HTC Opens Up Viveport Store to Oculus Rift Users as VR Headset Shipments Decline

HTC on Tuesday announced that it is opening up its Viveport VR-centric app store and subscription service to Oculus Rift users, which means that users of the Oculus Rift will now be able to install and play games that were meant for the HTC Vive on their VR headset. As we mentioned, Oculus Rift users are also eligible to become Viveport Subscriber members, with the ability to choose five titles a month from a library of popular titles. This comes at a time when IDC has reported a sharp decline in VR headset shipments for 2018's second quarter.

The Viveport app store has a library of 1,400 VR games, of which around 500 are available in the subscription plans. Over 200 out of the 1,400 games have been tested to be compatible with Oculus Rift.

From September 4 to 11:59pm PDT (12:29pm IST) September 16, customers purchasing 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month subscription bundles for Viveport will be eligible to access free titles that can be retained forever. The 3-month plan is priced at $19.99 (roughly Rs. 1,400), with Shooty Fruity as the free title. For the 6-month plan, users will have to shell out $39.99 (about Rs. 2,900) and will get Everest VR and Shooty Fruity for Free. Lastly, the 12-month plan priced at $79.99 (approximately Rs. 5,800) gives users free access to Final Soccer VR, Everest VR, Shooty Fruity, and Guns'n'Stories: Bulletproof VR.

"With Viveport Subscription, Oculus Rift owners can avoid two of virtual reality's most discussed issues - trailing new content and cost," said Rikard Steiber, President of Viveport. "By choosing five titles a month from Viveport Subscription's curated library, consumers can discover great VR content while saving hundreds of dollars. We are just getting started on supporting Oculus Rift owners and look forward to continue adding content to the Viveport lineup."

The IDC report for Q2 2018 records a sharp 33.7 percent year-on-year decline compared to the same quarter last year. However, the analyst firm remains positive on future outlook and states that this is just a temporary shift. The downfall has been in part attributed to the loss of interest in screenless VR viewers that companies like Google, Samsung, and Alcatel had started bundling with their smartphones.

HTC remained the market leader in the tethered VR headset segment shipping close to 111,000 headsets in Q2 2018. Comparatively, Facebook-owned Oculus shipped 102,000 units, while Sony managed to ship 93,000 headsets in the same quarter.