In an interesting announcement today which sees Valve’s Steam platform becoming increasingly competitive toward video distribution platforms like Amazon Video, Lionsgate will be making more than 100 films available for purchase through the platform, and you’ll be able to watch them in VR.
It might not be Facebook, but Valve’s 125 million users are certainly an appealing chunk of potential customers. While Steam has mostly focused on being the premiere game distribution platform for PC, the it has just taken a big step into the video distribution space.
In a joint announcement today, Valve and Lionsgate said they’re making more than 100 feature films available on Steam. The films will be viewable across all Steam-supported platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux, and SteamOS) including in VR through SteamVR.
For most people this will mean viewing through the HTC Vive, but you can also use the Oculus Rift with SteamVR.
The films, which include many of Lionsgate’s most recent blockbusters, are offered as 48-hour rentals which you can start any time within 30 days of purchase. Each film has a familiar Steam store page with videos, screenshots, and reviews.
While the films aren’t ‘VR films’, you will be able to watch them on a virtual big screen, presumably inside of SteamVR’s ‘Desktop Theater Mode’ which also lets you play any game from your Steam library in VR. We’d be surprised if Valve wasn’t already looking ahead to the distribution of actual VR films as well.
Here’s look inside the Desktop Theater Mode playing a flat Steam game on the big screen:
Oculus has a similar arrangement with Lionsgate, offering a number of its films on Oculus 360 Video through the Rift and Gear VR.
