Deus Ex Mankind Divided dev on VR support: 'You can't slap a AAA game on VR and call it a day'
Virtual reality gaming is coming in hard and fast whether you like it or not. With PlayStation VR set to hit the market this October and the likes of Oculus and HTC Vive already taking over living rooms, game developers are looking at new ways to expand their experiences with the technology.
At E3 we saw that the likes of Fallout 4 and Batman will get the VR treatment, while the Star Trek VR experience (which we'll go hands-on with at Gamescom next month) received wide critical acclaim from those at the event who played it.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided developer Eidos Montreal is also jumping on the VR bandwagon, and the studio is interested in how the technology can improve the gaming experience.
"VR seems like a great opportunity, but we'll see where the content takes it," Mankind Divided producer Olivier Proulx told FENIX Bazaar. Proulx's cautious rhetoric is not uncommon in the industry. While many mainstream developers appear to be jumping on the opportunity to shift their worlds into virtual reality, some acknowledge the technology's challenges in becoming mainstream. CCP Game CEO, Hilmar Pétursson, recently told Polygon that VR was a "10-year plan" to enter the mainstream. That would explain the abundance of shallow and short horror games, as well as virtual demos of famous set pieces like Fallout 4's wasteland and Star Trek's USS Enterprise: it appears that many developers and publishers are merely testing the waters and familiarising themselves with the technology before jumping in the deep end.
MORE: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided interview – Talking Prague, Adam Jensen's return, and themes
Proulx has a fairly blunt assessment of VR and how developers should approach it.
"I don't think you can simply take a AAA game like Mankind Divided, slap it on VR, and call it a day," he said. "The VR experiences will have to be developed with the specificity of the media in mind. I'm excited to see where developers will take it in the next few years."
In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, players will be able to explore four locations from the game in VR, including Adam Jensen's apartment.
What are your thoughts on VR? Will you invest in the technology, or will you wait for it to become more "mainstream" and established? Vote in our poll and sound off in the comments below!
PlayStation VR - Will You Buy It? (answer the question best suited)
Yes! On day one.
Eventually. I might wait for a price drop.
Maybe. It depends on what the games are like.
Unlikely. It would really need to impress me.
No way. I'm not sold yet and I never will be.
No. I have no interest in VR.
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Maxiboy
Thursday 21st of July 2016
I'll get VR someday when the price comes down. For PC not console though.
The more games that come out with VR support (which is still really an emerging thing) the more tempting it will be and the more options there will probably be too.