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Minecraft is losing VR support next year
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this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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Why are they removing support though?
Probably because VR gaming is basically dead. It never really took off and it's a waste of time and money for them to devote resources to it. Probably like 0.1% of users are in VR.
That being said, part of why it's dead is because no developers want to take chances on it, so it's a self fulfilling prophecy. Valve was the last one to gamble on it.
That's not even accurate.
If VR gaming is dead, then what does it say about Linux with about 5 times less users? Like, a low poly game about monkeys has a daily playerbase of a million people there. Mind you, Mincraft has 1 to 1.5 million. Not bad for a "dead" platform. Also, Valve isn't even the last one to enter the market.
I think what you're actually trying to say is that it's too niche, which it absolutely is.
It's math. The amount of money they're spending on supporting the VR platforms is less than the amount of money they make for the people on those platforms. They probably have to dedicate several multi-person teams to manage the clients.
Linux has some pretty good hedging going on with steam deck.
Well, I've decided to check the financials of a couple of VR companies since your counterpoint sounded reasonable. The only one working at a loss is Meta. I could argue their business model is in Death Valley right now. After all, they have major capital expenses, which aren't easily covered unless you have a big userbase.
But that's their VR sector. Overall, Meta's profitable and can easily cover all the expenses several times over.
Also, what do you mean by "they have to dedicate several multi-person teams to manage the clients?" Firstly, who's "they," secondly, if I understood you right, that sounds prepostrous, unless you're talking B2B.
I'm not talking about VR companies I'm talking about Mojang.
The teams that Mojang keeps to work on the platforms cost more than the income from the people using those clients.
If you make a game, and you decide to support Mac, and Mac only brings in $500 a month but you have to pay somebody $3,000 a month to maintain the client, You're losing $2,500 a month for that particular market segment.
Nothing says you have to get rid of those people or that client, But it's a fiscally sound decision.
Oh, yeah, that I agree with.
My head was at the "VR gaming" as a whole back when I was writing the comment.
I don’t see how what they said was contradictory. VR gaming is indeed dead. And Linux gaming with 5 times less users is also even more dead.
There’s a reason why game devs completely ignore Linux as a platform.
For how big PS5 is and how small VR is, VR sure has a lot of people playing.
Lemmy has userbase (not even monthly activity) of 0.46mil (acc. to fedidb). Is lemmy dead?
What constitutes for a dead platform to you?
I mean. Yeah ? Can you imagine any large companies investing in this in any way? I sure can’t.
I think what you're forgetting is scale.
Lemmy is niche. VR is niche. Gaming is mainstream.
You can't call a niche dead just because there aren't that many people into it. It's a niche for a reason.
Linux is booming, even though it's "dead." Lemmy has never been this active in its entire existence. Why do investments from large companies matter?
What truly matters is growth. Negative growth is what kills a platform/industry/company/whatever else. VR is growing, Linux is growing, Lemmy is growing. It may not be fast, but they all have active userbases that support their development.
You cannot call a child "failure" just because it never achieved anything in life, can you? They are growing. They can get sick, they can recover. They can also regress due to that illness and die. Only then they're truly dead.
Because we are talking about a large company de investing from something.
It’s kinda the topic we are talking about.
Well, Mojang's Minecraft in VR is dead. But that's kinda far from VR gaming as a whole, don't you think?
One symptom does not share the entire story.
Not to mention that there is a better alternative for it anyway.