As the VR market is poised for a handful of new headsets launching in the coming weeks, the latest Steam Survey unsurprisingly shows Vive and Windows VR making some gains after Oculus discontinued the Rift ahead of the launch of the Rift S.

Each month Valve collects data from Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and software is used by the platform’s population, and to see how things are changing over time; that includes which VR headsets are connected to users’ computers. Participation in the data collection is optional, and headsets aren’t counted if they aren’t powered on and recognized by the user’s PC at the moment the data is collected.

Data is captured over the course of the month and tells us how many unique headsets were connected to users’ PCs over that time period (compared to the total Steam population); we call the resulting figure ‘monthly-connected headsets’ for clarity.

After a sizeable leap in monthly-connected headsets from February (0.89%) to March (0.96%), the latest data for April shows 0.92% of the total Steam population having VR headsets connected to their computers. While that’s a drop from the month prior, the overall trend remains consistently upward:

Monthly-connected VR headsets as of April 2019 (gap caused by erroneous Stream Survey data) | Data courtesy Valve, chart by Road to VR

As for individual headsets, April’s data shows gains in share of headsets in use on Steam by HTC and Windows VR, mostly at the expense of Oculus.

Chart courtesy Valve

In April the Vive is up to 41.08% (+1.53%) and the Vive Pro at 1.51% (+0.06%), giving the two headsets a combined share of 42.59% in April, the first time the headsets have collectively seen growth in share in five months. Windows VR’s share grew slightly to 11.07% (+0.50%), continuing a slow but steady growth streak now 12 months running.

The Oculus Rift still reigns as the most popular headset on Steam with 45.62% share, despite losing 1.93% in April. That said, HTC and Windows VR didn’t grow in share alone; both saw their highest ever actual count of monthly-connected headsets in April.

SEE ALSO
Analysis: Monthly Connected VR Headsets on Steam Have Grown Exponentially

Oculus’ loss in share isn’t surprising as the company has made no secret of its two new headsets—Quest and Rift S, which are due to launch next week—and even discontinued the original Rift headset in late March, making their only PC VR headset unavailable for two months before its successor will launch.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Kathryn James

    Just still so expensive..

    • oompah

      250$ for WMR headset + controllers
      I think thats ok
      buy HP headset
      I think that’d be ok for u

  • Jim Cherry

    How will the hp reverb be reported once it sells. Will it be its own group or just another wmr hmd. And with the index costing 1k for a full kit when will it break 1% in the fall or sometime next year.

    • Fabian

      just another wmr hmd because there is no reason for anything else.

      • benz145

        This is correct.

      • Jistuce

        Gotta admit, it’d be nice if the Odysseys and Reverb were reported differently, since they ARE different than the rest of the MS-standard goggles.

    • Jarilo

      Probably just a WMR, people take these Surveys far too seriously.

  • Kevin Wei

    Still the Big 3, we need more VR headset manufacturer if we want a better VR world

    • kuhpunkt

      Index.

  • oompah

    many headsets are emulating HTC vive
    thats why their nos. r like that methinks
    (example sony psvr on pc/laptop)

    I believe Windows mixed reality will grow as
    1. u can see most new games support it.
    2. headsets r cheap at around 250$
    3. headset quality is great with inside out tracking so no need of external tracking.
    4. May support common open platform for vr.
    5. controllers 6dof , what more do u want , a body suit?

    Personally I am looking for a standalone WMR headset , whenever it is available.

    • Justos

      if they could fix their 2 camera tracking and controllers, then WMR would be a real contender in this race. As of right now, not worth wasting your dollars on.

      • Wayne Hinkel

        My feelings exactly. Waiting for the Valve Index!

  • Jarilo

    People take these Surveys far too seriously. I’ve been a long time Vive user and I have yet to see Steam say “Headset detected”, mainly cause it’s off when ever I take the Survey. Plus, who cares, you guys got stocks in these companies?

    • ShiftyInc

      As soon as you plug in any active headset in your computer, steam will know what headset you use. No need to run the survey for that. Just need an active headset and steam open at the same time, for the data to be send.

  • Immersive_Computing

    Steam is wonky at moment? Plugged in my gaming headphones get a screen message, “VR headset detected, steam fault xxxx”. No VR headset at moment…