The newest mainstream craze to sweep the video game industry seems to be the VR fad. A few years ago it existed merely as a fun gimmick in the face of the Oculus Rift, however today it has become the new direction for AAA gaming. Should GTA choose to step into the line of established franchises heading to VR, it could either be cementing its stop in the future of gaming, or commit to a short-lived fad.
With the list of VR devices rapidly growing, including the Rift, the Vive, the Sony VR and many more, the playing ground is being quickly filled up. Such a new niche doesn't have room in the early stages for too many competitors — something that is as true for software as for hardware.
And with several VR exclusive titles being pushed by big publishers such a Ubisoft, if GTA wants a piece of the cake early on enough to become a pillar of the platform, it will need to step up its game soon. The question of "how" remains.
Star Wars: Battlefront, the recently released FPS reviving the legendary franchise is among the few already established AAA games getting a standalone VR version — however the Battlefront VR experience, as it is called, has some core differences. It features smaller maps, lower resolutions textures — generally smaller versions of everything. This makes it a separate product from the main game.
Should GTA V become GTA VR, would it choose this route, or will it implement the jump to VR as a free update? Choosing the former path is risky, as it would potentially force fans to purchase the game for a fourth time. From the last-gen versions to the current-gen versions to the PC version, we've already seen three iterations of GTA V which included more features than the former.
However implementing optional VR support as a free update would be problematic, as compatibility would require significant adjustments to the code. Currently the technical requirements of VR are pretty inflexible. Could Rockstar find an agreeable compromise? Would the update itself be optional, so players uninterested by VR wouldn't have to deal with it?
Of course, another choice is to skip VR for GTA V altogether and integrate VR support into the next GTA game, whenever that lands. However, this would cost Rockstar the edge of being an early adopter.
Would you like to experience GTA V in a VR environment?
