Thanks to a hack invented by a crafty developer, a number of Oculus Rift exclusives are playable using the HTC Vive.
Oculus and HTC are the indomitable leaders of the virtual reality market, and both rivals' headsets are impressive pieces of engineering.
When it comes to software, the two ventures are fighting in an asymmetrical battle. That happens as Oculus Rift owners can access HTC's SteamVR software platform, whereas HTC Vive owners usually can't get a taste of Oculus Home.
Not until now, at least.
The LibreVR plugin, named Revive, lets gamers enjoy the game Lucky's Tale, as well as Oculus Dreamdeck, on the HTC's virtual reality headset. While Lucky's Tale was the launch game of Oculus, Dreamdeck is a collection of otherworldly VR experiences that users can embark in. You may read about Lucky's Tale in our coverage, also featuring a gameplay trailer.
In a Reddit response, Palmer Luckey of Oculus made clear that his company would be more than happy to see its games played on other VR headsets, should the manufacturer of the respective sets approve.
In retort, Valve has denied this assertion.
"Anything Oculus or other stores need to work with the Vive are documented in the freely available OpenVR APIs," says Doug Lombardi, VP of Marketing at Valve, in a talk with Digital Trends.
The hassle between the big players may continue, but right now, gamers can get to enjoy Oculus content on both Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Palmer Luckey's company swiftly issued a statement commenting on the patch which allows cross-platform support.
"This is a hack, and we don't condone it. Users should expect that hacked games won't work indefinitely," Oculus affirms. The company notes that the regular updates in tow are bound to interfere with the "hacked software," thus making it unusable.
The developer behind the hack, meanwhile, responded to the statement on Reddit.
"Seems like a perfectly fine reaction to me. Of course they can't condone it, that would mean they'd have to actively support the Revive project," the coder, who goes under the username "CrossVR" in the discussion board, explains.
CrossVR notes that the workaround he created could allow more software to be compatible across virtual reality headsets, but can only vouch for the two aforementioned examples.
Do you think VR companies should make their titles platform-exclusive? Let us know in the comments section below.
