Valve is one of the biggest investors in Virtual Reality tech, but they are well aware that this might well end up being a passing fad.
In an interview with Road To VR, Valve president Gabe Newell revealed that only 30 virtual reality games passed the $250,000 mark on Steam. This is just 3% of the 1000+ VR games currently available on Valve's digital storefront.
That is alarming to virtual reality game developers as Steam is the most popular source for virtual reality content on PC. In essence, studios that create virtual reality games today are placing a bet on the platform's future. Even Valve itself is participating in this bet, Gabe Newell admits.
"We’re optimistic. We think VR is going great. It’s going in a way that’s consistent with our expectations," said the Valve president. "We’re also pretty comfortable with the idea that it will turn out to be a complete failure."
Newell believes that VR is held back by its high price, hardware limitations and the lack of compelling content.
"We’re at the beginning of this. Vive is the most expensive device on the market. It’s barely capable of doing a marginally adequate job of delivering a VR experience. We have to figure out all sorts of other problems before even the hardware question gets answered, much less what’s going to be the compelling content."
Valve had already announced that it is working on 3 full-fledged virtual reality games that should reflect the company's vision for "compelling" virtual reality experiences. No details are currently available about the trio, but Gabe Newell said that nobody would feel compelled to play Half-Life 2 or watch a movie in VR.
