The organisers of the Open Source Virtual Reality movement (OSVR) have today announced that their supporter list has grown to 300, with the recent addition of 70 new companies and groups interested in developing for Open Source VR.

Razer announced OSVR, the open source virtual reality group, that launched just a year ago at CES 2015, is celebrating its supporters list swelling to 300 with the latest addition of 70 supporters pledging to support the platform.

osvr-hdk-v1.3-release-date-pricing-pre-order
See Also: This HDK Teardown Offers Detailed Look at OSVR’s Flagship Headset

The aim of OSVR is to provide a “Software platform designed to set an open standard for virtual reality input devices, games and output to provide the best possible VR game experience.” In addition to providing that software framework, the HDK (Hacker Development Kit) is a customisable, hackable VR headset designed as a flagship for what can be achieved on an open platform. The HDK was recently made available for pre-order at $299 which gets you a headset with claimed 360 degree positional tracking and a 5.5″ OLED panel.

New supporters include Esper developers Coatsink, immersive cinema collective VRSE and makers of the unique motion controller VRGO.

We’ll be catching up with the latest from the OSVR movement at CES 2016, stay tuned for more news next week.

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. See here for more information.


Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • OgreTactics

    Go OSVR. Until technology is ready for a truly mass-consumption device (that is untethered both for output movement and video, has external sensorless hand/head/body motion, clear visuals without SDE, aberrations, tears, tunnel-vision, shadowing etc…) then open-source is the way to go to experiment with different incremental and additional techs and mods, like full-POV lenses, eye-tracking and focus, motion tracking etc…