GTX 1650 – 1 in 3 PC VR Players are Oculus Quest 2 Users

by
Cole Travis
in General | Aug, 4th 2021

Virtual Reality is still heading into the norm, and while it doesn’t seem like many players own a VR Headset, the truth is that a large number of players on the Steam Hardware survey own one. According to the survey, it seems that the headset of choice is the Oculus Quest 2. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the Steam Hardware survey, the survey is conducted every month to judge what the most popular hardware is among its customer base, while completely anonymous and voluntary, the survey does give an interesting insight into what the most popular computer hardware is on the platform. When discussing things like OS, obvious systems like Windows 10 make up 90% of the PC environment. Also according to the survey, the most common GPU is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060. However, when it concerns VR Headsets, a surprising amount of players use the Oculus Quest 2 for their PC VR setup. 

With the Quest 2 sitting at 32% of the PC VR landscape on steam, it comes in first, with the Rift S sitting at 17% and the Valve Index coming in at 16%. These are the top 3 headsets, however, only two of them are available to purchase. This is due to the fact that the Rift S was discontinued much like the Original Oculus Quest and the original Rift. This, however, isn’t without reason, as the strategy behind making the Quest 2 the only Oculus VR set available makes for a perfect entry into Virtual Reality. The Index is sitting at a price of around $1000, and the Quest is sitting at a price of $300. 

The point behind this is that the quest can do everything that all the previous headsets are capable of, all while being wireless, and at an affordable price. The Quest 2 is also able to be used without the need for base stations or a PC, unlike the Index, which is geared more towards VR enthusiasts on the platform. The Oculus Quest 2, which is capable of linking to the PC through Wifi or a cable makes for some of the easiest to set up VR Experiences for both non PC and PC gamers. Letting players enjoy the headset without the need for external devices. However, the price is the real selling point for the PC VR landscape, as the Steam Hardware survey is looking at PC VR only, and with the fact that not only is the Quest 2 able to connect to a PC running Steam VR, but is also priced at a competitive selling point, this is a go-to headset for new users. But with 1/3^rd of all PC VR users owning a Quest 2, what does that mean for the future of VR on PC?

Surprisingly, it isn’t setting a precedent for PC VR to be taken over by Oculus, but it does mean that VR manufacturers are going to have to compete with the Quest, however, there are two things that are going to keep the quest in the frontrunning for VR in the future. Wireless play, and their lineup of titles. Consider that the Quest 2 can run Quest Link, a wireless Wifi solution to VR without the cords, something that the Index is unable to do. While not perfect, the ability to play high fidelity VR titles over Wi-fi is something that a Lot of VR Players want, being that full free range motion is limited in the VR consoles, being that the possibility of tangled wires is a real possibility, also including that the current solution is to hang the wires from the ceiling, this means a dedicated play space is needed for players to use in VR. However, with something like Quest 2, this is obsolete, as the Quest 2 is powered by a battery, not a cable. Also included is the Oculus store, and while Steam is the king for VR titles, Other manufacturers are going to plan their own oculus styled store, like HTC with the Viveport. But the limited amount of games means that players are going to opt to use their headsets with steam instead. 

As of right now, the biggest competitor to Oculus is Valve themselves, with the Index, while being high priced, blows the Oculus Quest 2 out of the water with everything that the Index can do, however, if Valve were to make a second Index with the ability to play games from the Steam library wirelessly, or opt to make a wireless attachment for the index, and sell this hypothetical headset at a competitive price to the Quest, this would make for some serious competition in the VR landscape.