Valve’s monthly Steam hardware and software survey is out, and it appears Oculus Rift is still gaining momentum over HTC Vive on the Steam platform as the number one VR headset among Steam users.

Each month, Valve runs the survey among Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and software is used by the user population, and to see how things are changing over time; that includes which VR headsets are connected to users’ computers. Participation in the survey is optional.

Rift first took the lead over Vive last month as the most used VR headset on the Steam platform, taking the market majority of VR headsets on Steam with a near 2% lead over its competitor. And the percentage points are still moving in Rift’s favor, making for an overall 4.86% lead over Vive.

image courtesy Valve

Steam acts as the de facto content store for HTC Vive users, but it also supports Rift too, meaning anyone with either headset can simply download any of the VR games there. Rifters however have access to their own exclusive content store, meaning some users can choose not to buy or connect via Steam, instead only downloading content from the Oculus Store.

One big reason for the shift: price. Oculus Rift currently sells for $400, which includes the headset, Touch controllers, and 2 sensors. HTC last month lowered the price of Vive to $500, which includes the headset, Vive motion controllers, and 2 SteamVR sensors. HTC is soon releasing its $800 HTC Vive Pro (headset-only price), which ought to make for an interesting survey next month as the Vive Pro launches April 5th.

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There’s still a contingent of Oculus DK2 owners still playing through Steam. The DK2, which launched in 2014, still holds 1.7% of the total share of VR headsets in use on Steam, a slight decrease from February’s reported 1.95%.

Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets, despite being offered by several established manufacturers ranging from $250 to $450, has slightly decreased by 0.04% reported usage since February’s survey.

The latest figures report a modest 0.06% increase in overall VR headset use when compared to the entire Steam population.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Sch@dows

    HTC pays here its decision to not adapt its price, despite the noticeable increase in sales from their competitor, saying they were satisfied with their sales.
    And the price tag for the latest Vive Pro is such a joke, that I don’t see how the trend will revert.

    HTC as makes bad decision one after the other, just like they did with their cellphone branch.

    It is time for Valve to find a new patner for their next headset upgrade.

    • Mei Ling

      Valve have multiple partners; they just develop the technology and “lease” it out.

    • Lol valve doesn’t need a new partner this is still a win for valve they don’t care if the vive dies it has already did it’s job of bring vr gamers to steam. Valve only care about their store front the money they get from lic. their tech to htc or who ever is a drop in the bucket to what they get from the games being sold that is why they are more than happy to support rift users if they cared about vive they would have made steamvr exclusive to vive. And do thing for a sec they didn’t do it to help vr grow they didn’t do it cause doing so would limit the amount of money they could make

      • daveinpublic

        This survey could also be a sign that Steam is getting used less and less. Rift users only show up if they go though extra steps to download/install Steam, and only then get tracked if they access Steam each month. Same with WMR. This graph is produced by Steam, which is a competitor of the other VR stores which are used by these headsets. For all we know, there are twice as many Rift and WMR headsets using their own stores and not bothering with Steam anymore. Don’t forget, Oculus Home has a lot of exclusives and quality content that Steam lacks, and they’re continually getting more with the many millions Oculus and Facebook faithfully throw at it.

        • CURTROCK

          Agreed. i read sometimes that people feel that the majority of RIFT users must be accessing STEAM, and that only an insignificant few stick with the Oculus store. In fact, i wouldnt be surprised if alot of RIFT users don’t bother with STEAM. Nothing against Valve, but i havent launched steam in a year. Putting on my Rift and entering HOME is frictionless.

          • Chris7

            Yep and there’s always issue w steam so whenever possible I use home.. Like butter

        • Caven

          More Rift headsets appearing on Steam is somehow a sign Rifts are being used less and less on Steam?! How does that makes sense?

        • Chris7

          Good to see someone’s paying attention, oculus is a blessing in the current content landscape and there’s a bunch of people who aren’t even bothering with steam when it’s avoidable because oculus runtime is so much better… Less issues, more VR
          I believe(from valves pov) htc is just a fall guy while valve builds a VR content libraryabd works on other deals with other manufacturers .

  • Jean-Sebastien Perron

    WMR will beat Vive by the end of 2018

    • Lol no. Sad but ms is letting they hmd die as they focus on AR over VR they think more money is in that.

      • daveinpublic

        The Samsung Odyssey is a pretty formidable competitor, even with the unreleased Vive Pro.

    • TheVillasurfer

      I doubt it. I mean look at the current gap between DK2 and WMR: Only 4%. That’s a 2014 hmd going up against several 2018 hmds.

      • beestee

        WMR for SteamVR is still technically in beta, and it functions as such although it has improved tremendously from the first version. It is a technical hoop to jump through to get a WMR headset working on Steam and therefore is a gate that casual users are unlikely to jump through unless they are informed of the difference between Cliff House and SteamVR Home.

        IF that setup process becomes more streamlined and better documented with the hardware, then the number will rise.

    • Lucidfeuer

      It’s a far-fetched possibility, but it probably won’t happen with the current line of WMR or in the year.

    • Sandy Wich

      Lol. No, it won’t.

  • Andres Velasco

    HTC is showing why their phone business collapse. They are not in disconnected with their buyers. They will continue to drop market share because people simple rather go for the cheaper and comparable solution. The RIFT is obvious choice on a financial standpoint. HTC will learn…the hard way. So I will see how long it will take for HTC come to their senses

    • polysix

      Comparable? I’ve owned both and rift, even though it’s now cheaper, is much better quality. Better ergonomics, better screens, better build, better packing, better controllers (inc sticks vs bad touchpads), better front end, better 1st party software (lone Echo, Robo recall etc).

      Overall rift has destroyed vive and ‘won’ gen 1, because it’s well balanced, nicely built and good to use. very comfy and easy to put on/off with one hand.

      I also had, and sold, PSVR and even that wasn’t as good as rift on ergonomics (even if you hear people raving about the headmount system it actually aches after an hour and still needs two hands – rift is like a cap and very fast and comfy one set). Also PSVR tracking is bad, controls are bad, power driving it is bad (but it is fun so anyone on the fence go get one VR is worth it at that price).

      On PC though, Vive started great, full of big ideas and cool concepts, but the reality didn’t pan out thanks to mostly very bad ergonomics and stupid wand controllers + more SDE than rift.

      Vive pro has barely addresed the many vive faults, so rift is still a much better GEN 1 product.

    • Chris7

      Even without the financial difference rift is right on par or better with vive quality imo

  • theonlyrealconan

    I have the Vive. And i do like the tracking, but after what they did for the Pro (keeping the same horrible lenses, no increase of fov, not better controllers, and horrible pricing), i am now waiting/supporting Oculus 2.

    • polysix

      I *HAD* the vive and sold it within 2 months (back at launch!) I made £400 on that sale as they were still in short supply. £1200! :)

      I bought a rift in the sale for just £400 and could not be happier. Honestly it’s like night and day vs vive, even if specs look similar. The ergonomics, controllers, screen clarity (sweet spot), SDE even the god rays are better… Rift has been pure joy to use daily, vive was a giant PITA thanks to silly controls (hate touchpads) and bad bad ergonomics.

      Tracking was good, yes, and less fiddly than rift, but rift is a one time set up then forget too. Vive had its tracking issues, more than my rift has in fact, vive had jitter and weird gremlins. And I hated drilling into the walls to mount them.

      Dump the vive,get a rift then wait for gen 2. I’ll also favor rift 2 over anyone else now as I’ve seen first hand the extra effort they put in to quality, fit and finish and software/front end. I’ve had dk2, vive and psvr, all gone, but Rift CV1 stays!

  • Alfredo Villar

    I do not recommend buying anything from Oculus. It has the worst customer service I’ve seen. I got some defective rift oculus on the screen and the solution they give me is to buy others, not only that, they do not have repair service, that is, if any time you break any component or it comes to you, they will not take charge.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b9ae5d03066f906ae20db24e9e25cd658170502ff07ac9fc93783158e71634cd.jpg
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/589cfe7b578fa94dfac45432c4dc96eb88c0449c8e9ba2257698574b075ca921.jpg

    • impurekind

      This is the exact opposite of my experience when I had an issue with my headphones. It was some of the best customer experience I’ve ever. I had a recent issue with a game purchase where they wouldn’t give me a refund though and that wasn’t as satisfying.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      bullshit, as they sell in the EU directly with it having to abide by the EU customer laws. Also there are also enough ‘horror’ stories about HTC’s customer service.. Also did you buy it directly from Oculus or did you buy it in a store?

      • Alfredo Villar

        Directy from Oculus and I dont know why you say that this is a bullshit.Do you say that I am lying?
        I know a lot of stories that happened same thing , I dont know if It happens with HTC Vive too but It doesnt change the fact that Oculus consumer service is awful and they have not shame.they do not respect the EU consumer’s law

      • Jeremiah

        The EU are worse than Facebook.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          funny, you must be an US citizen, if you want to talk about something that’s worse than the EU……….

          • Jeremiah

            Wrong and wrong.

  • Raphael

    As a Vive owner I think OctopusVR deserve their success. Nicer company with the brightest talent.

  • Chris7

    Valve and HTC aren’t doing a damn thing to draw in customers . Going on three years no game from valve . HTC viveport is terrible so they ruined Ed there relationship with valve for nothing, they don’t talk about it much but in no way, shape or form us valve happy about HTC competing with them with viveport.
    HTC rushed and thought they get rich off the hmd .