Steam Body has solely been out for just a little over a month now, and continues to be closely backordered. Nonetheless, Valve’s newest Steam {Hardware} Survey reveals the headset is already off to a robust begin.
The Information
That is the primary Steam survey to incorporate Steam Body, Valve’s standalone VR headset which natively helps SteamOS. You may be taught all about Steam Body in our deep dive assessment right here.
The opt-in, randomized month-to-month survey now reveals Steam Body at fifth place on the platform, making for five.49% of all headsets in use on Steam.
Contemplating Steam Body continues to be closely provide constrained, as shipments now attain into 2027, instantly taking fifth place is a surprisingly honest outcome.
In distinction, Valve Index solely managed to put up a 1.46% share of all linked headsets in its first month on the Steam {Hardware} Survey.
A few of this could possibly be defined by Quest 2’s sizeable lack of 3.57% because the September survey, which might counsel some portion of Quest 2 customers upgraded to Body.
Notably, Valve modified its survey methodology in March 2020. Beforehand, the VR {hardware} detection system was primarily based on headsets linked on the time of survey. Now, the survey makes use of SteamVR data of headsets linked through the previous month, making for a extra honest image of headsets used.
My Take
It will likely be fascinating see whether or not Body can outdo Index within the coming months/years. It took Index practically two years to succeed in the second most-used VR headset on Steam, coming in proper behind Quest 2 in Valve’s September 2021 survey.
A few of that feels prefer it would possibly come down to cost, however I’m not so certain. Valve Index launched in late 2019 at $999 for the total equipment, together with headset, two controllers, and two SteamVR base stations. When it comes to inflation, that’s round $1,300 right this moment.
And that’s the identical worth as the most costly Steam Body 1 TB mannequin, which notably doesn’t want a VR-ready gaming PC—though you’d most likely be higher off with one contemplating the comparatively small variety of Body optimized video games.
The wrinkle in that calculation although is Index customers had the choice to improve piecemeal from different PC VR headsets, permitting them to buy Index alone for $499 in the event that they already owned HTC Vive controllers and SteamVR base stations.
Regardless of the case, Body has confirmed to be standard sufficient to surpass Index very early in its existence. And I’ll be charting its efficiency, so ensure to test again for extra.
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