HTC Vive’s Birthday Brings Gifts for Customers

HTC, the Taiwanese smartphone maker is celebrating the one year anniversary of its virtual reality device, the HTC Vive. To make this a more memorable day for customers, HTC has planned to launch a new monthly subscription service for virtual reality content like video games and short interactive films. 

The new HTC’s online Viveport store will feature a monthly subscription service, where viewers can download up to five VR titles for just $7 a month. The following month, the customers can switch the titles with other ones if they want to. The company’s ideology behind the service is that customers should get to “try an app before they decide to buy.” This comes as a great advantage to virtual reality users as one of the biggest drawbacks with virtual reality games is that until you play them, it’s hard to know what they are like. 2D screenshots and trailers barely do traditional games justice, let alone fully realized virtual worlds. 

Launching today, a year to the day after the original release of the HTC Vive virtual reality headset, the Viveport Subscription will give VR gamers access to content that they may not have otherwise paid for. For developers, the subscription model represents an additional revenue channel and a way to reach broader audiences. Viveport Subscription is launching with more than 50 titles available including VR apps like TheBlu, Richie’s Plank Experience, Everest VR, Fantastic Contraption, Mars Odyssey and more. 

Talking about the introduction of this new Netflix-like subscription service, Rikard Steiber, President of Viveport at HTC Vive said, “Introducing a subscription model to VR is a natural evolution of where this market is going, and as film, music and TV have proven it’s becoming the preferred way customers want to explore and experience entertainment content.” 

Every HTC Vive owner will be given a free month trial of the subscription service, as well as a free copy of Arcade Saga. However, from then on, each month will cost users $7 to remain part of the subscription service. A report suggests that HTC believes as many as half of all Vive owners will join up, which with an estimated 500,000 headset owners out in the wild, would represent a nice little revenue stream for HTC. 

The Vive anniversary has definitely turned out to be a gala time for customers but till when will these freebies last without any additional terms and conditions is the point to ponder on. So, stay tuned to get more updates on such exciting VR news; because we are where VR is!