The Virtual Reality industry is just beginning to take off, and amid recent news of a Valve/HTC partnership that is spawning a virtual reality headset, and PlayStation’s Project Morpheus virtual reality that will also be hitting stores, Microsoft has been left out with little buzz regarding a VR headset of its own.
Head of the Xbox Division, Phil Spencer spoke with Eurogamer and assures that Microsoft isn’t “locked out” of any potential first party or partnership ventures into the VR industry. Spencer mentions HoleLens as being a comparable new tech that Xbox could utilize in the future as well.
“We’ve looked at a mixed reality space that we could do with Hololens and think about it as a unique set of features and technologies to enable, that doesn’t preclude us from doing anything in the VR space either from a first-party or partnership perspective.” – Phil Spencer (Eurogamer)
With major expectations for Valve to intrude on the console market Xbox still does not seem them as a direct competitor, but instead Spencer refers his great past work between Microsoft and the PC gaming platform. To them Valve’s VR headset is seen as a great opportunity for both parties.
“The conversations we have on a regular basis with Valve – I consider them a critical ISV… er, that’s independent software developer – on Windows, and very open to the feedback that they’re always active to give. Are they a competitor? I see it as upside opportunity now.”