PC VR Defies Predictions of Decline and Continues to Grow

The landscape of extended reality (XR) has undergone some remarkable changes over the past five years. Standalone headsets have become incredibly popular, and tech giants like Apple have entered the scene, with Google not far behind. Despite these developments, PC VR has been quietly but steadily growing.

Reflecting on the VR evolution since 2020, it’s almost hard to believe how much things have changed. Just imagine—Facebook not only rebranded to Meta but also retired the iconic ‘Oculus’ name, which was a household term for VR enthusiasts and even non-gamers. And yet, Meta’s Quest headset emerged as the frontrunner in the VR space.

In another surprising move, Apple jumped into the VR game with its own headset—priced at a staggering $3,500. And if that wasn’t enough, Google is set to make its mark with a fresh Android XR operating system, with Samsung crafting the flagship headset.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has let go of its Windows Mixed Reality (MR) platform and shelved HoloLens—ok, admittedly, that one might not be so hard to fathom. But through all these shifts, PC VR continues to thrive and expand.

### The Growth of Monthly-connected Headsets on Steam

Each month, Valve takes a snapshot of Steam users’ hardware and software configurations, which helps us track VR headset usage. This methodology gives us a metric known as ‘monthly-connected headsets,’ a useful proxy that indicates how many VR-enabled devices have been linked to Steam, albeit not necessarily used.

While these statistics help identify popular headsets, interpretation can be tricky since they are expressed as percentages relative to Steam’s total user base—a figure that is constantly changing and undefined.

If you only focus on the percentage of VR users on Steam, you might mistakenly infer a decline. However, that’s not the complete picture. Steam’s user base has nearly doubled over five years, broadening our understanding of these percentages.

At Road to VR, we’ve developed a model to contextualize these numbers. By combining historical survey data with official statistics from Valve, we can estimate the actual count of headsets in use—not merely the percentage.

This approach reveals a steady upward trend in the number of VR headsets operating on Steam. While Steam’s overall growth outpaces that of its VR segment, the actual number of VR users has been on the rise. For developers, this means a growing potential customer base, despite a declining percentage of VR users within Steam’s ecosystem.

SteamVR owes much of its ongoing success to its open platform model, which allows any headset manufacturer to join. With around 24 different headsets seen interacting with the platform monthly, SteamVR stands as the most diverse PC VR ecosystem.

Additionally, PC VR has benefited from Meta’s Quest headsets, whose affordability and accessibility have drawn many new users into VR. These headsets contribute to about 70% of all monthly-connected VR devices on Steam today.

### Looking Ahead

What lies ahead for PC VR in the next five years? Only time will tell. Stay tuned as we look forward to seeing what the technology landscape will look like in 2030!