SteamVR Puts Windows Mixed Reality Over the Top
- Paul Thurrott
- Nov 30, 2017
-
13
The arrival of SteamVR compatibility makes Windows Mixed Reality a far less risky investment. This is a great addition, and Steam’s content store is excellent.
I’d not used SteamVR before. But it’s clear in doing so that the virtual home that Microsoft uses as a Start experience for Windows Mixed Reality was inspired by the similar home-based SteamVR experience.
The trick, of course, is connecting those two virtual homes. Unfortunately, it’s not entirely seamless: After installing the free Windows Mixed Reality app for SteamVR, you run the Mixed Reality Portal as you normally would. Then, from the desktop, you run the Windows Mixed Reality app to access your SteamVR home.
Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox
Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!
"*" indicates required fields
Alternatively, you can simply run individual apps too. But I wish these were setup in your Windows Mixed Reality automatically. Going back and forth like this is a bit awkward.
But it is also totally worth it.
And the reason is simple: SteamVR has far more high-quality games. This isn’t ding on Microsoft, per se: Windows Mixed Reality just launched. But once you get past the handful of top-tier games—basically Arizona Sunshine, Superhot, and maybe just a few others—you just, ahem, run out of steam quickly.
But step over into the SteamVR store and it’s like Christmas morning. Doom VFR will be available starting later today—I cannot wait—but there is a whole library of games that I am interested in, including those two titles I mentioned above, Fallout VR, GORN, Serious Sam (a personal favorite), Batman: Arkham VR, and many, many more.
Despite the rough edges in this integration, I’d say that Windows Mixed Reality is a safe bet for gamers now, for sure. I’m still not quite sold on the non-gaming uses, however, and am unsure whether things like 360 degree videos will have any particular staying power with users. But with SteamVR support, Windows Mixed Reality takes a huge leap forward.