vive-cosmos-elite-virtual-reality — Image courtesy HTC

More Than 100 VR Games Have Exceeded $1 Million in Revenue

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Feb 25, 2020

While VR is still young, it crossed an important milestone at the start of 2020: more than 100 VR games have exceeded $1 million in revenue.

In an analysis published earlier this month, VR Fund investor Tipatat Chennavasin made the case that 2019 was a significant inflection point for the VR industry.

Based on data gathered from the major VR storefronts—Steam, PlayStation Network, Oculus PC, & Oculus Rift—and insights from developers, Chennavasin estimates that a total of 106 VR games have exceeded $1 million in revenue. And nearly half of that has come in the last 12 months alone.

What’s more, among those 106 titles, some have rocketed past the $1 million milestone; Chennavasin reports that the top seven titles have exceeded $10 million in revenue, with the leading title pulling in a whopping $60 million. By this time next year, he expects, the first VR game could reach the $100 million milestone.

The number of titles reaching $1 million or more is a key data point, Chennavasin said, as it demonstrates that success in the VR space is repeatable; VR is no longer a developer’s playground, it’s a platform offering real opportunity.

Analysis: Monthly-connected VR Headsets on Steam Reach Record High of 1.3 Million

As a whole, he estimates that VR game revenue in 2019 reached $300 million across platforms, a major boost compared to the years prior, driven partly by Quest but also by significant growth from the other major platforms as well.

See Chennavasin’s full report for more data and analysis on the state of VR today.

gothicvillas

“The Only Way is Up”
Adil H

I think VR player pay much more in VR content than a regular player.
I don’t know if there are statistics between the average of normal consumer purchases compared to non VR players consumers.
- Lulu Vi Britannia
  
  Not at all. Most VR games are three times cheaper than flat games, and people don’t buy three times more VR games than flat games…
  - CHRIS
    
    well i have 50/50 ratio. about 1000 games total.
    - Lulu Vi Britannia
      
      Yes, and that’s very far from the “three times more”, so that’s exactly what I was saying ^^’.
NooYawker

How much did it cost to develop, say Beat Saber or Arizona Sunshine? obviously Beat Sabers cost is low compared to something more complex like AS. But for a game like Asgards Wrath which I heard was in development for 3 year to only pull in 1 million doesn’t sound like a win.
Now I’m not knocking this news, this is good news for VR to have increased revenue, but we need a lot more VR consumers. We need another player that isn’t Facebook to put out a good headset at a decent price.
- Firestorm185
  
  I totally agree. It seems like every other major player besides Facebook is aiming at too high a pricepoint, and it’s causing very little competition for Facebook in the budget range. If VR really wants to grow that 400$ price range needs WAY more competition.
  - Lera
    
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- Xiaolong Ma
  
  Asgard’s Wrath has pulled in at least $4 million — maybe $10 million — only 4 months after release. See the original article, which also compares Beat Saber against Angry Birds, a similar success story in the mobile market.
- Guru Guy
  
  Games like Asgards Wrath, funded by Oculus, are not looking for a financial ‘win’, the studios are taken care of by Oculus who is trying to expand the market with AA-AAA titles.
  - NooYawker
    
    I think exclusives hurt the market, these games only help Facebook. The average consumer is not going to know how about revive.
    - Guru Guy
      
      The average gamer is not in VR. Exclusives are the only way studios are going to spend the type of funding needed to develope a AAA made for VR game. Exclusivity is completely opposite of hurting the VR market – its allowed many games to be made that wouldn’t otherwise have been made – with little financial risk to the developing studio.
      - NooYawker
        
        But that’s the goal, to get a larger VR consumer market. How is the VR market supposed to grown if only hardcore technically savvy users buy VR gear?
        Facebooks exclusive deals hurts the VR market as a whole. It only helps oculus sales.
      - Guru Guy
        
        Nobody is gonna come to VR with no games to play, it doesn’t matter what system they adopt. You are omitting Oculus Quest and PSVR in this,scenario which you shouldn’t. Even if you only look at PCVR, being able to sell hardware at or near cost and subsidize AAA gaming with Oculus ecosystem the way Oculus has is certainly bringing more people into VR than if they couldn’t justify doing that by having non-exclusive games.
      - NooYawker
        
        There’s plenty of games on steam Boneworks and Saints and sinners are the best VR games available and Alyx is coming out. Steam is driving the VR market. Facebook is just helping themselves.
      - Guru Guy
        
        Opinions can vary widely on “Best Games Available” so I am not going to argue that. I will say that Oculus Studios have funded more made for VR games than anyone else and it’s not even close.. Steam certainly is not driving the VR market like that, $400 all-in-one systems like the Quest and affordable/subsidized VR is – and in order to get those prices we have exclusivity. It doesn’t matter what Facebook’s long-term goals are, what they are doing for VR right now is good for VR. The market would be nowhere near what it is if it was not for their money.
      - NooYawker
        
        Sure and if Steam wasn’t in the game we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are, and without the announcement of Alyx it would be even worse. Without Playstation who sold 5 million PSVR’s which outsold Steam and Facebook we wouldn’t be where we are. Bottom line is the announcement of Alyx has done more for VR than anything Facebook has ever done.
        
        You can spin it anyway you want, Facebooks exclusives only helps them.
        
        And don’t forget before Facebook bought oculus it was Valve helping them with a ton of VR tech that he gave to them for free. Valve has given other companies royalty free tech to build their devices. It’s valve pushing the industry along, not FB. FB only works for FB.
      - Guru Guy
        
        I’m not spinning anything I’m presenting facts, which you seem to be ignoring and then claiming a game that’s not even out yet has done more for VR. That’s just silly. Half-life is certainly valves best effort to help bring more gamers into VR but it’s not even out yet. If they really wanted to do what Oculus is doing they should subsidize the hardware as well. Quite frankly until Quest started catching on the outlook for mainstream VR was looking pretty bleak. Even with the billions Oculus has put into VR, the market was barely viable for lower budget productions.
        
        it seems quite clear that you’re coming from a valve fan standpoint and not a broader outlook of where VR is currently at. I could care less if Oculus or Facebook or Valve or Sony has the most market share, but it’s fact that Oculus and Facebook has been the leading force in driving VR to date.
      - NooYawker
        
        If you don’t believe Alyx has spurred a huge growth in sales and drawn major media attention then it’s obvious you are in a deep state of denial. No wonder you so confused.
- TonyVT SkarredGhost
  
  I know some numbers of money that Facebook has given to make Robo Recall, Vader Immortal, etc… and trust me, they don’t even need to sell the game to make it profitable…
impurekind

Good stuff.
sfmike

Goo news but we have to keep the momentum going.
iThinkMyCatIsAFlea

“More Than 100 VR Games Have Exceeded $1 Million in Revenue”

50,000 x $20 = 1,000,000

And that’s if the games only cost $20.

Not that great is it?
- Lulu Vi Britannia
  
  Read the article. The top 7 is above 10 million. Besides, if we look at the total revenue on the market, we’re above 300M$. For a market that was born 4 years ago, it’s far from bad, and yes, it can be called great.
  - iThinkMyCatIsAFlea
    
    Please post the prices of those 7 games.
    
    If we increase the price from $20 to $40:
    
    50,000 x $40 = 2 million $
    
    175,000 x $40 = 7 million $
    
    Those figures are terrible. There’s probably a “hardcore” vr crowd of around 200,000 that are buying these games.
    - Lulu Vi Britannia
      
      You keep talking about the number of people who buys games. It doesn’t matter at all from a company’s perspective, buddy. What matters is the revenue, and so many games past 1M$ revenue, in a market that is 99% indie, it’s great numbers.
- CHRIS
  
  more than 1 million! not 1 million. say 10 million?
Lulu Vi Britannia

Damn, 2020 is already a good year for VR! Hopefully this will convince developers.
TonyVT SkarredGhost

Amazing piece of news!