During the Virtual Reality Los Angeles expo this week, HTC announced a new content platform for the Vive headset, called Viveport. It’s a digital distribution platform for Vive VR content that, unlike Steam, isn’t tied specifically to games. Instead, it will feature 360 video, VR experiences, and other educational or commercial applications in some way associated with VR.
An FAQ goes into more specific depth about how Viveport differs from Steam:
“Viveport builds on the successful offering of VR games readily available on Steam and opens up the marketplace to a wide variety of VR categories with its own app store exclusively dedicated to immersive VR and 360 content. It is a unique yet complementary distribution platform to Steam with distinct experiential and monetization features and a broad portfolio of content ranging from fitness to fashion apps, news to nature experiences, and creativity to productivity tools. In respect to VR games, developers will continue to distribute independently through the Steam platform and submit gaming titles to Viveport for distribution in China only.”
That last point is an interesting one, as Viveport was in development at the beginning of the year – however it was focused on China, where Steam does not have as strong a presence. Now that Viveport is available, its rollout into other regions means its need to distinguish itself from Steam with a broader range of non-gaming content is crucial. The FAQ further emphasises this, stating that “VR gaming content will only be available on Viveport China.”
Developers are able to register to have their content included on Viveport at HTC’s official Vive Developers portal.
