steamvr-valve-oculus-rift-support — Image courtesy Valve

Latest Steam VR Headset Marketshare Data Stable Among Vive, Rift, & WVR

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Aug 2, 2018

Valve’s latest monthly Steam Hardware & Software survey is available. While the last few months have seen ups and downs, July turned out to be a surprisingly stable month for all the headsets on the map.

Each month, Valve runs a 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.

Image courtesy Valve

The July numbers show the Oculus Rift continuing its slight lead in headset marketshare on Steam, now a six month streak, at 46.18% (−0.08%) over the HTC Vive at 44.35% (−0.21%). Meanwhile Windows VR headsets gain slightly from those loses, now at 6.41% (+0.16%).

Interestingly, the Oculus Rift DK2 development kit is still hanging on to 1.25% (−0.26%) share of headsets on Steam. The HTC Vive Pro, while not officially designated in the data, appears to have slowly snuck into the standings, likely making up a missing 1.81% (+0.39%) of the pie.

According to the July figures, overall 0.65% (−0.05%) of the sampled Steam users had VR headsets connected to their computers at the time of the survey. Hardware sales and content are major drivers for the VR headset figures seen on the Steam Hardware & Software Survey, but certainly not the only factors. New users joining Steam (who are less likely than not to own a VR headset) may also make overall percentages shrink even if the gross headset numbers are static or increasing.

Analysis: An Estimated 58 Million Steam Users Now Have VR Ready Graphics Cards

Valve recently said that the total number of active VR users on Steam are up 160% year-over-year. Based on fresh usership data from Valve, we made a rough estimate of some 611,100 VR headsets attached to PCs running Steam over the course of June.

Overall these are small changes and show that July was a month of relative stability compared to other months where changes of a full percentage point or more are not uncommon. With changes so small, it’s hard to pinpoint what each movement might mean, though it stands to reason that the continued sales on Windows VR headsets are likely helping their slow but steady gain of headset marketshare on Steam.

gothicvillas

as a VR owner, I can tell when I look for games on Steam, I only browse VR section. Totally not interested in flat screen gaming. Flat screen games is so last gen lol
- Sandy Wich
  
  Yea I’ve definitely noticed that since VR became a thing as well. My interest in traditional flat screen gaming has all but died. Only a select few must have titles that appeal perfectly to me get me hyped at all anymore.
  - gothicvillas
    
    Yup :) I do like Cities Skylines and can only dream to see this title in VR one day
- dk
  
  pancake gaming
- Firestorm185
  
  Rocket League in VR would be dizzying and I totally want it
  - gothicvillas
    
    Yea love rocket league!! Try Tractor Ball in VR. It’s pretty damn good
  - JJ
    
    haha while making my kart game I attached some rockets and tested some way to control the car flipping, its pretty damn nuts. Id bet anything some form of that will be a big vr game in the future its jsut too much fun
    - MosBen
      
      I’d be totally interested. I know that a lot of people seem to like Cars 2 in VR, but I have just about no interest in sim racing. I do, however, love games like Mario Kart, Twisted Metal, and Carmageddon.
- HybridEnergy
  
  Same, click steam and proceed to Virtual Reality section right away. I even checked steam settings if there was a way to make it the home store page but no luck.
  - JJ
    
    yeah every pancake game i play i just ache for it to be in vr. luckily i got FO4 and Skyrim, but man if no mans sky was vr I’d spend so much time just chilling in areas in vr.
- Mei Ling
  
  Guess it applies to some people; others have preferred a little bit of both depending on their mood. Personally there’s always going to be room for flat screen gaming especially in the social space but also for private sessions if you have a very large good quality TV (OLED).
- Jistuce
  
  I still play 2D games, some of them decades-old. That said, I’m more likely to buy VR titles. VR is exciting.
- Get Schwifty!
  
  Be nice if that were the case…. not a single AAA new title is announced as VR-ready….
  - Arcticu Kitsu
    
    AAA game developers are waiting for indie game developers to break ground so they don’t have to. They keep testing the waters waiting for something big to come out of the indie scene so AAA studios can do it themselves in a more milkcow manner. A shame.
    - Caven
      
      It doesn’t help any that the demanding system requirements of AAA games tend to make it hard to also hit 90fps in VR.
Baldrickk

I’m not too surprised that the DK2 is hanging on. Given that it’s practically identical to the Rift’s release version, why would everyone bother upgrading?
- dk
  
  sure
- MasterElwood
  
  Are you high?
- MeowMix
  
  That’s so incorrect this is reaching into the Q-Anon territory of wrong.
MosBen

I wasn’t part of the survey, but after being boxed up for almost exactly a year due to construction on our house, I was finally able to hook my Rift back up last weekend and played Beat Saber. It’s great!
- benz145
  
  What else are you playing that launched in the last year?
CDJay

I’m a massive fan of vr, but we need next gen headsets and gpus already to get the most out of existing content. God rays, screen door effects
cables, I find it insane we’re still dealing with this in 2018 with no official rectified solutions in sight in the near future
- CDJay
  
  I played hellblade vr the other night and it’s awesome but we need the above as a baseline for people who think it’s a fad
- R FC
  
  My thoughts on this last March (2017) after nearly a year with the original Vive:-
  
  https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7d11146757ff5bd1fa11c8403675061474ad5133f64222853b85372b92d9fd1c.jpg
  - MeowMix
    
    Oculus already “fixed” the Godrays in their next gen lenses featured on the Oculus GO; they’re pretty amazing. I’m not sure why Oculus doesn’t just start production on Rifts with these lenses,
oompah

There was no steam on my pc
I loved steam
until…
I downloaded few games
Have about an hour everyday free
so whenever I start steam
it keeps on loading updates
on & on for 15 minutes
then u loose steam
fret about it waiting
& finally when u start playing
and pick up some steam
ur time is up
STOP TOO MUCH UPDATES STEAM
- Michael Oder
  
  There are a lot of updates, especially if you have a large library. You can pause them temporarily if you go to Library > Downloads.
Arcticu Kitsu

Had my VR headset since December 2017 that I’m not regretting it a bit. I’m loving the games we have that I’m loving VRchat, Beat Saber, Rolling Line, Ultrawings, and such. Proud to be a VR owner that I now can’t wait for Spice & Wolf VR. Bandai-Namco needs to wise up to make a Gundam VR game with a fangame named ‘M.A.D.N.U.G. VR’ currently being made in that void.

Glad to be a VR headset owner of the Oculus Rift. Wish No Man’s Sky was VR that there’s hype surrounding that game to be a VR game :)
Trenix

All these sales are terrible. Once the next generation comes out, you’re going to have an unhappy playerbase. Otherwise, they have to still go strong for another two years before next generation comes out, which again will annoy those who are waiting for next generation. At this rate, getting into VR is pointless.
FriendlyCard

Once you go VR, it’s really hard to go back to flatscreen gaming. What will I do with my huge Steam collection of unplayed pancakes? :)
cratecruncher

The Steam Hardware Survey is FLAWED. VR journalists should have figured it out by now. My Oculus Rift headset has no on/off switch so it runs continuously until it is unplugged. Therefore the chances of me or anyone else having their VR headset plugged in and operating during a hardware survey are very small hence the tiny penetration numbers. A VR owner has to halt the survey, plug in their headset, then take the survey to be accurately counted. An interesting measure would be to count users accounts that bought a “VR only” game or two. The number of VR headsets in the wild would be much larger in my view.