Windows VR Headsets Could Get Access to Oculus Exclusive Content via Revive

Yesterday’s announcement that Steam will support the forthcoming Windows VR headsets was big news which means that when owners get their hands on the headsets this holiday, they’ll have a strong library of VR content to draw from while Microsoft builds up its own library of VR games and apps on the Windows store. Some of VR’s best games however are exclusive to Oculus’ content library, though savvy Vive owners know that the unofficial ‘Revive’ workaround opens the door to playing Oculus games on the Vive, and the same could be true for the Windows VR headsets.

When it comes to desktop VR headsets, the Oculus platform only officially supports the Rift. However, Vive users can quite easily play Oculus exclusive games and content thanks to Revive, a free unofficial workaround which opens the Oculus content library to the Vive. Revive will quite possibly also support Windows VR headsets, says its creator, Jules Blok.

The difficulty of adding Revive support to Windows VR headsets, and allowing them to access Oculus exclusive games, could come down to how those headsets interface with SteamVR, says Blok.

One logical assumption is that Microsoft and/or Valve will build an official OpenVR driver for the headsets. OpenVR is Valve’s API for allowing any headset vendor to make their VR hardware work with SteamVR content. Because it’s a common API from one headset to the next, and the same way that the HTC Vive interfaces with SteamVR, an official OpenVR driver for Windows VR headsets would be a major boon for adapting Revive to support the headsets.

“Revive can support any headset that has an OpenVR driver. How well the headset is supported depends on the quality of the driver. So yes, an official OpenVR driver would make [supporting Windows VR headsets] a lot easier,” Blok tells Road to VR.

Microsoft’s announcement that “Steam content will also run on Windows [VR] headsets,” doesn’t precisely indicate how the headsets will interface with SteamVR, and Microsoft has declined to go into detail at this time. it’s hard to imagine Valve wouldn’t insist upon the OpenVR route, given their commitment to making SteamVR a hardware agnostic platform (which is underpinned by OpenVR). However, Microsoft is one of the world’s largest and most important companies—it’s possible that Valve would make some concessions to ensure Windows VR headsets could access VR content on their platform.

If the implementation turns out to be something other than an OpenVR driver, it will make adding Revive support more challenging, Blok tells us.

“Adding support in Revive for directly translating to Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Toolkit is more difficult as the Mixed Reality API doesn’t map that well to the Oculus SDK. While it is possible, the compatibility would likely be worse than OpenVR-supported headsets.”

Blok says that he “definitely doesn’t look forward” to writing the necessary code if it turns out that he has to adapt Revive to the Universal Windows Platform (rather than relying on an OpenVR driver) in order to access the Mixed Reality API that the Windows VR headsets make use of.

Blok has been developing Revive in his free time since 2016. His project recently got a major boost thanks to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey (who is no longer with the company) pledging $2,000 in monthly support through the project’s Patreon page.