A crafty reddit user has figured out how to make two games exclusive to the Oculus platform playable on the HTC Vive. Lucky’s Tale and Oculus Dreamdeck are available for free on the Oculus store, and by downloading some files and following some fairly simple installation instructions, both games can be played using the Vive VR headset.
CrossVR, the Reddit user behind the workaround, which has been dubbed Revive, suggests that similar steps may also work with other games on the Oculus store, but notes they haven’t tested any others as of yet. He wrote:
“It’s still early days for this project, since it’s only been in development for a few weeks. In the future more games will be supported, but I’m glad to see such swift progress already.”
But Oculus caught wind of the project, and released the following statement:
This is a hack, and we don’t condone it. Users should expect that hacked games won’t work indefinitely, as regular software updates to games, apps, and our platform are likely to break hacked software.
While the company clearly doesn’t support CrossVR’s efforts, it doesn’t seem like they actively condemn them either, something the user notes in a follow up post:
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, which is completely outside of their control. But from that reaction, it doesn’t seem they’ll actively try to prohibit it either.
They’re worried people may buy games expecting them to work on the Vive and they may get disappointed. Especially if I can’t keep feature parity with the Oculus SDK, which is what the comment about future updates is about.
While the project may still be in its early days, depending on how well it progresses, it could be bad news for Oculus. The company has struggled to meet demand for its VR headset, with news that some customers are facing months-long delays for their pre-orders. It seems some have already jumped ship to the HTC Vive — and more could follow if it turns out Oculus-exclusive titles can be easily used with other headsets.
It begs the question: is exclusivity really the way to go for such a fledgling hardware as VR? Oculus might be about to find out.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Are you in support of the project or do you think Oculus should clamp down on it? Should the platform be more open? Or do you think exclusivity drives competition and will benefit the hardware in the long run? Let us know in the comments below.
