HTC has a major problem in virtual reality right now: They’ve lost their touch outside of China. It might sounds strange, especially given how amazing the original HTC Vive was in 2016, but the ultimate truth is that HTC does not seem to understand today’s virtual reality market. The Vive Cosmos, HTC’s latest headset, has just 0.6% of the virtual reality market according to the latest Steam Hardware Survey as of this Story. That’s just barely above the Oculus DK2, which stands at 0.42% and came out 6 years ago (and doesn’t even have controllers with it). It’s become increasingly obvious that HTC’s most recent hardware iterations are failing, and their recent announcement of cheaper headsets doesn’t look like it will solve their problem. So for this, let’s dive into what HTC can do to actually fix their current virtual reality lineup for consumers outside of China.
Let’s start with the basics: What does a virtual reality product need to include in 2020 to actually be viable? Obviously, there needs to be a headset, but something that HTC seems to have forgotten with their Lighthouse-compatible face-plate for the Cosmos is that it also needs controllers! More specifically, they need controllers that can be tracked with six degrees-of-freedom (movement plus rotation), not three (rotation only) like on the Vive Focus. These controllers also need to match the current design patterns that virtual reality is going for; namely, that they need to mimic how the human hand works. This means that the Vive Wands need to die out. They don’t need to be as elaborate as the Valve Index Controllers, but they need to at least match what Oculus has standardized via Oculus Touch.
Okay, cool, so we have the basics nailed down right? Well what specifications should the headset have? Do we need a 4K resolution screen? Wireless capabilities? No! The best products do one simple thing: Keep it simple! Start by matching the screen resolution of the Oculus Rift S, while allowing for the standard 90 Hz refresh rate. Make it corded, but keep the cord clean; as few things to plug-in as possible. What about tracking? Stick with the Lighthouse setup from Valve. I know, this might sound a bit odd, especially considering my love of inside-out tracking on the Oculus Quest, but here’s the thing: As of today,Lighthouse tracking is more precise than what inside-out tracking can…
