Striker VR, maker of high-end haptic VR gun peripherals for the out-of-home market, announced today it has raised a $4 million investment and plans to use the funds to make its first move into the consumer VR space.

Striker VR’s Arena Infinity VR guns packs perhaps the most powerful haptic punch you’ll find in any VR gun peripheral. They’ve been deployed at VR attractions from the likes of Spaces, Nomadic, and more. VR experiences are able to take advantage of versatile haptics which can create sensations that mimic a wide range of virtual objects, all the way from a ‘charge up’ sci-fi gun to a chainsaw. But with prices in the thousands of dollars, the consumer VR segment hasn’t been part of the company’s strategy, until now.

The company exclusively revealed to Road to VR that it has raised a $4 million investment and plans to bring its technology to the consumer VR space. Striker VR described the investment as “strategic funding,” but didn’t disclose additional details on the participants of the investment.

With the cash infusion, the company says it plans to double its staff over the next year as it ramps up to launch a new version of its gun peripheral for the consumer VR market. While details on the device itself haven’t been fully revealed, Striker VR has shared a first look at the unique industrial design the company is aiming for, which appears to include trackpads on either side of the foregrip and possibly two additional capacitive inputs above the trigger.

Striker VR tells us it plans to support both PC VR and Quest, though it’s unclear exactly how they’ll handle tracking. The company’s prior VR guns have supported tracking via the high-end OptiTrack system or with SteamVR Tracking via and attached Vive Tracker.

On the PC VR side, it’s possible the company will choose to integrate SteamVR Tracking directly into the peripheral, or expect the end-user to supplement the device with a Vive Tracker. As for Quest support… it’s less clear how the company will approach it. Oculus has not opened its tracking system to third-parties, though we’ve seen some other VR peripherals attach the Quest controller itself to function as a tracker.

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With full details not yet released, we don’t know exactly what haptic technology the Striker VR consumer product will use. The haptics in company’s high-end products are based on a large linear actuator (and large batteries), though ostensibly some sacrifices will need to be made in the name of price. The company claims that the consumer version will have “more haptics than any controller ever produced,” and says that more details are due in a future announcement.

Speaking of price—Striker VR isn’t ready to reveal pricing, but confirmed it’s targeting a sub-$500 price point, further stating, “depending on the final build, it might be significantly less.”

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Figuring out how to attract developers to support the consumer haptic VR gun is likely to be Striker VR’s biggest challenge in entering the consumer VR segment.

In the PC VR space, no single haptic VR gun peripheral has found significant traction. Over on PSVR, however, the PS Aim accessory is generally well regarded and has seen support for more than 20 games, including some fairly major titles like Arizona Sunshine, Borderlands 2 VR, Farpoint, Firewall Zero Hour, and Doom VFR.

While PS Aim includes a joystick and nearly full input mapping to the PS4 gamepad, Striker VR’s consumer peripheral so far looks like it will rely on large trackpads and a fewer number of other inputs. This could make it more difficult for developers to build consumer games for the device, and perhaps less likely that existing games with PS Aim support could be ported to work with it.

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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."
  • mellott124

    Awesome news. These guys do great work. Wish them the best of luck.

  • Timothy Sun

    Who gave these guys 4m dollars to make $500 haptic guns???

    What developer is going to support this???

    smh

  • I understand this decision: the LBEVR market is in trouble, and they are looking to survive. Good luck to them

  • gothicvillas

    “Consumer peripheral so far looks like it will rely on large trackpads”. Im getting Vive controller vibes, immediate put off

  • Wild Dog

    This is cool, but I think I prefer just using motion controllers. This seems more like something you’d find at a VR arcade.

  • psuedonymous

    Lets hope they learn the same thing Valve did – and learn it before they start any actual tooling: firstly that sticking a zero-order control pad on a zero-order controller is a terrible idea, and that people want at least first-order or second-order inputs to augment a zero-order controller. And secondly, you either at an absolute minimum match the lowest-common-denominator control scheme (which for VR is two tracked controllers, both having at least two analog triggers, at least two face buttons, and a 2D joystick) or your controller will have at best half-arsed implementations from some developers, or just be ignored entirely.

    • silvaring

      I didn’t see console light guns in the old days (like the Namco Guncon) suffering because they didn’t include analog sticks and a bunch of extra buttons. A proper gun in VR would have an even easier time because the guncon was still limited to those old CRTs in your house, and could only be used on a tiny amount of games. The future VR weapons of choice will not ‘double up’ as controllers, at least not the very good guns. The good guns will be guns, and the cheap shit will have only the most mediocre feeling in comparison. That is of course if StrikerVR and others can bring these things to a consumer level which we aren’t sure they (or anyone else) will be able to do yet.

      • Gena Winebrenner

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  • dvrk

    Everyone who says Trackpads are bad just never used them enough.
    Same with the steam controller. It’s an AMAZING controller but you need to learn it first.

    Just because you are used to stick doesn’t mean that everything else sucks.

    • Megan Ward

      Get $192 p/hour from Google!…(a1446) Yes this is Authentic since I just got my first pay-out of $24413 and this was just of a one week… I have also purchased my McLaren Speedtail right after this payout…(a1446) It is really great job I have ever had and you won’t for-give yourself if you do not check it >>>> http://www.Belifestyles.com ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • Sebastian Gunnarson

    I did order one back in 2018 still waiting for my order, have not got any info from StrikerVR so this is new Info :)

  • Arno van Wingerde

    Right… a $500 gun with fewer buttons than the standard controller, aimed at a niche of niche market with support in about 5 games, and the awkward software-mapping to make another 20 games work… Given the incredible market for specialised add-ons… what could possibly go wrong from an investor’s point of view? How about a 3D printed gun where you stick the controllers in, possibly with a few buttons with levers to buttons on the controller, for $20-50?

  • Dominant

    Dear Striker VR. I am a VR enthusiast, but please let me tell you I am not spending $500 on something I will use on 1 or 2 games even if it is super awesome. Understand that the average VR consumer will compare your price with that of a controller – which can be used for every game

  • Brian Wallace

    This reads like an uninspired sponsored post

    • benz145

      Road to VR does not accept paid/sponsored content.

  • Warscent

    Sony already perfected VR gun design despite the obvious outdated tracking. Anything less than the PSAim is a waste of time and money.

  • Rocky Ho

    BeswinVR comes a 2021 Haptic VR gun for Valve index, HTC Vive, Quest 1, Quest 2, Rift S, Samsung M.R etc. , that only work with PC steamVR game. it’s new choice in VR arcade and some of hardcore VR user. Gameplay video: https://youtu.be/bzbXTLwD4fE, https://youtu.be/pNqRfapQmMI.

    • Amni3D

      cant wait to purchase and consume product
      thanks :^)

  • Amni3D

    Something like this should be designed after the Aim Controller’s input. Just slapping a touchpad at the end of the controller hurts at a conceptual level. This can actually single handedly kill the product. We want input abstraction and I hate this whole half baked “future control scheme” some people are trying to push.

    That being said, looks interesting. Hope they revise the design though.

  • Alright, it’s September 2022. Where is thing at?