Virtual reality headsets may not have become as mainstream as gaming consoles just as yet, but industry insiders and tech observers expect VR to become one of the fastest growing segments of the consumer technology market going forward. With Oculus and HTC having already launched their respective offerings in the segment, the ball is now firmly in the court of Japanese tech giant Sony, who’s expected to launch its PlayStation VR in the coming months. While it hasn’t been that long since the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift have been available for purchase by the general public, latest data now seem to indicate that there is already a healthy demand for such devices from users around the world.
While neither Oculus nor HTC has been forthcoming with the sales figures of their respective VR headsets, data derived from SteamSpy now seems to suggest that HTC may have sold close to 100,000 Vive headsets ever since the device was launched officially back in early April. For the uninitiated, SteamSpy is a video games sales tracking website that uses data from millions of Steam users worldwide to estimate the sales of software titles offered on the platform. According to data on the site, one of the popular titles bundled with the Vive, Tilt Brush, now has around 94,911 owners, with a margin of error of around 8,213. With the game being a Vive exclusive, each Tilt Brush owner must also be a Vive owner, so there are potentially between 86,698 and 103,124 owners of the HTC Vive as of early July.
However, data from other games, like Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption do not tell a similar story, with the former only showing only 73,137 owners on SteamSpy at press time. While the difference in numbers may well be because of a lack of interest in the game, it is still intriguing to see such a massive gap between the ownership numbers of the two titles. One important thing to note, however, is that the total number of owners listed on SteamSpy may include a few thousand users who own Vive development kits (the Vive Pre and Vive DK1), which were never available to members of the general public. So overall sales may well be somewhat lower that what’s listed on SteamSpy. Either way, sales of almost 100,000 devices within just three months is impressive any which way one looks at it, so even as HTC continues to struggle with its financials, the company’s management, employees and shareholders should be happy to see their newest venture getting a big thumbs up from its intended audience.