Oculus and Steam are video gaming platforms. They have a huge market in the video gaming industry.
Both are produced and released many video games. They also provide virtual reality experiences for gamers.
Key Takeaways
- Oculus VR is a hardware-focused company producing virtual reality headsets, while Steam VR is a software platform developed by Valve Corporation.
- Oculus VR offers a closed ecosystem with exclusive games and apps, whereas Steam VR provides access to various VR titles and supports multiple headsets.
- Steam VR offers a more extensive range of customization options and settings than Oculus VR for an enhanced user experience.
Oculus VR vs Steam VR
Oculus VR is a proprietary platform developed by Facebook, while Steam VR is an open platform developed by Valve Corporation. Oculus VR is designed for use with the Oculus Rift and Quest headsets and offers exclusive content, while Steam VR is compatible with a wide range of VR headsets.
Oculus is nothing but the brand of the Meta developers. The Oculus provides Virtual Reality to the Customers.
It introduced many products and all the products has huge market among the people. They provide excellent features and advanced techniques in the Virtual Reality(VR) experiences which attract more people.
Oculus is a child company of Facebook. Now it is called Meta.
Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and chief executive of all the Meta platforms. Oculus produces Virtual Reality(VR) headsets.
Steam is a video gaming platform that is software developed by Valve Corporation. In 2003, Steam was launched as standalone software by Valve.
Steam also has a web-based store for video games.
The services provided by Steam are Digital rights management, Social networking services, video streaming, and server hosting. Other than the above it also provides a community feature o connect with friends, automatic updating of games.
Cloud storage is the big advantage in Steam which gives you a better user experience.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of comparison | Oculus VR | Steam VR |
|---|---|---|
| Language support | Oculus VR present in 25 languages | Steam VR present in 28 languages |
| Website | oculus.com | store.steampowered.com |
| Refresh rate | The refresh rate of Oculus VR is 72-80 Hz | The refresh rate of Steam VR s 80-144 Hz |
| Weight | The weight of Oculus VR is in the range of 468 g to 571 g | The weight of Steam VR is in the range of 470 g to 600 g |
| Logo shape | The logo of Oculus is oval | The logo of Steam is a circle |
What is Oculus VR?
Oculus is the producer of virtual reality headsets. It is nothing but a subsidiary type of company under the Meta platforms.
Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest are the two popular and famous selling products of the Oculus. In 2012, Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov, and Nate Mitchell found the Oculus in California.
In 2015, they announced the design of Oculus Rift for video games. They raised funds for the production of a large number of virtual reality headsets to the developers through the campaign.
Oculus was acquired by Facebook currently Meta in 2014 for $2.3 billion. The Oculus also partnered with Samsung to release the Gear VR.
In 2015, the Oculus Rift for consumers is released. In 2017, they released a stand-alone mobile headset which is produced by Xiaomi a Chinese company.
By 2020, the consumers of Facebook-produced VR must log in to their Facebook account to get the services. By 2023, the support for standalone products is also ended.
They also need a Facebook account to use the devices and get the services.
The products released by the Oculus are Oculus Rift, Oculus Rifts S, Oculus Go, Oculus Quest, Meta Quest 2. Among the products released by the Oculus, the Meta Quest 2 is the only available product.
All the other products are discontinued. In simple, Oculus is a virtual reality and video gaming industry.
The Oculus VR has high standards.
What is Steam VR?
Steam is a software client platform of the Valve corporation. In 2003, the initial release of Steam takes place.
But, the stable release of Steam VR happened only in 2021. Steam support various different platforms namely Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android, and IOS.
But by 202, Valve discontinued the support for Mac OS operating system. Like Oculus the types of the Steam or the Service it provided are Content delivery, Digital rights management, Social network service, Video streaming service.
Steam VR services are: Content delivery is the digital distribution of digital works. The social network service is simply called SNS where you can make social relationships.
Digital rights management is also called Technical Protection Measures(TPM) which is nothing but the copyrights of the hardware. Video streaming service is multimedia for streaming in a continuous manner from the source.
The two important products of Steam VR are Steam Greenlight and Steam Direct.
The Steam platform is the largest distribution platform for personal computers. Steam VR has almost 95 million users by 2019.
In simple, Steam VR is nothing but a hardware and software platform to provide a room-scale experience. This is their primary focus.
Steam VR uses positional tracking in its Virtual reality headsets to provide the best experiences of VR. The positional tracking helps the players to go in a singular location.
Main Differences Between Oculus VR and Steam VR
- The products distributing store of Oculus is called Oculus Home, whereas in Steam it is called Steam VR store.
- When compared to Oculus VR, Steam VR can easily connect with all types of headsets.
- When compared to Oculus VR, Steam VR has more games.
- Oculus VR forced to buy development studious for services, whereas Steam VR is mostly an open-source platform.
- Oculus is the most closed-off platform when compared to Steam VR.
- https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9780429295850/building-virtual-reality-unity-steamvr-jeff-murray
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8516449/
Last Updated : 13 July, 2023
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
