A change in the way VR titles are categorised on Steam has been revealed. The VR game store listing will now state the required hardware under the ‘system requirements’ section, opposed to the store page sidebar.
The change was revealed via the official Steam VR Twitter account. The tweet is embedded below for your easy reading access:
While this change may seem minor, it has drawn various criticisms. Mostly, as might be expected, from VR game developers themselves.
Tomi Toikka, CEO, Founder & Creative Director of Makea Games, has expressed concern for consumers of legacy titles. Toikka suggests that the changes to the VR game store listing structure may leave some users confused as to whether or not their VR hardware is supported.
“Can you like, not do this? My legacy game Taphouse VR for example has no support for Valve Index due to an outdated version of VRTK, so it will not function properly. Customers should be able to be aware of this!”
Steam VR Game Store Listing Needs Refreshing
It would be hard to deny that the rapid growth of VR over the past few years calls upon more attention to VR game store listing structure. However, exactly how this is implemented does of course remain at the sole discretion of the store provider. Whether that be Valve with Steam VR, Meta with the Meta Quest Store or any other digital marketplace.
As new hardware continues to replace older headsets, one has to wonder at which point the likes of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will no longer receive store support at all. These legacy platforms are already giving way to more modern, standalone devices. Is there still room on digital stores to continue to support them?
Let us know your thoughts on the changes in the comments below!