Gabe Newell. the co-founder and president of Valve, has authored projects that have garnered so much attention that he has been meme-ified into a god.
But looking past the deification by those who support his work, Newell is heavily involved in the future of virtual reality. His company has worked intimately with HTC to produce the Vive VR platform, one of the few mainstream software that consumers can use to access virtual reality. Yet, even though there are over 1,300 apps on the steam VR marketplace and there was an 86% growth in users in the end of 2016, the revenue stream isn't uplifting. There are 30 VR apps that have made just over $250,000 , which are not the most promising of figures.
SteamVR by Valve:
While Newell is optimistic, he says he's "pretty comfortable with the idea that it will turn out to be a complete failure." He went on to say that, "if you don't try things that don't fail you probably aren't trying to do anything very interesting."
But that doesn't mean he's inclined to fail. By upgrading the VR console to have a stronger CPU and better resolution, having an open source platform for developers to tinker with software, hardware, and everything in between, and unleashing a litany of new games (valve is currently developing three games of its own). Newell believes that the shared optimism of developers and consumers alike will drive the newborn industry into its place in the family living room for years to come.
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