Elite: Dangerous has been a pioneer in the VR gaming department ever since it launched back in 2014 after a successful Kickstarter campaign. A big part of the draw to the game was its support of VR via the Oculus Rift. Demos were shown off using the DK2 version of the VR headset, with the team supporting VR via the Oculus Rift in a huge way.
However, it seems that that level of support is going away, as the team has announced they will focus more on SteamVR instead of the more closed atmosphere of the Oculus Rift. This will mean much better support for gamers who own and use an HTC Vive, over the Oculus version of VR.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Frontier Developments said “We’ve supported VR for a few years now, and Elite Dangerous is arguably the world’s leading VR-ready game. We want to give players the best possible VR experience however they play – it’s something we talked about with Digital Foundry recently – and that means focusing our efforts. Right now, we’ve chosen to focus on SteamVR. We haven’t cut an exclusivity deal with any VR manufacturer, and we’re still working with Oculus on Rift support.”
It seems that support won’t be completely dropped at this time, with the team saying they are able to support the 0.6 version of the Oculus SDK. It is a big shift for the game though, which used to use Oculus Rift as a huge selling point. The switch to SteamVR could be better in the long run though, players will just have to wait until they can get a Vive in their hands to try it out.
