Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has poured scepticism on the hype surrounding VR post launch by voicing concerns about the cost and space requirement of current systems, mostly (by the sounds of it) the HTC Vive.

Strauss Zelnick isn’t exactly what you’d call a VR zealot. The CEO of Take-Two, the company behind some of the most successful gaming franchises out there, the biggest being Grand Theft Auto, has previously voiced doubts about virtual reality’s mainstream appeal and potential market penetration.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV back in November 2014, Zelnick voiced concerns over the long term comfort of the then emerging Oculus Rift headset (before the HTC Vive had appeared on the scene). “We are concerned that you’ll play our games for a long period of time — we don’t want people getting nauseated. And also, having had the experience, I’m not sure how long you want an immersive headset on your head.” However, back then, Zelnick was cautiously open to the idea that, should consumers demand it, Take-Two would provide VR support “If that’s what consumers want, we’ll be first in line to give it to them.”

Strauss Zelnick (Photo credit: Fortune.com)
Strauss Zelnick (Photo credit: Fortune.com)

Now, in an interview with Gamespot, in the wake of the roll out of the first consumer VR headsets, Zelnick has once again aired scepticism, with his worries primarily centered around cost and space requirements. “It’s way too expensive right now,” Zelnick said at the Cowen and Company Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, “There is no market for a $2000 entertainment device that requires you to dedicate a room to the activity. I don’t know what people could be thinking. Maybe some of the people in this room have a room to dedicate to an entertainment activity, but back here in the real world? That’s not what we have in America.”

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The cost criticism is of course applicable to both the Oculus Rift ($599) and the HTC Vive ($799), both of which were launched around the beginning of April. But the overall argument, that of space requirements, seems to be levelled at the Vive’s room-scale focus. “We have like $300 to spend on an entertainment device and we do not have a dedicated room. We have a room for a screen, a couch, and controllers,” he added. “We don’t have something where you stand in a big open space and hold two controllers with something on your head–and not crash into the coffee table. We don’t have that.”

See Also: HTC Vive Review: A Mesmerising VR Experience, if You Have the Space
See Also: HTC Vive Review: A Mesmerising VR Experience, if You Have the Space

These are both entirely valid concerns of course, and they hold particular weight coming from such an obviously influential figure in the games industry. But, as he has in the past, Zelnick is quick to state that he still finds the technology interesting. “I’m not unexcited; I’m just saying it remains to be seen,” he says.

Whilst Zelnick’s remarks are clearly targeted at a mainstream scale, we do of course disagree with the assertion there’s “no market”, with both Oculus and HTC struggling to keep up with pre-order demands right out of the gate and the mass market awareness of VR increasing by the day, this ‘core gamer’ audience is growing fast.

Zelnick’s concerns however do seem to ignore the advent of Sony’s PlayStation VR, due to arrive on the market in October this year from $399, albeit with the requirement for additional hardware, not least of which the PS4 console itself. But, like the Oculus Rift, PSVR’s focus is very much the standing and seated experience and it’s hoped that Sony’s headset, sporting a much lower price of entry than its higher fidelity, PC-based competitors, will help the eventual mass adoption rate for VR. It’ll be interesting to see whether Zelnick’s tune changes should PSVR fly off the shelves later in the year.

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Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Raphael

    No surprise to see this attitude from someone connected with GTA. After all.. GTA V doesn’t even support steering wheel or joystick despite repeated requests from gamers. It supports only crappy xbox or keys and mouse. Is it really a surprise that GTA won’t be coming to VR?

    There is a problem with VR currently and that has been brought about by the minority who complain about nausea. Most game developers seem to be using teleport mechanic for locomotion in order to avoid complaints from the nausea group.

    Take Two is a play-it-safe and in it for the money company. Will only bring VR when they see everyone else doing it.

    • Matt R

      The MAJORITY of people experience nausea in VR when moved by traditional game mechanics. It’s how the human body responds to this type of disparity between what the senses are experiencing. Unitl we get some tech to counteract this it is going to be a problem. Samsung have some headphones that claim to do it through galvanic vestibular stimulation so it may be closer than we think.

      • Those headphones sound interesting! Totally agree about the nausea. I’m using the teleport functionality in my game and it’s a compromise that I’d rather not make.

        • Raphael

          Teleport really feels like a mechanic for adventure games. I played a demo called “Abbot’s book demo” last night and that has the teleport. It was acceptable for that style of game but we really need a solution for games like GTA and Battlefield.

        • DiGiCT Ltd

          TP works fine in some cases. but not if you need to use it a lot, also it makes me sick after using to long time.
          Roomscale and standing are the way to go, seated can be nice too.
          Some devs just dont get it, there is no good way to move trough VR as simply your body cant move, with exception of limited roomscale which feels great btw.
          People claiming they got the perfect solution for a game is just sick, its like a statement that you found the perfect way to fly your car into space.
          The only acceptable devlopments i seen here on RTVR are the ones making the exoskel and slidepads, they can work and give you the real deal in VR to move.
          ALthought it requires space and a lot of work ot strap yourself into it, it will give you an unlimted walk distance for sure.
          Yes. tradeoffs, thats what they are not a solution at all.
          Devs wake up ! VR has other potentials, some stuff is just better off on non VR platforms, VR is there to create new stuff and rethink concepts to make it become perfect to play.
          Don’t try to recreate something that exist, but try to create something that did not exist or was not possible before is my golden rule to make the VR content good.
          Thats the golden rule for me to follow, it takes longer and more headache but the result will be overwhelming.

      • Raphael

        Wrong. The feedback proves otherwise. 85% positive feedback for games with traditional move mechanic in VR. Windlands is a prime example. Overwhelmingly positive. You’re a minority.

        Vorpx continues to sell because there is a market for traditional motion mechanic even in VR.

        • Matt R

          No, I’m right, its a scientific fact. That’s how the human body works. How can Windlands possibly be considered as a prime example of traditional move mechanics?!? have you even played it? Yes 85% of people think its a good game. I’m one of them. It still makes me feel sick after a while and judging but most of the comments on steam including the positive ones, motion sickness is still a big problem.

          • Raphael

            Teleportation doesn’t make for increased immersion. That’s the dumbest fake fact I’ve read on roadtovr.

            “This game is intense – I had no idea my FEET could sweat that much!

            I’m not sure I’ll finish it, but if you have a VR headset you should try this (though, if you suffer from motion or VR sickness this game is sure to trigger it – seems I’m ok).” << Windlands positive feedback.

            "Posted: 17 May
            I feel like spiderman!"

            "Posted: 28 May
            Best VR "GAME", notice the word GAME, I've played to date. If you own a VIVE, buy this game. It isn't just a vr experience. This is a VR platformer. Imagine early platformers for non-vr games. I would put this in the bucket with an early platforming experience for VR. A lot of fun, I never got sick, ran the game on a GTX680, worked fine.

            For those early adopters seeking a VR-GAME, this is a MUST-HAVE.
            You won't be dissapointed."

            "Posted: 9 May
            Oh. My. Godddddd. This is the best Vive game I've played, hands down, times a million, and I've played the whole first page of Vive popular titles to completion (or close to it). It's perhaps the best game I've ever played period, just for the sense of freedom and awe it brings.

            I've read the other comments, and see that it makes a lot of people sick or uncomfortable, so I was hesitant at first, but I felt none of that. A little vertigo when falling, but it's the good kind of vertigo that you go to the amusement park for. I just finished my first session, which was about 6 hours long, and the only discomfort is in my feet from being on them for so long. People I know in real life have confirmed that they do get a bit sick, but I'm proof that not everyone will.

            Nothing I've experienced in any game thus far has been as purely awesome as tarzaning from tree to tree, climbing up to the top of a huge building, and freefalling from the top to swing from a branch on the way down. Just, wow…."

            Generally when someone is able to play a game they leave positive feedback. When they spew all over the floor they rant at the developer and warn everyone not to buy it.

            Windlands has overwhelmingly positive feedback.

            Vorpx continues to sell and that would certainly cause the most nausea (more so than native VR).

            No…you're a minority at this point especially with Vive users growing rapidly.

          • moodybyname

            Raphael only ever moans on here about how annoyed he is because he never gets sick and therefore hates game mechanics designed to alleviate nausea. I’ve read so many comments where he again and again tried to prove he is the majority (never gets nauseous) and all the sick who need to teleport are in the minority. How he doesn’t get bored of tyoing the same old speech I don’t know. Trust me, it’s a fact, most people will experience some nausea with traditional game mechanics. Maybe they could learn to overcome it, but they won’t because people hate feeling nauseous so they just will say oh I don’t like vr it makes me sick. So if everyone followed Raphael’s advice, vr would never get mainstream adoption. I agree there needs to be a better solution for free roaming than teleporting, but just sticking to the old way is not the best way… in my opinion…

          • jlschmugge

            I’m not sure if VR is out ‘enough’ to really decide on a majority or minority of people who get sick or not. Once it is on store shelves that anyone can buy at anytime, I’ll consider VR to truly be out, and we will have a good enough sample size to see how VR affects people. The sample size right now is biased to enthusiasts who have money, and room to dedicate to roomscale. I truly think roomscale will not be as potent a year from now when the broader gaming audience adopts VR (not to say there won’t be a market for it though). The broader gaming audience wants a simple affordable experience.

            You are right about avoiding nausea and mainstream adoption. Even though people will get VR legs in time, developers will need to continue to play it safe till VR has a permanent place in the entertainment industry. Then it is possible create games designed for the more hardcore, while offering lighter choices. People will understand that they can choose their level of experience. I also appreciate games, such as Windlands, that offer a choice to toggle ‘comfort’ stuff, as seasoned gamers not accustomed to those elements actually find them more distracting and nauseating. For a seasoned gamer, If you are used to pushing a thumbstick to move in space, a part of your brain expects that action to cause movement, and accepts the coinciding movement in the HMD.

            I know, not everyone is a seasoned gamer.

          • Jesse Kindwall

            “Teleportation doesn’t make for increased immersion. That’s the dumbest fake fact I’ve read on roadtovr.”

            Increased compared to what? Sure teleportation is immersion breaking. But I’d argue it’s far LESS immersion breaking than traditional D-Pad movement.

            This argument that traditional movement is more immersive than teleportation makes no sense to me. If you simply prefer traditional movement, fine. By all means lobby for more developers to include that as an option.

            But seriously, I can have my immersion broken for a very brief instant as I teleport to a new location, or I could experience an extended immersion breaking feeling as my perspective gradually slides to a new location while my body is telling me I’m not moving. How exactly is the latter more immersive???

            I have high hopes that someone will come up with a third option that’s more immersive than either. Whether that means walking/running in place with motion tracked feet, or something like the Omni, or something no one’s even thought of yet.

          • Ed

            I must strongly disagree that teleportation is more immersive than d-pad movement. Button controlled movement may feel less natural than walking with your body (obviously) but your character moving seamlessly through the game world is a hell of a lot more immersive than teleporting, which unless integrated into the story somehow, completely destroys suspension of disbelief by violating the laws of physics of the universe that the game is attempting to make you believe in. It is also very jarring and can be disorienting at times. It feels more ‘developer tools’ like than game like. In every game based on teleportation I an extremely frustrated by the lack of alternative movement control options (and in most cases by the lack of ability to even rotate my teleportation target, which means I can’t play seated without constantly turning my chair around and dealing with the cable). What’s that, I’m not supposed to play a room scale game sitting down? Well who says? What is the technical limitation preventing this, and why should we create an arbitrary one?

            I believe that VR games with traditional movement are an important part of the VR spectrum. Vorpx has proven to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are incredible experiences to be had with existing games, and future traditional FPSFPX games with VR support. VR can bring a new lease of life to existing content, to be appreciated in a new and deeper way. Many developers have a library of content which could be made VR-ready with some control-scheme alterations but without any significant worldgameplay changes, which many people in the VR community would salivate over. Playing Half-Life 2, sitting on a chair which can rotate, with Vive controllers in my hands, walking by using my left thumb, and controlling the gravity gun with my left hand, and other weapon in my right? YES. PLEASE. HL2 on the DK2 with a mouse and keyboard was already glorious. This would be incredible.

            Much of the speculation about how prevalent motion sickness is comes from observing a large number of peoples’ FIRST experiences with VR. The human brain is very adaptive. There was a time when news reports were giving health warnings about Sonic The Hedgehog 2 for the genesismega-drive. There will always be a spectrum of people when it comes to motion
            sickness, but I believe it will become less and less of an issue as minds and bodies become more familiar with these kinds of experience.

            I feel that a combination of room-scale and traditional movement controls can offer us the most potential for rich vr experiences that we have available within the limitations of current hardware – Traveling through a game-world in an immersive way, and then using whatever room-scale space you have available, if you do, to take a closer look at things when you feel like it, or to interact with a particular part of the game.

            Also, I BEG developers. PLEASE. Consider giving the player the option to use movement controls which you believe cause motion sickness. You can bury them in the options, and have a warning there too! Just have the option. Arbitrary limitations are frustrating and different people like to play in different ways, maybe even different ways to what you have considered yet. So please, give the player options to set up controls for movement how they like.

            I feel that we can find a nice approach to first-person VR gameplay where the player can swap between standing, being seated, using hand controls or using a gamepad, at their leisure without needing to restart the game. This is absolutely technically possible and it would make a game appealing to a broader market.

            I’m sure we will continue to find more and more ways to minimize motion sickness. It would be a shame if we restrict the potential of our medium in order to sanitize it for the mainstream, though, wouldn’t it? Thankfully I feel the mod and indie development scenes will cover the ground that larger companies are too afraid too.

          • moodybyname

            But a vast amount of people (I don’t care how many, 2 percent, 90 percent, it doesn’t matter) cannot read a book while they are a passenger in a car. Motion sickness is real and anyone who has experienced it generally does not try reading in the car again because the nausea was so horrible. My point is nausea is a real problem vr must contend with and its not just about people having to learn to overcome. Some can but some people still can’t read a book in a car one hundred years after cars were invented…

          • Ed

            That is certainly true and I don’t mean to discount the reality of it. I do believe that focus on motion sickness is important and the many techniques and strategies we learn and implement to reduce or prevent motion sickness will obviously help this medium grow. I just don’t feel that removing the player’s ability to move their avatar in any way other than teleportation or room scale walking is a solution which brings out the potential of the medium very well. It works well in proof-of-concept-ish small and superficial games, but I feel it would be detrimental to a deep, story-driven FPS. I believe we will continue to find better options. In the mean time I am simply advocating player choice – that developers don’t simply by default entirely remove all-standard fps control options due to the risk of motion sickness, and instead keep some kind of option in there to enable them. For those who prefer them, they may take the experience to a whole new level of immersion.

          • Raphael

            Agree. Unfortunately that is exactly what most developers are doing. Dumbing down games or not developing for vr because of the locomotion issues.

          • Raphael

            are you aware that vive reduces nausea? It seems you think nausea is something attached to all vr. It was more an issue with dk1, slightly less an issue with dk2, less an issue with htc vive. I don’t disagree there are people with extreme nausea. I just disagree that game developers should cater exclusiely to them since despite your “vast amount” the feedback on games with a lot of motion is overwhelmingly positive.

          • Jesse Kindwall

            Well I guess you and I just have very different perspectives on what’s “immersive”. For me teleportation is not a big deal. It has existed in countless games before VR. How many big open world games DON’T have some sort of fast travel mechanic to jump between checkpoints. Admittedly, that’s not the same as constantly jumping around in short teleport hops everywhere, but I never concerned myself with fast travel “violating the laws of physics of the universe…” in those old games, and it doesn’t bother me much more in VR. If it’s okay to skip the tedium of walking halfway across a world map, then its okay to skip walking 5 paces to the north. What DOES bother me, breaks presence/immersion, and takes me out of the experience is when my eyes are telling me something is happening that the rest of my body KNOWS is not happening. What we need is to find some way to fool the rest of my body the same way my eyes are fooled.

            That said, I 100% agree that developers should give players the option to use traditional movement if they choose to. This should require minimal effort, and allow all players to play how they want to.

          • Ed

            Regarding teleportation and immersion, I guess for me a big part of the immersion is my visual exploration of the scenery as I travel through the game world. If I teleport somewhere rather than travel through the space of the game world, I lose the fluid change of the sights around me which better mimics the experience of traveling through an environment in the physical world and allows me to form more of a relationship with my environment as I explore it. I also immerse better into a game character when I earn my presence somewhere by having traveled there, rather than just teleported. Teleporting less frequently in a game where you still walk around a lot is less immersion breaking for me. It just feels like a scene change. When the teleportation is happening moment to moment it feels more like I am playing around with some software than actually feeling present in a world. It all depends on the game. It works great in some contexts, I just have my doubts it could work so well that a game based on it could rival the scope, immersion and fluidity of the first person games that are already out there. VR doesn’t need to be like a console with a bunch of Wii games when it is so capable of embracing what came before and taking it much, much further.

          • Matt R

            I absolutely agree that teleportation is nowhere near what we need for true VR. VR is a first person experience and we need first person movement to realise that dream but how we do that has not been figured out yet. We have the omni and the Virtualiser coming sometime in the future but the ring holding you in place will get in the way if true freedom of movement. The Katwalk treadmill looks like the best option but they seem to have gone awol so that might not happen. But all these solution are huge bulky and expensive. The AxonVR looks awesome but i’m guessing not a consumer product. http://axonvr.com/#virtual-reality-you-can-feel

      • VR Cat

        I consider myself to have a pretty strong stomach when it comes to nausea-inducing effects in VR, but even for me locomotion with a keyboard of gamepad makes me feel a little uncomfortable, and it gets worse the longer I play. The tech for solving this problem is becoming available – the Virtuix Omni. It’s starting to go out to developers and they are already beginning to make free-roaming first person games with it. I have my doubts about GVS – I’ve only seen this used sitting down. It may be okay for driving games but how about games where your character is standing? It doesn’t provide proprioception, which is a big piece of the sim-sickness puzzle. 360 treadmills on the other hand allow natural head movement and leg movement while keeping the player safe.

        • Matt R

          I’ve been using VR since DK1 so I have fairly good VR legs but I still get nausea from normal movements. I’m hoping for the Kat walk treadmill to become a real thing. The Omni and the Virtualizer (which I backed on kickstarter unfortunately) Have large rings around the player which do hold you in place but I think will get very restrictive when waving you arms around say in a game like Vanishing realms. One day someone will come up with a eureka moment that no one has thought of and solve this for us.

        • Charles

          You don’t even need an Omni – the easiest solution is to play standing up, rotating naturally but moving forwards/backwards with a joystick (and optionally walking/jogging in place). It also helps to stand on a rug so you know if you’ve drifted out of your clear space.

          • VR Cat

            I have done this in the past, before I got hold of an Omni. If you just go in straight lines and stop and turn in real life as you say, it is possible to play for quite a while without getting too nauseous. The only problem was, it just wasn’t much fun. Something about moving your character with an analogue stick kills a lot of the immersion. This is why people are enjoying room scale – because they’re moving with their legs. The problem with room scale is they can’t go very far before having to teleport, which once again breaks immersion, and is a big problem for open world games.

          • Charles

            Yeah, that’s why I think the best non-Omni solution is room-scale plus what I said. So you could walk around in a limited area, but you’d occasionally run into your chaperone boundaries (or the edge of a large rug), and so you’d use your joystick to jog to another location.

      • UadeaD

        Try Vive please, it has no such issue cause tracking solves and really synced well between all the fast movements and sight seeing. No vestibular issue at all.

        • Matt R

          I have a Vive and its awesome but moving around by pressing a button is still not good.

      • JoeD

        It’s not a “problem.” VR games don’t have to use this mechanic. Just like all video games don’t require you to run from left to right on the screen jumping on platforms.

    • VR Cat

      While I’ve heard some developers say it was out of fear of bad reviews from consumers that they disabled regular motion from their games, I think industry leaders are also partly responsible for the current proliferation of teleportation / third person / on-rails / cockpit / stand-in-place only titles. I remember Oculus going around to developer meetups talking about sim-sickness and comfort modes, and giving the impression (whether they meant to or not) that developers would need to use these techniques if they wanted a good comfort rating on their store. Now they are sending out the right signal by allowing regular motion in Minecraft VR, as well as unveiling a more positive descriptor for this motion than we were expecting – and I applaud them for that, but the damage (if you are of the opinion that this trend is damaging) has been done. VR needs to bounce back quickly.

      Yes, sales are good now – but you expect that in the launch period. For sustained sales there needs to be a broader range of content. I could be wrong of course, maybe VR does not need as broad a range of gaming types, but cutting out free-roaming first person games seems pretty risky, and AAA developers as you can see, do not like risk. If we can show them a game like GTA V would work in VR, they will get on board. Developers, it’s down to you!

    • Tommy

      Sounds like Apple. And yet just like Apple, GTA titles sell in the millions. Who cares about the minority VR enthusiasts – I’m one of them :(

  • I have never been in a hot air balloon… I don’t think there is a market for hot air balloons.

    • Jorge Curiel

      Well, you’re right. There isn’t.

      • JoeD

        So there are not hot air balloons? That’s dumb.

        I suppose there are also no Yachts and no Mercedes.

        This Zelnick clown would also be talking about no market for cell phones. He’s a perfect example of someone so caught up in his own industry he can’t see past it, much like Ken Olsen, of Digital, saying “there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.”

      • Tell that to Richard Branson..
        http://www.virginballoonflights.co.uk/

  • Matt R

    Putting a large picture of GTA V on the title is borderline click bait. A picture of Zelnick would have sufficed.

    My Vive gets used every day and I have the minimum amount of space required for room scale. It is still fun and the experience is very immersive. The cost is purely down to it being brand new first gen hardware. It will get cheaper as the tech matures. I own both the Vive and the Rift. The Rift will come out of its box only when the Touch arrives to see how it stacks up with tracking and features.

    • Sam Illingworth

      “A picture of Zelnick would have sufficed.”

      Wouldn’t that put people off clicking? He looks like a horrible corporate ****er.

      • Matt R

        that he does :)

  • Muddy

    How short sighted a man of his standing.

    • Kai2591

      He is part of the old establishment
      we are part of the NEW!

      • Bob Oblong

        funny. People have been posting videos on youtube for a year injecting it into VR and always go on about how great it is. They are probably just holding off a year to re-re-rerelease the game VR Edition once Sony’s VR has its foot in the door.

    • Tommy

      Just like Apple. Taking the wait-and-see approach.

  • Sam Illingworth

    Give him a break, he doesn’t mean there’s literally no market, he just means the market is a tiny fraction of the general games market, and he’s surely right? If anything I’d have thought America with it’s oversized everything would be one of the best places for people dedicating a room to VR; certainly in Europe that’s going to be a very hard sell. It’s a shame, because it’s amazing. I was playing Vanishing Realms and Budget Cuts yesterday, and it’s so engrossing and tense (and scary at times), it’s got a potentilly very bright future, if the games get made.

  • tvguy

    Wow, what a short sighted dick. Methinks it’s time for him to retire and let someone with vision map out the future of his game division.

  • ima420r

    He’s kinda right about people having to dedicate a room for VR. I had to clear our a large enough area, and now I have no room for a dining room table. I can’t imagine too many people in my situation (living in a smaller apartment or house without much extra space) making room for VR, let alone spending $$$ for it AND a PC that can run it. And with $ony making you buy a whole new PS4 and VR gear, even if you can just sit and play I don’t see too many current owners making the switch right away.

    I hate to say someone who looks like that is right, even kinda right. Ack.

  • tvguy

    Everybody keeps going on and on about the amount of space required for VR. Come on, all you really need is a 6×6 space. Move a table, set up, play, move the table back. Are people so lazy that they can’t temporarily move a piece of furniture? I move the coffee table out of my living room, set up my light houses on tripods, plug in and I’m ready to go. It takes me 5 minutes to set up and 5 minutes to put away my Vive. Seriously, are we really going to let laziness interfere with VR? Also, prices WILL come down. The first CD player cost $700!

    • moodybyname

      We all know he lives in a mega mansion with loads of room and assumes all the peasants live in tiny rooms similar to his walk in closet’s walk in closet. He is massively out of touch. Of course anyone can move a coffee table or whatever and have the minimum space required. The minimum space is tiny. Of course I wish I had a much bigger space, but even the minimum lets me walk around an object and see it like it’s really there…

  • r00tuzr

    I just got the vive last week and since then thats all my family has been playing.
    There is nothing like room scale the feeling of truly being in the game.
    The only bad thing is the lack of content right now. The times they are a changin

    • DiGiCT Ltd

      Give it some time, we are working on a title ;-)

  • Well, if big industry doesn’t want to handle room scale, I’m sure there are enough indie teams who would be glad to take the money they’re ignoring on the table. Anyone else excited about budget cuts and smashing your head into the ground when trying to look down a virtual shaft? I am.

    • DiGiCT Ltd

      So am I ;-)

  • rushabs

    love my vive even thou it was a hell process with the controls. I hope the rift doesn’t have similar problems

  • awilko

    I bought a rift because I didn’t have the space for a vive. After seeing room scale in action I *made* the space for a vive. Now I have no room for a car. :)

    • DiGiCT Ltd

      Best comment ever !!
      You let me laugh :D

    • Kai2591

      No space?
      MAKE SPACE
      XD

  • UadeaD

    Well, first of all HTC Vive supports standing and seating play as well, with tracking your head and controllers still. Also in case of Vive playing room can be just 1.6 to 1.8 meters and this is most of us have in one of rooms. So no dedicated room required. So unfortunately Zelnick just demonstrated bad knowledge of the technology itself. And this looks strange from his position in a company which suppose to be at the edge of gaming technologies. There could be some concerns on the current VR execution but this is surely the future, and first AAA will eat the market quickly. That way for Take-Two it could be too late…

  • Tim Suetens

    There is indeed no *significant* market for VR in this infantile stage. It’s only for the rich at the moment.

  • delay

    I feel sorry for someone in his position that sees the biggest change to games to come along in thirty years and he doesn’t get excited about the possibilities. How sad to see someone who is suppose to be a leader for his company have such a myopic view of his industry and the world. He is a bean counter… Lots of those in corporate america… What a shame…

  • Jorge Curiel

    In a couple of years people will be making fun of these statements.

  • DiGiCT Ltd

    The problem this company has is their game itself, it needs a lot of movements which are not possible in a proper way in VR, unless some special equipment be added.
    They need to make an total new game for it and rethink all, with the risk not selling it good enough compared with their golden horse title.
    He is right in a business wise thinking not to port their current title over to VR as it will not benefit their game.
    VR needs time as all devs need to adjust and create new games for it.
    New games does not mean ported games but total new ways of playing games, as VR is a new device and cant be compared to a 2d device.
    Not everyone is capable to do that as you realy need to start from having non examples to copy from.
    It’s the challenge and risk that needs to be faced.

  • jlschmugge

    Has anyone thought of setting up the Vive outside, like under a covered porch? I don’t have room in the house to even move a coffee table aside, but the outdoors are pretty big, as long as I have protection to keep the PC and hardware from getting wet.

    • DaKangaroo

      “Backyard VR” would be awesome, but the system would need to be wireless, rugged and waterproof, and probably completely wireless, even if that means the headset does all the rendering and only external trackers are used for position tracking. Make it multiuser and you could have VR outdoor sports! Now THAT would be truly epic.

  • Dan

    It seems an understandable enough viewpoint – I mean there’s no previous precident. It’s not like anyone has ever dedicated an entire room of their house to sitting around a TV or anything… what a preposterous notion that would be!

  • JoeD

    I guess the Atari 2600 never took off either thanks to its >$700 price tag (in 2016 dollars).

    I also don’t know what country he thinks America is, but most middle class people have the room for “room scale.” The average American home is now >1000 sq ft larger than they were in 1973. So, what, exactly are we doing in 2016 that we can’t live without that we were living without in 1973?

  • DaKangaroo

    For a start, it’s not $2000, that’s only if you don’t already have a PC VR capable. By this time next year, anyone with a ‘mid range’ gaming PC is going to have a machine capable or running VR. Secondly, most homes have a living room. I sure as hell don’t have a room which I’m going to dedicate to VR, I live in a very small house, but I do have a living room, and I have no problem moving a coffee table for a great time, it’s still less effort than going to a theme park, more fun too. A garage or basement will do. Unless you’re living in a tiny apartment, most people can find a 2m x 2m area for the Vive.

    I think he’s being incredibly short sighted. But that doesn’t surprise me, people like him, they don’t drive innovation, they respond to it, he’s a business man, not an innovator.

    On a somewhat but not completely unrelated note, I had a thought last night about an alternative to omnidirectional treadmills for larger than room scale VR. How about instead of omnidirectional treadmills, which take up a lot of space, are quite large, and expensive.. how about shoes? With ball wheels on them? ‘VR Skates’ to go with ‘VR Gloves’. I was thinking about it after seeing some kids rolling around on shoes with little wheels hidden in the bottom at the shops yesterday.

    They could have little sensors on them to be tracked by the HTC Vive’s lighthouse system, to know the position of the user’s feet. The ball wheels on them could be motorised to spin to create uniform movement in one direction, like a treadmill was under you. Start walking in one direction, wheels spin in the opposite direction, constantly working counter to your movements to keep you centred in the middle of a tracking area. It’d be a lot smaller, cheaper and portable than any omnidirectional treadmill, and comes with the benefit of feet positional tracking.

    • veritas

      I have thought about that roller ball shoes last night too.
      Virtuix Omni has something similar that you have to wear dedicated shoes: http://www.virtuix.com/products/

  • Buttsie

    Strauss is out of touch

  • JJ Guerrilla

    This reminds me of some other tech leading giant making stupid statements… hmm.. what was that… ‘640K is more memory than anyone will ever need.’ – Bill Gates (Although today, he denies he ever said that)