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HTC’s Viveport, and its associated VR subscription service now offers full support for Oculus Rift users, according to a recent announcement from the company. Of course, many titles available on both Viveport and Viveport Subscription were already supported by either of the competing VR platforms. However, following the newly implemented change, Rift owners will now be able to clearly see which titles are supported on their headset through the Viveport desktop app or the website without any additional guesswork. Those that are compatible will feature an Oculus Rift icon and new filters have been added so that users can choose to see only those titles which will work with the headset. That will be the case both on the Viveport store and via the Viveport Subscription UI. There should already be plenty of titles displaying the new icon, since the decision to include the new features was actually announced for developers last month.
The company also took the opportunity to highlight a 14-day trial for new Viveport Subscription accounts, which was also touched on in the previous announcement. That’s included as a starting point for its 5-titles per month offer, which starts at $8.99 per month with auto-renew. Three, six, and twelve-month subscriptions are also available with increases to the number of titles a subscriber has access to increasing at each tier. Signing up on the more expensive plans also nets users either one, two, or four titles to keep permanently upon sign-up, depending on the tier chosen. Meanwhile, HTC’s VIVE division has suggested seven VR experiences in particular that it says serve as a good starting point for those looking to get in on the free trial offer. Those range from an early-access online multiplayer shooter called Skyfront VR to a tennis and ping pong, Virtual Sports.
Taking into consideration reports of lackluster sales in the VR market, HTC’s goal here seems to be to not only give developers a wider audience, as previously reported. The company also appears to be looking for novel ways to expand on its own user base. However, that’s not necessarily bad news for VR gamers at all. The addition of clear markings for cross-platform compatibility should make it easier to discover new content without the risk that a title won’t work, as will bringing more VR content under a single cross-platform service.