Although oculus is now almost the biggest name in VR consumer products, not the only one who occupies the upper level of the market that is still a niche. There were times when HTC Vive went to the foot with Oculus, but it seemed to have faded into the background last year or more. Just as with the smartphone, HTC did not call it stopped and was finally ready to take the combined strength of oculus and Facebook this week with a new Mandiri VR headset and the new “Metaverse” platform.
While Oculus has decided to pour all of its resources on the Mandiri VR headset after two search efforts, HTC has not reached the same business step in supporting unspeaked experiences. It does have a vive focus line from a standalone headset, but there is always room for more, especially if things don’t look good for those products.
Unfortunately, the HTC Vive stream that the protocol reported would not really be the Killer of the Quest 2 Oculus. According to the publication source, it will be less powerful than Quest 2 but will redeem it with six degrees of tracking freedom. Instead of a complete VR package, the vive flow seems to be aiming for consumption of content and it won’t even send it with the controller.
The second part of the Push VR updated HTC will rotate around the latest keywords in the industry. Viewport Verse will be the company version of the metaverse experience, bridging in VR, mobile, and even desktop computers. Not surprisingly, it will have a kind of tie-in NFT just to make sure all boxes are checked.
While HTC can applaud because of sustainable efforts to challenge the VR industrial giant, it clearly faces uphill fighting to narrow the gap with oculus. Vive flow is almost heard dead on arrival with its limited use, and viveport verses may not stick long enough to truly become a favorable platform. However, Oculus runs the risk of continuing Facebook’s grip in the world of technology, and every challenger of his position is definitely worthy of attention.