Bigscreen, the social VR app which lets users connect in a virtual environment while retaining the ability to use (and share) their own PC desktop content, now supports Microsoft’s ‘Windows Mixed Reality’ VR headsets. In 2018, the app will offer cross-play with mobile users on Oculus Go, Gear VR, and Daydream, as well as PSVR.

Bigscreen is all about letting you do anything you can do normally on your PC—play games, watch movies, browse the web, and much more—but with your friends in VR. It’s a simple idea which is incredibly powerful given the depth of capabilities already available to your PC.

Having earlier this year made major strides in desktop streaming quality between users, and just recently debuting larger rooms that can support “dozens” of users, the company today broadened their offering to support the recently launched Windows VR headsets. Previously available on the Oculus store and Steam, Bigscreen is now also available on the Microsoft store. The app continues to be free, as it has been since launch.

Coming in 2018, Bigscreen is going to open its doors yet further. To start, sometime in Q1, the app will come to all major mobile VR platforms: Gear VR, Daydream, and the forthcoming Oculus Go headset. Following the mobile rollout, the app is also headed to PSVR.

But what to do on the mobile and PSVR versions of Bigscreen when those platforms aren’t backed by a Windows desktop from which to run PC games and apps? Fortunately, all versions will support cross-play, meaning the mobile and PSVR versions of the app will function largely as a means of consumption and communication—non-PC players will be able to join the rooms of PC players to chat and watch shared content; great for friends who just want to watch TV shows or movies together.

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Speaking of movies, the mobile and PSVR versions of Bigscreen will also be able to tap into the platform’s forthcoming lineup of timed content screenings in the app’s cinema; in 2018, Bigscreen promises fresh weekly content being shown each week.

Up to today, Bigscreen tells Road to VR that the app has seen some 340,000 users across Rift and Vive.

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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."
  • Ragbone

    It would be very cool if Big Screen allowed you to make and save your own room and customise it, custom layouts, furniture, props etc. Like in the Sims when creating a room.
    This is one of the best experiences available and useful in so many ways.

    • nekrololi

      This!
      I would absolutely love that feature.
      One of my biggest wishes for VR is to recreate my childhood home that my grandparents owned.
      They passed away and I’m no longer able to live there so being able to create a virtual replica of that home would bring me lots of joy.

      • Ragbone

        Yeah, that would be so cool.

  • Ragbone

    It would be so nice to be able to watch live sport events too, even have a bar scene with tv displays in it etc.

  • Muzufuzo

    Quite late but I’m happy anyway.

  • Rise_of_Chaos

    Anyone find Big Screen in the Microsoft Store?

    • Cy James

      Wasn’t downloading earlier today, but now it is. The problem is, it seems to be missing the little data pad thing that was kinda like a control center. That let you switch rooms and positions and what not. I was just stuck in the default room.

      • Cy James

        Ok found it. You have to push the motion controller stick ‘in’ to bring it up, not the most intuitive method – I almost gave up. Other than that, I’m happy to finally have a native app for bigscreen on MR.

  • Barbara

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    On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $11752 this last four weeks..with-out any doubt it’s the most-comfortable job I have ever done .. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it…

  • Armando Tavares

    Great news for Win MR.

  • drd7of14

    Really curious how the PSVR support will be handled…If you can share any title you are playing on the PS4, or if BigScren PSVR will only act as a client connecting to other hosts. Putting aside the console’s resources, would SONY even allow something like that?

    I suppose if it’s treated more in the sense of an app…But it would allow for a much more open form of sharing media on a console. Bigscreen is like super twitch, so I’m all down if it is integrated well. Can’t wait to see what the team can accomplish.

    • G-man

      It would be pushing the console just to render bigscreen. No way you can then play a full game and upload the stream of ot at the same time

      • drd7of14

        Twitch does it, so it’s certainly plausible…Just not sure if it’s possible. The PS4 does have multitasking compatibility with selective apps. But with it being quite selective, and adding the rendering for the BigScreen environment on top of that, that’s why I was curious as to how they’d accomplish it.

        The only purpose of having BigScreen on PSVR would be as a visual client otherwise, which sounds like a great time honestly…But it’d be nice to have the added advantage of playing Rocket League in BigScreen with PSVR as one would with BigScreen on PC.

        Sharing your PS4 output screen with other users isn’t really the problem. What’s questionable is rendering the, albeit limited, Theatre environment as well. But maybe they can do it, cause it’s not like much is going on aside from lighting, sound, other players (which can be cut down to 4 if stressed by PSVR limits), the screens, and objects players draw.

        It would certainly be the first title to integrate a games output through another game/app directly. We’ll see that they do though, as that is the Big question. At the minimum, at least we’ll be able to watch programs (I assume with other platforms, such as PC) and other browser stuff together.

      • Tim Beauchamp

        it’s not going to be pushing the console just to render the shared VR room, if PSVR can run RE7 VR I think it can manage to let you sit in a room with some cartoony avatars, which is what you’ll be limited to doing on the PS4, assuming it is actually ever released for it.

        • G-man

          except bigscreen isnt just a cartoonish envioronment with little avatars. its got pretty realistic dynamic lighting, running that scene at 60fps to the vr headset and then also rendering a regular playstation game that moist of the time barely run over 30fps, its not going to happen. the environment would have to beextremely simplistic, if not just a black void so there is next to no horsepower taken away from running the game.

  • brian

    I tried it on go and i was amazed that it works. We did have issue where after 5 people came in the room it got supper choppy like 5fps, but maybe that bug can be overcome. The UI for go is basic and easy to use with big buttons. Crossplay is great!

  • Daniel Roa

    its been a year and bigscreen has yet to come to mobile or PSVR. next youll say its coming to labo vr!