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I actually think this might be the best VR game every created, but with such a minority audience, it is only natural for it to be done and over. Besides games like these don´t tend to last long, they have little replayability.
But it might set off more investment into VR, that could be good.. Maybe later on people like me can get to enjoy VR without its many faults (I don´t think it is worth it atm and I often get sick from using it) give it a few years and maybe this or AR/MR will be in a better state.
Consider that VR is something that requires physical activity. While minimal, over many hours it does get to be laboring. As amazing as the game is, it's not exactly something suited to many hours of play time in long sessions.
Not to mention, HL2 has also been around for many years as you stated, this means there's a near endless list of mods to play around with. Couple that with a more "relaxing" and traditional sit and play style and naturally you'll have people playing in greater numbers. Especially when you consider what the previous user said with how few users there are willing to, let alone capable of investing in/play VR. HL2 at this point can run on an off the shelf IGPU box PC making it extremely accessible.
After having just come off the high that was Alyx I can say that honestly it's the greatest argument to be made for the validity of VR not as an experience but as a medium.
Hopefully more will be able to get their hands on it and easily obtainable hardware in the near future and hopefully the reaction to the game pushes VR in a great direction with more investment from Devs, publishers and hardware makers.
in 2011 HL2 had sold over 12 million copies.
But the issue here is that while the HL games was playable for most gamers, HL:A is not, it is a little minority that have VR atm.
2 million is a very good number for a VR title, and that's all Valve care about. Why? Because they set out to pioneer VR and subsequently make the best VR game they could because that's what currently floats their creative boat. There is no question they succeeded in that.
There are untold other game developers out there that cater for flat screen gamers.
It's like comparing car sales to motorbike sales, totally pointless as as the market sizes are so different. As I'm sure you are fully aware!
VR is also flat screen techically. But lets not dive that route to much.
Most in most I agree with you, Valve wanted to sell more Valve index and take abit of the VR market, they succedeed in that (it is a minority market, but those are worth it, when the price of the hardware is at it is)
They have several other VR games in progress as well.. again personally I have no interest in them at all atm, nor is the type of games best suited for VR my favourite and the third part is that many aspects I like is on current VR tech much to dumbed down.. I can wait for now.
But again it is great they shake the market, the avarage consumer of tech will be looking at AR/MR however, not VR.
I don't disagree with you, VR is still in it's infancy and like any technology could be overtaken by better tech in the future. Lets face it, technology that succeeds is driven pretty much by what users want and buy into, not by the mere existence of the technology itself.
It makes me laugh though when people say VR is the future ... its not ... it's a reality, it's here now. It may not be perfect but tens of millions of people world wide are using it.
Another point to make is I don't think people realize how influential Valve have been in this modern resurgence of VR. Its completely wrong to think Valve are purely into VR to sell Index hardware when they have been developing VR and open VR systems for the last 10 years. Even the original Oculus headsets were modeled on a Valve prototype. The very existence and limited success of VR today is pretty much down to Valve and a hand full of others.
Only idiotic people get into VR will rule the planet type arguments, it's likely to always remain a limited marketplace but undoubtedly will increase its market share along with AR/MR as the tech improves.
VR is a toddler, it born in the late 70´s (albeit like all other tech, it has progressed, had bump and even degression over the life period)
I have no doubt that VR on later date will be a normal accessery to "PC gaming" or even "console gaming" but I don´t believe it will become a core system and there is way to many reasons for that (already said a million times) But VR and even AR/MR investment will drive tech ahead and eventually we will see newer tech become standard.. Albeit I don´t think I will ever exprience hologram like tech in my life time.
Valve is obviously in it for the long run yes, but these initial investment is steep and it will take time, they could potentially have invested only for other tech or other companies to reap the rewards as well... that is too early to tell.
Note that I am not against VR, even if I don´t think it is worth it atm. I am happy about the fact some people invest in it, just as I have invested in other niche/minority hardware products, because that is what drives the innovation, even if some of the projects might fail.
HL2 still holds up. Take it from someone who remembers the release of HL2 - it still felt fresh until like, 2010. Hell, most people, myself included, didn't even have a capable PC until the Orange Box dropped and had to wait like, a year or two or three just to be able to play it. I remember playing the demo over and over at 640x480 on an integrated gpu until I could finally play the actual game.
Time will tell if Alyx enjoys the same slow burning popularity.
Edit: Just want to reminisce some more - HL2 was really the first "next-gen" game on PC imo along with Doom 3 and Far Cry. Games that were so far ahead of the curve they represented a "half-gen" upgrade. The original Xbox was such a beast for a console of that era, and was what really emboldened devs to go all out on effects typically reserved for PC exclusives. Games like Halo 2 and Republic Commando looked damn good in their own right. Honestly, I would go back to the sixth gen era and do it all over again if I could. What an era.
I like what Joe Rogan has to say about this.
Look at your HTC Vive or Valve Index. Now imagine what that is going to be in another ten years when we're looking back at it making fun of what it used to be. When your Index is equivalent to a flip phone once smartphones released.
Even multiplayer mods.
When something has been established for so long then of course it will have more stuff tied to it.
It's not a popularity contest anyway, player count is not a sign of quality. Nothing went 'wrong'.
Neither in it's current state nor perhaps even in our lifetimes.
Virtual reality however is a broad term, and an escape from reality will always be chased. It's why so many movies and programmes like to include it. "The Matrix" is basically just virtual reality.
Whatever VR is to become may have more of an effect some may even like. It could change a lot.
But it certainly will include evolution of the tech, so much so the stuff we use now may not even be recognisable to what we end up with.
Right now, I agree. VR as we know it existing today, will likely stand alongside other mediums until a new form makes it obsolete.