Egosoft, I think you are underestimating the PCVR market by not providing a VR mode

[Ergoswot]

I know VR has been mentioned many times before, but I really feel like Egosoft are underestimating the PCVR market for simmers. While VR headsets may still be considered somewhat niche in overall gaming terms, in the PC gaming industry there are still many thousands of headsets used to play racing games, flight sims and of course... space sims!

I get it may not be your highest priority', and nor should it be, but implementing a VR mode should absolutely be on your roadmap if you want to make X4 the best and most immersive it can possibly be and to give it an enduring legacy that will make it played for many years to come. Other major space games on the scale of X4 DO have VR modes and you are simply not competitive in this area. You did X Rebirth so it's not like you don't know how VR works, even if that game was not an ideal implementation.

Please Egosoft, don't underestimate what a solid VR mode would do for this game and when you do your graphical update please consider getting a VR mode for the cockpit up and running. It doesn't need to be anything super fancy, just a usable VR mode like you find in Star Wars Squadrons etc.

Many thanks for putting some consideration into this neglected aspect of the game.

[allfun]

in the PC gaming industry there are still many thousands of headsets

Many thousands only?

[Starlight_Corporation]

Egosoft reply to the VR topic: viewtopic.php?t=465110#top

The short of it: too expensive to develop for a niche market.

[Y-llian]

As someone who has two VR headsets and love VR, I can also say I’m totally fine with X4 not having VR.

Adding VR is not just adding another “mode” it’s a completely different game and experience. It needs to be built from the ground up which is what Ego did with XR VR which was awesome. But it didn’t sell well for them, so why invest in it again? That to me is a very reasonable and sensible position for a small indie developer to take.

Would it be kewl? Undoubtedly but that’s not enough of a reason, it also needs to make commercial sense…

I’d rather they continue to work on improving the core game as they’ve done so successfully for years now…

[ttheobald]

VR is interesting for about 30 minutes. Then the average user spends hours feeling seasick.

Between the fact that there is no significant market (and therefore no significant money return to be had) for delivering a VR adaptation, the simple math is that it would be better to spend that money on new content rather than a repackaging of the existing content for a very limited number of users who have probably already spent their money on the game. Adding VR will net what, maybe ten new buyers?

That would not be a smart expenditure of their resources.

T

[Raptor34]

Egosoft should start a Kickstarter to hire new people to do the VR mode. Then we'll see the size of this market.

[Alan Phipps]

I thought a kickstarter implied a new commitment to produce an end product and not just to conduct a feasibility/commercial assessment? I could be wrong ...

[Raptor34]

I thought a kickstarter implied a new commitment to produce an end product and not just to conduct a feasibility/commercial assessment? I could be wrong ...

If they get enough money to do it, and by enough I mean enough to finance the whole thing, then they can produce it.
Like why not? If there is profit to be made, then make it.

[Ergoswot]

in the PC gaming industry there are still many thousands of headsets

Many thousands only?

Interesting question. Do you think there are millions of people doing hardcore PCVR simming?

As someone who has two VR headsets and love VR, I can also say I’m totally fine with X4 not having VR.

Adding VR is not just adding another “mode” it’s a completely different game and experience. It needs to be built from the ground up which is what Ego did with XR VR which was awesome. But it didn’t sell well for them, so why invest in it again? That to me is a very reasonable and sensible position for a small indie developer to take.

Sorr but this is absolutely factually incorrect... many of the best VR sim games have a VR cockpit mode and are not "built from the ground up" for VR. X Reunion was just a poor game, and completely inferior to X4, end of story. It doesn't make VR bad, it makes Egosofts attempt at a pure VR game bad.

VR is interesting for about 30 minutes. Then the average user spends hours feeling seasick.

Between the fact that there is no significant market (and therefore no significant money return to be had) for delivering a VR adaptation, the simple math is that it would be better to spend that money on new content rather than a repackaging of the existing content for a very limited number of users who have probably already spent their money on the game. Adding VR will net what, maybe ten new buyers?

That would not be a smart expenditure of their resources.

It seems like you don't actually know much about VR and tried it a couple of times then gave up due to motion sickness. It's ok, it happens for some people.

[Y-llian]

As someone who has two VR headsets and love VR, I can also say I’m totally fine with X4 not having VR.

Adding VR is not just adding another “mode” it’s a completely different game and experience. It needs to be built from the ground up which is what Ego did with XR VR which was awesome. But it didn’t sell well for them, so why invest in it again? That to me is a very reasonable and sensible position for a small indie developer to take.

Sorr but this is absolutely factually incorrect... many of the best VR sim games have a VR cockpit mode and are not "built from the ground up" for VR. X Reunion was just a poor game, and completely inferior to X4, end of story. It doesn't make VR bad, it makes Egosofts attempt at a pure VR game bad.

I play a lot of flight sims, MSFS, VTOL all who have VR cockpits, yes. But the VR elements aren't just added on. All those games are designed from the ground up to be both VR and non-VR compatible i.e. support two UI modes and also, to run at frame rates that won't cause stuttering and motion sickness. I'm afraid, it's your statement that is, in fact, "factually incorrect." Designing a VR experience isn't just bolting on a VR cockpit to an existing non-VR game... It requires a whole new user interface and changes to how the player interacts with the world, not to mention that X4 is a very CPU hungry game and when you get to large amounts of assets, can cause even beefy PCs to have stuttery hiccups. Those hiccups can be forgiven in a non-VR experience but in actual VR can make the experience unpalatable. As for X-Rebirth, I made no judgement on the game but I'd say that XR-VR is actually a really solid and considered VR experience...

[Nanook]

The OP has another currently active thread on the same topic. There's no need for two, so this one is getting closed.