Vive launching subscription service for VR apps
A good idea
A monthly cybersubscription service offering a selection of VR experiences will launch for Vive cybergoggles tomorrow, HTC have announced. Tuesday, April 5th is the first birthday of HTC and Valve's cyberbaby, which will be celebrated with a $100 discount on goggs for the day and the launch of the Viveport Subscription service. For $7 per month, Vivesport subs will let folks cyber as much as they please with five titles of their choice from a selection in HTC's Viveport store. Given how many VR doodads are interesting experiences but seem expensive for an hour of waving your head, this sounds pretty neat.
The service doesn't cover everything in the Viveport store, to be clear, but will launch with 45 apps/games/cyberings. These include gorgeous ocean world TheBlu, ice viewer Everest VR, the planetary scenes of Mars Odyssey, acrophobia simulator Richie's Plank Experience, and Rube Goldberg device-building physics puzzler Fantastic Contraption.
"Viveport Subscription customers pay $6.99 a month and choose five titles from an ever-growing library of curated content. They get unlimited access to the apps they choose or they can rotate out their selection every month. All apps in the subscription service are also available for sale, letting customers try an app before they decide to buy."
All Vivers will get a one-month trial subscription free from tomorrow.
Also coming free tomorrow is a free copy of Arcade Saga, the first game made by HTC's own Vive Studios. It's three familiar vintage arcade games... in cyberspace!
Given that cybergoggles are better suited for bursts than marathons, and some of VR's best bits are one-shot experiences, this all sounds quite sensible.