Although Valve was a no-show at this year's E3 video game trade show, that still didn't stop the company from sending out copies of its SteamVR kit to developers earlier this month. Now, it seems that one of the first games we might see on that system comes from Dean Hall, the developer behind DayZ and Ion.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Hall admitted that he and his studio, RocketWerkz, has partnered with Valve on a SteamVR title.
"My studio RocketWerkz is, yeah," Hall said when asked about looking at VR.
Eurogamer pressed him for further information by asking about the project, an additional one to Ion, the game RocketWerkz presented at this year's E3.
"Well, no, because I kind of told Valve I'd do it," Hall answered. "So I kinda' have to, right?"
When asked if the title was a VR game, Hall replied that it was, and mentioned that he'd tried out Steam VR on the HTC Vive VR headset recently. He also spoke of his admiration for Valve's Chet Faliszek.
"Chet Faliszek was like a huge mentor to me," Hall said. "He contacted me very early on in DayZ's development and he's been all through everything - he's been a huge mentor. And I actually got a chance to seem him speak, and I spoke myself, at Slush Play in Iceland. And, to be honest, that was the final convincing for me. So I really liked what he had to say."
That certainly sounds like a confirmation that RocketWerkz plans on developing a SteamVR title with Valve, doesn't it? And it's also likely as Valve recently sent out kits with the HTC Vive VR headsets to developers.
Of course, it's also probably that the SteamVR title that RocketWerkz has in mind is only a concept at this time, but we're looking forward to seeing what the studio comes up with.
In the meantime, RocketWerkz plans on heavily promoting their space simulation game Ion, which the company partnered with Improbable to create.
Meanwhile, although this year's E3 saw VR mentioned a lot, Steam remained absent, although that's usually their normal company policy. The company rarely attends events like E3 and uses its own events to announce new technology and games. Valve is also gearing up for the release of the first Steam Machines later this year, though, so many industry types question their continued absence at this year's E3.
Valve's last appearance at E3 was in 2010 when the company announced Portal 2. For those gamers hoping for a Half Life 3 announcement from the company (as they do every year), the company's absence probably tells us that it won't happen in 2015.
However, Steam received many mentions during last night's PC Gaming Show, as expected, as it is one of the largest distributor of PC games.
Photo Credit: Steam
