The HTC Vive is arguably the best virtual reality device available on the for consumers on the market. Powered by sensors, it’s capable of giving you a supreme VR experience in the confines of a relatively small room, using the bay stations the device comes with. Valve, who provides the VR technology for the Vive, even opened up the technology to third-party hardware makers earlier in the week. And now, HTC itself have announced their own virtual reality app store called Viveport, as an alternative to Valve’s Steam store.a
Viveport initially began as a side project in the company but as the Vive now takes a big part of the company’s future, it makes sense for HTC to slap its own app store for the product, offering another avenue for users to buy games that are still not available on the Steam store. According to HTC the Viveport store will be available in Vive headsets, web browsers, the PC app and, most interestingly, on a mobile app. This is similar to the spread of Steam, Valve’s gaming platform.
“We believe equal access to virtual reality experiences will make the world a better place for people and enterprises alike. Viveport will play an important role in giving access to virtual reality experiences that will enhance our daily lives and the way we connect with friends and family. The Vive team and our customers cannot wait to see what new experiences will be shared by our partners in the developer community.”
– Rikard Steiber, Senior Vice President of Viveport at HTC.
HTC will take a standard 70/30 split from apps being sold on Viveport, which will also support subscriptions in addition to standard purchases. A developer beta will be available in a few weeks, with consumers from over 30 countries being able to use it later in the Fall. To sign up as a developer, visit developer.htcvive.com/console/
Source: HTC
