Each month there’s an thrilling wait to see what tendencies emerge within the PC gaming market by way of the Steam {hardware} survey. This month, there’s little or no to speak about from a standard part facet, however an simple pattern has emerged inside VR gaming, and Valve is on the unsuitable finish of the end result.
Whereas the Valve Index is among the many finest VR headsets you should buy proper now, there’s a regarding pattern throughout the VR share on Steam that reveals gamers are much more all for each the Meta Quest 3 and its predecessor.
After a couple of months of temperamental ends in the VR part of the Steam {hardware} survey, the general proportion of Steam customers who actively use a VR headset has grown to 2.24%, which quantities to a 0.40% enhance total. It is a notable 1% enhance over October 2023, the month that the Meta Quest 3 launched.
This growth has been pushed by the Quest headsets, and the Quest 2 nonetheless sits atop the listing of VR headsets used on Steam with 40.64% of the share, a 2.77% enhance over final month.
As for the Quest 3, regardless of nonetheless being very new to the market, it now sits in third place, proudly owning a 14.05% share, and as I’ve alluded to earlier than, this quantity will proceed to develop over the approaching 12 months and it may very properly surpass the Quest 2 earlier than lengthy.
The Valve Index, although, has suffered a considerable lack of 3.17%, dropping to a 15% share, which means the Quest 3 may overtake it subsequent month based mostly on present trajectories.
With no information on a Valve Index successor and nothing seemingly on the horizon, curiosity may stay low in Valve’s VR headset whereas Meta continues to mop up curiosity from PCVR and standalone customers alike.
Viewing the broader VR gaming market, the true recognition of the Quest headsets is difficult to gauge solely. So many are bought with no intention to make use of them with Steam, which means they wouldn’t crop up within the month-to-month {hardware} figures. We’re nonetheless awaiting official statistics from Meta, however provided that the Actuality Labs division simply posted its first-ever $1 billion month, it’s secure to imagine VR gaming is properly and really flying proper now.
When you have a VR headset however aren’t certain which video games to play, our information to one of the best VR video games can supply some inspiration.
