In the build-up to QuakeCon 2017, which starts tomorrow, Bethesda has announced launch dates for their three major VR titles for the holiday season. Skyrim VR (PSVR) launches first on November 17th, followed by Doom VFR (PSVR, Vive) on December 1st, and finally Fallout 4 VR (Vive) on December 12th, rounding out what promises to be a very merry VR holiday.

Skyrim VR remains a PSVR-only title for now, but is likely to find its way to PC. Bethesda continue to refer to the PC versions of Doom VFR and Fallout 4 VR as ‘Vive’ games, but they are both likely to be playable with Oculus hardware, whether pseudo-officially via OpenVR’s support for the Rift, or with an unofficial workaround to unlock any purposefully imposed barriers, as we’ve seen with other SteamVR games which attempted to block Rift functionality.

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The legendary annual QuakeCon is held in Dallas, Texas hosted by parent company ZeniMax Media is home to publisher Bethesda Softworks’ world-famous IP, with this year’s focus on the Quake World Championships esport competition. Attendees can also get hands-on time with a number of upcoming Bethesda-published games in the Exhibit Hall, including all three VR games, plus Quake Champions, The Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

The hall will be open from Thursday to Saturday 10am–6pm daily. For further information on QuakeCon 2017, visit the official site.

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Dominic Brennan
The trial version of Microsoft’s Monster Truck Madness probably had something to do with it. And certainly the original Super Mario Kart and Gran Turismo. A car nut from an early age, Dominic was always drawn to racing games above all other genres. Now a seasoned driving simulation enthusiast, and former editor of Sim Racer magazine, Dominic has followed virtual reality developments with keen interest, as cockpit-based simulation is a perfect match for the technology. Conditions could hardly be more ideal, a scientist once said. Writing about simulators lead him to Road to VR, whose broad coverage of the industry revealed the bigger picture and limitless potential of the medium. Passionate about technology and a lifelong PC gamer, Dominic suffers from the ‘tweak for days’ PC gaming condition, where he plays the same section over and over at every possible combination of visual settings to find the right balance between fidelity and performance. Based within The Fens of Lincolnshire (it’s very flat), Dominic can sometimes be found marvelling at the real world’s ‘draw distance’, wishing virtual technologies would catch up.
  • Devlin Darkside

    If it does happen that Bethesda excludes rift users because of an ongoing squabble between Facebook and themselves I wont be happy and I guess others will feel the same.

    I will feel less inclined to buy titles from them in the future if this turns out to be true.

    Edit: Forgot to add that I own a rift.

    • Tyler Soward

      I don’t think Bethesda is going to go out of their way to make their software unplayable on the Rift. If they do a work around will be introduced probably within hours.

    • Walextheone

      It usually takes hours then someone from the community circumvent stuff like that.

    • NooYawker

      Unless Bethesda puts in an actual block against oculus, Rift users should be able to play these games. The question is how dirty will they play.

    • TheRealSpiderman

      The only thing to ever actively block the Rift was Google Earth. And that was hacked within a few hours. I just think it’s a PR move to try to move some more Vive units. The average consumer won’t know that all Steam games work with the Rift. They will see “Vive exclusive” thinking they can only play it there and will pick up a Vive headset.

    • M Rob

      I own both so i’m not too bothered. I think they will release a version for Vive with both full support for Vive wands and hopefully (due to the delay) for the new knuckle controllers. Then some time after add support for Touch controllers. I got to admit though there is a small part of me that would find it very funny if they do block Oculus. I hate facebook and I don’t like the way they treated Palmer.

  • Tyler Soward

    Bummed the October ETA didn’t hold for Fallout though – that’s one I’d really like to see sooner than later

    • Tyler Soward

      Guess they gotta get that Christmas money though

      • FT

        Agreed. Was also looking forward to the October release. I guess two more months is okay but lame. It better be good Bethesda!

  • Luke

    Since I bought Oculus at Summer’s Sales I played more on Steam VR than on the Oculus Store (Budget Cuts demo is itself the best killer application for VR I have seen since I started playng in VR), so I really hope Steam VR will be always up to date to support Oculus and future brands of VR HMDs with bug fixes.

  • StylinLP38

    I wonder if there is a way to port my existing game from my Windows 10 PC to the new Skyrim VR game. I want to keep playing my toon, houses built and wives molested

  • Love seeing major games like this going to VR! It’ll be 10 times more intense than the originals during gameplay now.

  • Aaron

    I just don’t see paying full price for an old game I’ve already paid for once and beaten.

    • Religion is Cancer

      I understand your sentiment because I felt the same way as you. I own both Fallout 4 and Doom by all means it is a new game with a lot of development work that’s going into it. I like that Doom VFR is only $30 which to me makes it worth buying. Fallout 4 VR will be $60 without DLC. That’s pretty steep. I’m undecided on FO4 VR.

      • Aaron

        I guess I’ll check out the reviews and figure it out when it gets here and see then. The hype of VR has really waned since its inception. Two years later is a bit late in the game for high quality titles to be coming out.

  • Lucidfeuer

    Since I already have these game and they can go fuck themselves if they think I’ll pay twice for them because we live in wonderful times where they can manipulate enough completely spineless consumers who’d buy anything they’re told to, they can stick my Vive controller in their Rift.