(Image Credit: HTC VR)

Some people aren't even aware the Vive exists amongst headlines dominated by the likes of Oculus – which is the case with a lot of recent products by HTC. But the Vive, for those unaware, is an impressive VR headset from HTC built in collaboration with one of the most renowned names in gaming, Valve. 

Yesterday, HTC announced the Vive would be delayed until April 2016. We caught-up with Dan Page, a VR consultant and organiser behind the VR World Congress, to get some of his thoughts about the current state of Vive, what the delay could mean for the headset, and HTC/Valve's relationship with developers. 

Do you feel the delay was necessary? 

I'm sure HTC and Valve have their reasons for delaying the Vive, what these are exactly from outside point of view is hard to say, but I'd have been surprised if it was going to be a January or February launch window as I don't feel like they've quite turned on the hype machine just yet. 

How is the Vive shaping-up to other competitors you’ve tried? 

Honestly, I think all the major players are all getting quite close in terms of resolution, latency and FPS. The PlayStation VR manages a mighty 120FPS through some wizardry, but I have to say that I am a little in love with room-scale tracking. There's a lot to be said for how immersive and utterly awesome that is. 

It's going to be interesting to see how long it takes for people to start clearing out their garages and spare rooms to make holodecks. For the record - I don't have a spare room and I've never lived in a house with a garage, and I know there's a whole load of gamers out there in the same boat. 

Are you concerned the delay will affect its success as more rivals hit the market? 

There are a lot of people that seem to be saying "I'm going to buy whichever one comes out first", and if Oculus stick to their Q1 shipping promise - they'll beat the Vive to market - which could affect things majorly. 

Having said that, if it ends up being within the same few weeks I think the room-scale advantage might sway a few people. It's worth remembering that Valve can advertise the product as much as they like when people log into Steam. 

In general, what’s the relationship been like between HTC and developers? Helped by Valve’s input? 

Our relationship has been brilliant so far, I've had responses from Valve whenever I've had technical questions and recently had a great meeting with HTC about what we do at Opposable VR and our conference VR World Congress. Valve seems to want to reach out to developers and even ask for recommendations on who they should give Vives to. They're both great companies to work with. 

Do you think Vive will be successful against the likes of Oculus? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

 

 

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their IoT use-cases? Attend the IoT Tech Expo World Series events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.

The show is co-located with the AI & Big Data Expo, Cyber Security & Cloud Expo and Blockchain Expo so you can explore the entire ecosystem in one place.