In preparation for the launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Valve has enhanced the categorization of VR games listed on Steam.

Steam first added a basic ‘VR Support’ category all the way back at the end of 2013, back when the Oculus Rift was the only consumer VR headset on the map (long before the announcement of the HTC Vive). Spotted by Reddit user MissStabby, the company has now expanded on the categorization structure of virtual reality games sold through Steam.

The enhancements now detail the specific headset which the game supports (currently between the Rift and the Vive), the type of input the game supports (keyboard, gamepad, or motion controller), and the Play Area (seated, standing, or room-scale).

This move is further indication that Valve plans to support not only the HTC Vive through SteamVR, but also the Oculus Rift and any other headsets that use the company’s OpenVR API.

See Also: Valve Adds Support for Latest Oculus Rift SDK in SteamVR Update

Users can also use these categories in Steam search to find VR titles that suit their setup. The search page includes an expandable box on the right offering access to sort by the different VR category options. The store is currently showing 21 titles marked with Vive support and 24 with Rift support, however these numbers will increase as more developers make use of the new expanded categories (currently the more generic ‘VR Support category’ lists 235 titles).

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Jericho Wolfe

    Even though I’ll be getting the Rift and not the Vive I’m glad to see that Steam is taking this approach for all VR games that will be sold via their service as its still where I buy all my PC Games.

    • Tristan Harvey

      Until we see the Facebook/Oculus Store a la Apple. Open plateforming is not the way to go if you want to make a lot of money. Be ready, when the VR business will generate a lot of interest, we will (sadly) go back to a “console war” business model

      • Andrew Jakobs

        But Oculus already said their headset will be, and will stay open.. Yes there will be exclusives to Oculus store (for a while at least), but that’s with every onlinestore, Steam and windowsstore also have their exclusives..

        • Good thing there are ways to hack games and pirate them should the store for w/e reason be exclusive to Rift devices in other words only buying games w/ Rift but that cant be the case here.

          • care package

            ya sure glad hackers and pirates exists. Who doesn’t love ’em? Sometimes I just think they are under appreciated.

      • Exclusivity is a cancer to VR.

        Good thing hackers/pirates exist.

      • JoeD

        “Open plateforming is not the way to go if you want to make a lot of money” – so then Google must be broke.

        • Tristan Harvey

          JoeD….Apple is not in trouble either….I don’t know for sure but when VR will be ready for mass market acceptance I doubt that the major players will collaborate as openly as they are now.

          • JoeD

            No, not in trouble, but sorely lacking the market share that Android has. And part of that reason is their exclusivity. Exclusivity is, and always has been, a poor business model compared to the alternatives. If you want to make money you need to get your product in more people’s hands, that’s how you make money. Plus, exclusivity tends to turn consumers off – at least those who don’t have their noses so high in the air they drown when it rains. Companies don’t always do the most profitable thing, it turns out.

            http://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2015/05/07/apples-iphone-continues-to-lose-market-share-month-to-month/#604d5bc97be0

  • DonGateley

    Notice the lack of mention of the Gear VR. Samsung/Oculus/Facebook has a store that puts a stone walled garden around anything you can use it for.

    • Mateusz

      Gear VR is an Android based mobile system and as such is not compatible with desktop VR