Oculus VR has paused its work on making the Oculus Rift compatible with OSX and Linux, with the company refusing to reveal when (or even if) they will return to making the Rift VR headset supported by the two operating systems.
This news comes after Oculus announced the PC specs required to achieve the “full Rift experience,” with the company revealing a pretty expensive barrier for entry in order to make the most of the device. The spec requirements are as follows:
- NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
- Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
- 8GB+ RAM
- Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
- 2x USB 3.0 ports
- Windows 7 SP1 or newer
Unfortunately, it seems likely that only Windows users will get to experience the Oculus Rift come its release day in 2016, as a blog post from Oculus chief architect Atman Binstock revealed that the company has put OSX/Linux development on hold, meaning that it’s looking likely that only those using Windows 7 or higher will be able to get their hands on one when it eventually launches next year.
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Here’s the quote from the blog post:
“Our development for OS X and Linux has been paused in order to focus on delivering a high quality consumer-level VR experience at launch across hardware, software, and content on Windows. We want to get back to development for OS X and Linux but we don’t have a timeline.”
Needless to say this won’t sit well with consumers and developers alike, with the comments section of the blog post currently littered with complaints regarding the move to switch focus away from OSX and Linux support. Some are stating that they won’t give Oculus VR their money even if the headset eventually makes its way onto the OSX and Linus platforms, while an alleged developer states that he has “decided to abandon Rift.”
However, considering that many more gamers use Windows over OSX or Linux, it’s unlikely that this will harm Oculus VR’s financial bottom line too much. What will harm it is its system requirements, with an Nvidia GTX 970 retailing for around $350 and an Intel i5-4590 for $200, making this a pricey upgrade for those with PCs currently operating below its recommended specs. It’s uncertain how the consumer build of the Rift will look if it’s running on a lower-end PC, but these specs will surely be enough to make many potential customers think twice about laying down their cash for the VR headset.
(Via Neowin.net)
