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HTC has been quietly expanding its Viveport service ever since its launch, which happened a short while after the HTC Vive VR headset debuted back in 2016. While this subscription service looked a lot like the Netflix for VR on the surface, it has always been held back by one annoying caveat: there was no way to play an unlimited number of games. While the Viveport library has grown to over 600 games since the service’s debut, customers were only ever able to choose from five games per month to play and would have to wait until the next month to choose more.
This limitation will be lifted as of April 2nd, opening up the floodgates for players to choose what they want to play, when they want to play. HTC’s limitation was mainly put in place to secure revenue for developers, which saw the monthly service fee divided up into pieces and handed out to each developer depending on titles chosen by each Viveport customer. While it’s not clear exactly how HTC is dividing up revenue per developer specifically, they’ve announced that they’re raising the developer/Viveport revenue split to 80%/20% until the end of the year. This is an increase from the current split of 70%/30% and is designed to attract more developers to the service.
Viveport Infinity, as the revamped service will be called, will be available to all HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owners for $12.99 per month or $99 per year. Current Viveport subscribers, as well as new subscribers who sign up before the service launches on April 2nd, will be able to save a good chunk of money with a reduced subscription fee of $8.99 per month. This reduced rate will be available until the end of 2019 and will increase to the regular rate of $12.99 per month or $99 per year, starting in January 2020. Viveport Infinity is offering a 2-week trial for everyone which will also lock in this reduced rate for everyone that tries it before April 2nd.
Viveport has remained one of the most cost-effective ways to try new VR titles since its launch, with titles like The Wizards, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, Furious Seas, and Slightly Heroes, just to name a few. Viveport offers a huge breadth of titles, which range from games to creativity, education and even story-telling experiences. Viveport Infinity will also be offered on all Vive WAVE-powered standalone headsets, likely including HTC’s upcoming Vive Cosmos headset. Being able to use the same service on all headsets is one of the biggest strengths of Viveport, which isn’t confined to a specific hardware platform.
Viveport Infinity members also receive a number of other membership incentives, just as they do today. This includes weekend deals on select titles, free title giveaways, and even monthly coupons for purchasing standalone titles through the service. Each month, members are given a 10% coupon that can be used to purchase any non-subscription titles like ARK Park or Superhot VR. Viveport Infinity will be holding a special sale of over 100 titles between April 2nd and April 7th to commemorate the launch of the new subscription service as well.