? (Devs vs. Devs or management vs. management)
- What exactly are the issues you are having. (with a bit more depth than: Direct mode is not working in our engine)
- What are the perspectives on how the collaboration with Oculus is solving this
- What KIND of timeframes are we talking about? (weeks or months, waiting or SDK1 first, etc.) Obviously based on the knowledge you currently have and no liability if things change yadayada [insert legal crap and such]
- Is the wait still on for SDK V1.0 or are you already progressing?

I'm not asking this to pin you guys down to those intricate details but because this is so DAMN interesting stuff.
I can imagine that some stuff is happening behind closed doors that we just won't ever be privvy of but I'm certain you should be able to share some details or progress information on this matter.
From my perspective only THIS kind of info will prevent such crap articles like Eurogamer just posted. Owh... and it might soothen our minds a bit as well ofcourse.

Many thanks for trying to make this happen to the whole team!
Cheers,
Voyager_NL

 

[Cyda]

Glad you cleared that up, Zac. I have my CV1 on pre-order and that was placed mainly because of Elite, so the thought of Steam VR getting all the love was a little concerning.

 

[Llyander]

Hello Zac,

So what's your response to this from Geeky-Gadgets.com -

Frontier issued the following statement: "We’ve supported VR for a few years now, and Elite Dangerous is arguably the world’s leading VR-ready game. We want to give players the best possible VR experience however they play – it’s something we talked about with Digital Foundry recently – and that means focusing our efforts. Right now, we’ve chosen to focus on SteamVR. We haven’t cut an exclusivity deal with any VR manufacturer, and we’re still working with Oculus on Rift support."

So when you say you're still working with Oculus, what does that actually mean if you've also stated that you're focusing on SteamVR support? You must understand that people are going to be very nervous about this considering how many people I know who bought the Rift specifically to play Elite, or are considering ordering the new version and need to know that they won't be left in the cold by your focusing on another hardware platform.

 

[Frank]

Thanks for the quick response here and on Twitter Zac.

The game news sites are all running with the click-bait headline, either implying Oculus is finished or Elite is.

Annoying as hell. An official response is helpful to reply with.

I guess the reason they know these sorts of sensationalist headlines will get the punters clicking is because they know of the popularity of VR. God knows how they can get away with it though. The truth is so obviously going to emerge with time.

 

[cherbert]

Hi everyone,

A news article has emerged which talks about Elite Dangerous and Oculus Rift. The article can be seen here: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-confirms-no-official-support-for-oculus-rift

In case people are alarmed by the headline or confused on the details, we thought it best to reiterate what we've been saying since the release of the Oculus 0.6 SDK. As quoted in the story, we are actively working with Oculus and will keep the community updated as soon as we are able to do so.

We are keen to support VR in all its forms and we are proud to be leading the way in VR gaming.

Thanks,

Zac

The thing I don't get is the vagueness in this and posts that have proceeded it. You really don't help the situation and there is no surprise that articles like this start making false assumptions.

What you don't ever actually say or confirm is that you intend on fully supporting the Oculus CV1. You cleverly avoid making any commitment by vaguely stating again and again that you are working with Oculus. What does that mean?

If Frontier had any confidence in the situation then you would be happily shouting from the roof tops that Elite Dangerous will fully support the Oculus CV1 come hell or high water. The fact is you haven't said that and one can only assume you don't have the confidence to commit to such a statement.

I know its basic PR spin but I really hate it and I think consumers find it frustrating. Speak to us properly and tell us what is going on.

 

[LordZoltan]

Hello Zac,

So what's your response to this from Geeky-Gadgets.com -

Frontier issued the following statement: "We’ve supported VR for a few years now, and Elite Dangerous is arguably the world’s leading VR-ready game. We want to give players the best possible VR experience however they play – it’s something we talked about with Digital Foundry recently – and that means focusing our efforts. Right now, we’ve chosen to focus on SteamVR. We haven’t cut an exclusivity deal with any VR manufacturer, and we’re still working with Oculus on Rift support."

So when you say you're still working with Oculus, what does that actually mean if you've also stated that you're focusing on SteamVR support? You must understand that people are going to be very nervous about this considering how many people I know who bought the Rift specifically to play Elite, or are considering ordering the new version and need to know that they won't be left in the cold by your focusing on another hardware platform.

If you imagine a shopping list of work that needs to be completed. Called the backlog.

The higher priority items are the 'focus'. Or items that are being allocated more dev time.

SteamVR is higher priority than Oculus, hence it's higher in the backlog. OR integration already saw a lot of work in the early days, but Oculus changed the game. Meanwhile Valve come along with a stable platform that will not change before release. So they need to work on getting that working -work they know they only have to do once -before potentially revisiting the OR support.

And, yes, that might mean it not working when CV1 ships.

And, yes I'd personally be really annoyed if that was the case (ordered a Rift and won't get a Vive).

But, as a software developer, I understand - it's pragmatism.

Keep the faith - FD are continually at pains to repeat that OR is not being ruled out, and being actively investigated. And, besides, if OR supports SteamVR (or the other way round)-then it'll happen that way anyway.

 

[Tinman]

The thing I don't get is the vagueness in this and posts that have proceeded it. You really don't help the situation and there is no surprise that articles like this start making assumptions.

What you don't ever actually say or confirm is that you intend on fully supporting the Oculus CV1. You cleverly avoid making any commitment by vaguely stating again and again that you are working with Oculus. What does that mean?

If Frontier had any confidence in the situation then you would be happily shouting from the roof tops that Elite Dangerous will fully support the Oculus CV1. The fact is you haven't said that and one can only assume you don't have the confidence to commit such a statement.

Are we reading the same text?

They say they are actively working on it.

You don't have devs actively working on something you don't intend to support...

They also say:

We are keen to support VR in all its forms and we are proud to be leading the way in VR gaming.

Pretty clear too me.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Great news for VR in general.

With most things like that if FD haven't said it themselves, I don't put any credence in the story.

To be fair to FD as well, They tend to only make an announcment when they are sure that the information they are giving is correct.

Lessons have been learnt from the past when they have been pressurised into making an announcement before they were ready I'd say.

Good on them.

Thanks Zac.

 

[xyphic]

They say they are actively working on it.

Actually, they don't quite say that. They say they are actively working with Oculus.

What that means is anyone's guess but I suspect the language has been carefully chosen.