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Alyx-Vance-Feature

According to research analytics house SuperData, demand for Half-Life: Alyx drove VR sales sharply skywards in Q4. Valve, in particular, was the casher of this tendency: Sales of the company's $999 Index VR system more than doubled from Q3 to Q4, specifically because of the HL:A announcement.

It'southward hard to believe that the Oculus Rift launched four years agone this March, but here we (almost) are. SuperData's results show two singled-out trends emerging in VR,SEEAMAZON_ET_135 See Amazon ET commerce
with console and wireless sales leading the pack.

Image past SuperData

What would exist particularly interesting to know, in my opinion, is how much Oculus Quest sales increased in Q4 relative to Q3, and whether any of that increase is theorized to be from Half-Life: Alyx as well. SuperData claims that "The Alphabetize sold more units than whatever other PC VR headset during the quarter despite a steep price of upward to $ane,000."

Every bit of Q4, there's reason to quibble with that statement. While the Oculus Quest is still primarily an untethered headset, gamers now have the option to tether it to their PCs for playing games like… Half-Life: Alyx. The announcement that tethered support had been added to the headset was covered widely, and the Quest might have seen a sales crash-land equally a result.

Sony, however, continues to rule the relative VR roost, with 338K sales thus far. The company hasn't unveiled annihilation about a new PSVR for the PS5, though we know the current model will remain compatible with the organization.

One of the differences between Microsoft and Sony is the degree of PC integration they offering. Microsoft'south buying of Windows has put them well alee on this front, as far every bit streaming games locally or via Xbox Game Pass. A future PS5 VR headset that was compatible with PCs and offered access to any unique VR content in Sony's ecosystem would be a carrot the visitor could offering interested PC VR gamers that Microsoft can't match.

At the same time, however, it does seem that sales of the Index were uniquely modified by HL:A. SuperData notes that they believe Valve would've sold even more units if it hadn't run out of stock. There's no mention of the HTC Vive anywhere, which isn't necessarily surprising. While the initial Vive sold very well, HTC has taken very little effort to evolve or expand the production. The Vive was arguably meliorate out of the gate, but Oculus is the only visitor that'due south been regularly iterating on multiple designs.

If One-half-Life: Alyx can bulldoze this much VR engagement before the game fifty-fifty launches, a smash hit could transform the unabridged market. It would be the acme of irony for Valve — ane of the companies that collection the original shift to 3D graphics, courtesy of One-half-Life — as well provided a title that drove early on adoption of a unlike, fundamentally new approach to gaming.

It would besides exist really, really, annoying.

But I'll take information technology.

Now Read:

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