HTC’s virtual reality app portal ‘Viveport‘, designed as a showcase for HTV Vive VR content, has it seems quietly made available at least some parts of the new platform, according to images posted online.
Update: A helpful Twitter follower (thanks @killercow) pointed out that this is available for download right here.
A series of images posted to the Oculus subreddit /r/oculus by user /u/mrunited2, seem to indicate a partially functional version of HTC’s online app portal for virtual reality content created for it’s Vive VR hardware (and of course SteamVR) – Viveport.
Not too much is known about the store’s functionality but, we do know it’s a downloadable, installable PC application that requires SteamVR to be pre-installed in order to run. By the looks of the images captured, the PC client’s functionality is very much Steam-lite – with app management and profile access.
As to what content you’re likely to see in this new app portal, it’s unknown at this time. It’s also somewhat unclear as to what Viveport’s relationship with Valve’s Steam platform, given the HTC Vive’s Valve engineered internals and the potential conflict of interest a new app store would suggest. HTC Vive game Hoverjunkers developer Stress Level Zero have suggested that the store is an effort to reach users in countries where access to Steam may be restricted and therefore allow them to download content via Viveport.
This story is breaking – we’ll add more information as we find it.