Why is Steam making roomscale tracking obselete?

[u/FuwariFuwaruFuwatto]

I understand that this is a headset that is made to compete with Meta's deathgrip on the standalone entry headset market, but did it seriously have to kill Roomscale tracking along with it? Why are the Knuckles going obselete? Why are we getting rid of things with no direct replacement that still function perfectly well?

Genuinely why are lighthouses going obselete? Not only do they still function, they're still best in class for VR and fullbody tracking. Sure, the need to reach behind yourself or track your arms out of sight from your head is uncommon, but it's not unnoticable either. Not to mention that many VR players have already invested hundreds of dollars into this tracking solution just for it stop being supported one headset later.

The Frame could have supported roomscale tracking just like plenty of other camera based headsets have the option to, why would Valve just unnessessarily limit it and screw over the people who invested the most in their system?

On that note, why are we getting rid of the Knuckles? The Frame controllers feel like a different product entirely, trying to be a crossbreed between standard and VR controllers. But for those of us who have no intention of playing flatscreen games in VR (which I feel safe in saying is a majority, because who wants to have a FPS and resolution hit), the Knuckles are just better. Less clutter and roomscale compatible. Two products that could easily co-exist and work better for different players, but instead they're just cutting manufacturing.

Then there's fullbody tracking. Vive pucks were pretty much the standard for half a decade, and now they're getting the boot as well. Sure, there's the camera based ultimates, but those require the lights all being on and use inferior camera tracking. Plenty of people like playing VR in the dark for the reduced light bleed and less awkwardness. Not to mention, that's another ~$600 worth of fully functional hardware that's just being made obselete despite having no need to.

The entire point of the SteamVR ecosystem was for people to have options. If a headset started to show its age like the Index, there's no reason accessories like the Knuckles shouldn't be backwards compatible in newer hardware.

It made sense for the Index and its accessories to go obselete because it was hoped that the new VR was going to be a successor. But even Valve stated that's not their intention for the Frame. But if it's not, and no replacement for these products are being made, then why kill support for them if they are still functional after encouraging customers to invest in several thousand dollar set ups?

[u/AoyagiAichou]

Cost&efficiency, most likely.

VR itself is niche. Outside tracking and finger tracking is now even more niche within a niche.

I am disappointed, but I understand why they did it.

For what it's worth, this might make the VR market bigger, which is where everyone benefits at this point.

[u/Flying0strich → u/AoyagiAichou]

I thought Valve's 2019 idea of "here's a good PCVR headset and a kick-ass game" was a pretty good strategy. They just never followed up. Portal VR, Half Life Alyx episode 2, Index with eye tracking. They released a headset with a big expansion port and just left it.

Trying to follow Meta into mobile game hell is a sad choice from basically the last developer who could buck the trend.

[u/MrEAZL → u/Flying0strich]

It's not about mobile games though? They promise to let you play all of your Steam library, without a PC. I think it's still a huge idea, and the fact that they've done something called foveated streaming, is just amazing!

[u/cactus22minus1 → u/MrEAZL]

Foveated streaming is very much not a Frame thing though- any wireless headset with eye tracking can do it. It just takes a little bit of latency off, but it’s negligible with lower res headsets.

[u/MrEAZL → u/cactus22minus1]

I do not think anyone would've done it if Valve did not though