Steam cancelled SteamVR for Mac

[mattspace]

Haven't seen it posted here, but:

https://cindori.org/cancelling-vr-desktop/

I have recently learned that SteamVR for macOS is cancelled.

To be fair, the writing was on the wall:

• The new Valve Index headset does not list Mac support
• Apple has removed all VR headset marketing materials from their site
• Valve has fired the people responsible for bringing Mac support in the first place

The author places the blame at Steam's feet for not pursuing VR on the Mac, though I find it hard to fathom why they should have, without a significant install-base of VR-capable / VR-Quality GPUs available to deploy upon.

The top range iMac Pro has a Windows laptop quality VR-Equivalent GPU, even the top of the range 2019 Mac Pro would be trounced by a relatively cheap gaming PC with a 2080ti.

Apple seemed to think that Spherical 2D Video was "VR", and leaned heavily on that for FCPX, but noone outside the Mac Blogosphere seemed to buy that notion.

 

[a2jack]

Great post. Thank you @mattspace a2

 

[vinegarshots]

Haven't seen it posted here, but:

https://cindori.org/cancelling-vr-desktop/



The author places the blame at Steam's feet for not pursuing VR on the Mac, though I find it hard to fathom why they should have, without a significant install-base of VR-capable / VR-Quality GPUs available to deploy upon.

The top range iMac Pro has a Windows laptop quality VR-Equivalent GPU, even the top of the range 2019 Mac Pro would be trounced by a relatively cheap gaming PC with a 2080ti.

Apple seemed to think that Spherical 2D Video was "VR", and leaned heavily on that for FCPX, but noone outside the Mac Blogosphere seemed to buy that notion.

The Vega64 in the top range iMac Pro is roughly equivalent to a Nvidia 1080. I use my Oculus Rift in Bootcamp with my iMac Pro with Vega56 and it works fine at standard settings in most games.

But yeah, Macs aren't a gaming platform at all. I was surprised they had Steam VR support at all.

 

[mattspace]

The Vega64 in the top range iMac Pro is roughly equivalent to a Nvidia 1080. I use my Oculus Rift in Bootcamp with my iMac Pro with Vega56 and it works fine at standard settings in most games.

But yeah, Macs aren't a gaming platform at all. I was surprised they had Steam VR support at all.

yup, roughly equivalent to a 1080, which was a laptop-class GPU when the iMac Pro was launched, and was only available in a ~US$5k machine. Worse still, until the 2019 Mac Pro, it was still the most powerful GPU Apple was selling.

Apple really never had a chance to get out of the starting gate on VR, without a whole ecosystem of high-end, upgradable GPUs as an install base for developers to target.

 

[rodedwards]

FCPX supported VR editing with HTV Vive using Steam VR.
Shame they don't support more headsets.
Hopefully now they will ...

 

[mattspace]

FCPX supported VR editing with HTV Vive using Steam VR.
Shame they don't support more headsets.
Hopefully now they will ...

FCPX supported previewing spherical video in a VR headset - personally, I wouldn't call that VR.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Unsurprising. There’s been no uptick in titles since the VR beta launched. Apple can’t ignore the space, but they sure are late to the party. I understand it isn’t mainstream yet, but I’m damn glad I jumped in with original Vive and 1070 however many years ago it’s been now.

Apple is slipping... bare metal Z840 hackintosh giving me some damn nice numbers for a fraction of 7,1 price. Still plenty of power to spin up a Windows 10 machine simultaneously and VR on that.

 

[mattspace]

Unsurprising. There’s been no uptick in titles since the VR beta launched.

No uptick, and as far as I know, at least one of the "launch" titles Apple made a big deal about, never saw release.