The biggest question surrounding HTC Vive’s hardware plans right now is the western release of the Vive Focus. The standalone mobile virtual reality (VR) platform has been reportedly performing well in China, and the access to development kits for studios in western territories has been available for some time. A North American and European launch has always been on the cards; is this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) the place to make such an announcement?
Sadly, at this time it’s looking unlikely. HTC Vive has yet to reveal any plans concerning an E3 showcase of any kind, and while the hardware manufacturer will most definitely be at the show in some capacity, it’s more likely to follow last year’s appearance of demonstrating new videogames from third-party developers opposed to anything new from the company itself.
New VR Games
As stated above, HTC Vive is likely to showcase a number of new titles coming to the Vive platform. However, what will be on show has not yet been confirmed. Could we see more from the internal development studio, Fantahorn? The studio’s debut release, Front Defense, received a multiplayer rendition, Front Defense: Heroes, in December last year, but since then we’ve not heard anything about what the studio might be working on.
In addition to this, there’s likely to be many third-party titles available on the show floor at this year’s E3. Indeed, last year saw a HTC Vive hidden in every nook-and-cranny, with practically every third booth offering some hands-on time with anything from a VR viewer to a fully-fledged VR videogame experience. As time continues and VR matures, the hope is that we’ll see more of the latter.
There’s also 2 Bears Studio to consider, from which the debut VR title, Super Puzzle Galaxy, was published by Vive Studios late last year. Could we see a second title coming from the Californian team?
Vive Focus Coming to the US and Europe
As stated above, it’s unlikely we’ll get a release date announcement at E3 2018, but one can hope, right? What is more likely is that we’ll receive word from developers with knowledge of the situation which have teams working on content. While they may not be in a playable form, we should expect word on what studios are developing projects in anticipation of a western launch for the Vive Focus.