No VR Development? Good Bye

Eye-Opening Virtual Reality Statistics

  • The global VR market is expected to grow to $209.2 billion by 2022.
  • Global VR video gaming revenues are expected to reach $22.9B in 2020.
  • There are more than 171M VR users worldwide.
  • 78% of Americans are familiar with VR technology now.
  • The consumer VR market worldwide is set to reach $2.6 billion by the end of 2020.
  • Demand for standalone VR devices will grow over 16 times between 2018 and 2022.
  • 70% of VR headset-owning consumers have bought a game on it.
  • 14 million AR and VR devices were sold in 2019.
And all these new VR users will be looking for new VR conten.

Frontier not developing VR for Odyssey Big Mistake………HUGE
But 2% of steam users - duh!!! /s
 
If it was reversed and Odyssey was a VR only title and everyone who played flat screen got pushed out I'm sure your response would be quite different.
I think I made the same point a while back. Imagine having to 'disembark' and be faced with not 4k 120fps but 2 distorted stereoscopic images side by side in 1024 x 768 running at 30fps and being told, suck it up.
 
that's all I would want, I'm not interested about motion controllers in Elite. The last time I tried the vanity cam in a concourse my 3080 filed for divorce.
Sadly, you'd probably be cheaper getting divorced and marrying a new wife than getting a new GPU with todays prices... As for hand controllers? Realy cool as they are, I think there is too much work to put them in Odyssey. VR is niche, Elite is Niche so VR in Elite is Niche^2 (Squared), Hand controllers in VR in Elite would be Niche^3. Most or all of the code for VR headlook on foot is already there, hand controllers would be starting from scratch. There's all the inverse kinematics to do as well, and the hands to objects interactions for everything to retrospectively add to the game, as well as the physics for say throwing grenades or rocks to distract guards. Multiply the physics with the varying gravities and atmospheric densities and their associated aerodynamics, and Dayaam!!!!
 
Thanks for letting the forum users know that you are leaving, I've added you to the list.
The 19 minutes between you joining and informing us of your leaving have been truly inspirational.

View attachment 240934
Have fun in your next endeavours.
The expression "Get a life" does appear on my scanner for some strange reason.

I was just about to ask if you've ever felt a need for a quick rant, but I guess you already answered that ;)
 
I'm genuinely curious to know if there's any FPS-based game where mixing VR and non-VR users actually works well. For multiplayer NMS, do non-VR users have to put up with watching VR users teleporting and snap turning all over the shop?

I can see a version of VR-based control for the on-foot portions of Odyssey, but based on the state of the art for VR locomotion and interaction it would need to be very different from the control scheme that works well for non-VR users. If instead we're essentially asking for existing control and interaction schemes with VR headlook then it's likely that a significant portion of the already small VR audience wouldn't be able to tolerate it.

On a "where should we spend our development efforts" basis, it's understandable that FDev are saying that they'll keep up the current level of VR experience but have no plans to move beyond virtual pancake for on-foot.
 
I'm genuinely curious to know if there's any FPS-based game where mixing VR and non-VR users actually works well. For multiplayer NMS, do non-VR users have to put up with watching VR users teleporting and snap turning all over the shop?

I can see a version of VR-based control for the on-foot portions of Odyssey, but based on the state of the art for VR locomotion and interaction it would need to be very different from the control scheme that works well for non-VR users. If instead we're essentially asking for existing control and interaction schemes with VR headlook then it's likely that a significant portion of the already small VR audience wouldn't be able to tolerate it.

On a "where should we spend our development efforts" basis, it's understandable that FDev are saying that they'll keep up the current level of VR experience but have no plans to move beyond virtual pancake for on-foot.
Haven't touched NMS, so can't comment on it, but 90% of the VR titles that use teleporting do so to stop people being motion sick, for noobs. Elite players who can drive an SRV or SLF in VR won't need that nannying, besides, there is the "cinematic mode" virtual flatscreen (grey burquah) for those who need some crutches in VR. So, no, there wouldn't be any teleporting for VR on foot CMDRs, 90% of VR players only want VR headlook on foot, with normal keyboard and mouse and or gamepad for controls.
 
Haven't touched NMS, so can't comment on it, but 90% of the VR titles that use teleporting do so to stop people being motion sick, for noobs. Elite players who can drive an SRV or SLF in VR won't need that nannying, besides, there is the "cinematic mode" virtual flatscreen (grey burquah) for those who need some crutches in VR. So, no, there wouldn't be any teleporting for VR on foot CMDRs, 90% of VR players only want VR headlook on foot, with normal keyboard and mouse and or gamepad for controls.
I'm not sure a world where FDev now need to maintain two on-foot VR systems, each for a subset of the [already small] VR player base, feels like a sensible allocation of their resources. And I don't for one minute think that this implementation would stop the forum grumbling of those in the second camp who "just" want snap turning and teleportation so they can get rid of the virtual screen.

FWIW I was playing Odyssey with SmoothTrack-based head tracking recently (as a VR player myself, I absolutely agree that Odyssey performance isn't yet where it needs to be to make VR a comfortable option) and it totally messes up weapon aiming. I couldn't hit a damn thing because the target reticule was following my headlook and wasn't at all where the bullets were firing. I suspect this is just one example of many where just adding VR headlook would cause issues, which is why we ended up with the virtual screen.

Incidentally, can we all agree to stop using the "grey burquah" term? It's far too wrapped up in racially connotations, especially when being used to describe something you find undesirable. If you don't think "virtual flatscreen" gets the point across, "letterbox" or "pillbox" worked well for years to describe a constrained viewport, with almost no chance of offending.

Edited (hopefully) for clarity (and spelling)
 
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I'm not sure a world where FDev now need to maintain two on-foot VR systems, each for a subset of the [already small] VR player base, feels like a sensible allocation of their resources. And I don't for one minute think that this implementation would stop the forum grumbling of those in the second camp who "just" want snap turning and teleportation so they can get rid of the virtual screen.

FWIW I was playing Odyssey with SmoothTrack-based head tracking recently (as a VR player myself, I absolutely agree that Odyssey performance isn't yet where it needs to be to make VR a comfortable option) and it totally messes up weapon aiming. I couldn't hit a damn thing because the target reticule was following my headlook and wasn't at all where the bullets were firing. I suspect this is just one example of many where just adding VR headlook would cause issues, which is why we ended up with the virtual screen.

Incidentally, can we all agree to stop using the "grey burquah" term? It's far too wrapped up in racially connotations, especially when being used to describe something you find undesirable. If you don't think "virtual flatscreen" gets the point across, "letterbox" or "pillbox" worked well for years to describe a constrained viewport, with almost no chance of offending.

Edited (hopefully) for clarity (and spelling)
IF I had my way, I'd leave the grey burquah letterbox to die of neglect, but with the proliferation of new headsets, there will be VR noobs, and they might feel queasy on foot, so leave the burquah as an option for them. It won't need much maintenance, it's basically a pipelined version of the flatscreen rendered in a window on the headset, so it would inherit any upgrades to pancake displays.

"Headgun" is the worst, what would be needed is normal keyboard and mouse or gamepad controls to control movement and aiming, with VR headlook being separate, somewhere akin to the experience of someone with a headtracker like the ED tracker, TrackIR 5 or FacetrackNOIR (free webcam based head tracking software).This sort of setup is not uncommon in games that support headtracking like ARMA, or even Elite Dangerous. [fact check] Horizons supported headtracking, headtracking was one of the many things Odyssey borked, and I don't know if it's fixed yet.
 
IF I had my way, I'd leave the grey burquah letterbox to die of neglect, but with the proliferation of new headsets, there will be VR noobs, and they might feel queasy on foot, so leave the burquah as an option for them. It won't need much maintenance, it's basically a pipelined version of the flatscreen rendered in a window on the headset, so it would inherit any upgrades to pancake displays.

"Headgun" is the worst, what would be needed is normal keyboard and mouse or gamepad controls to control movement and aiming, with VR headlook being separate, somewhere akin to the experience of someone with a headtracker like the ED tracker, TrackIR 5 or FacetrackNOIR (free webcam based head tracking software).This sort of setup is not uncommon in games that support headtracking like ARMA, or even Elite Dangerous. [fact check] Horizons supported headtracking, headtracking was one of the many things Odyssey borked, and I don't know if it's fixed yet.
I tried headtracking. It works, but it's a little weird. You can tell they did something strange with the reticle for on foot gameplay. I have Voice Attack so whenever it started feeling off I would just re-center the headlook and it fixed the issues. I admit I didn't really give it a thorough test.
Just a "Well, it kinda works but not for me."
 
I tried headtracking. It works, but it's a little weird. You can tell they did something strange with the reticle for on foot gameplay. I have Voice Attack so whenever it started feeling off I would just re-center the headlook and it fixed the issues. I admit I didn't really give it a thorough test.
Just a "Well, it kinda works but not for me."
I have been using TrackIR with my 34" ultra-wide 1440p monitor for quite some time in this game (Horizons). The few times I forgot to put my headset on before launching had me twisting my head around trying to see things and gave me a bit of an unbalanced feeling. But then I'm weird. (y)
 
...
when I say warehouse, it's actually a rickety old allotment shed, shared by a family of angry badgers
I'm curious, are they angry by nature or because you keep trying to horn in on their space?
...
Also, new content will be coming (per their stream). Dunno what it is though at this point
Lower your expectations then prepare to still be disappointed. I'm willing to bet it's literally gonna be landlegs shooty shooty against Thargoids.
This is why FDEV doesn't communicate bad news. 'We wish FDEV were more honest with us and just talk to us like adults.' FDEV gives straight answer. 'No! Waaaah!'
It's like ripping a band aid off, moment of pain and anguish... then, decision on whether to leave or to stay with actual knowledge of where the game is headed. Honesty is better!
Fdev 1 year ago: no plans for vr in Odyssey at this time
FDev today: no plans for vr in Odyssey
People: you mislead us, "at this time" meant "definitely"

(I'm actually not stretching the truth by much there)
1 year ago: VR not in at launch (end of information dump)
Today: No further plans for VR (suck it cause you already paid for it)
 
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