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Will Half-Life Alyx Save The Floundering VR Industry?

Half-Life Alyx To Release Exclusively On VR

It seems like just yesterday that virtual reality was the latest and greatest thing. But, after an initial strong showing, and flurry of games, the shiny new tech quickly began to lose its appeal. The flow of VR focused games began to slow, until gradually more or less coming to a complete halt.

As many had predicted, it seemed as if VR would go the same way as 3D TVs. Which is to say; there is virtually no focus on 3D home technology anymore, with the initial push to get 3D into every household grinding to an almost complete halt. VR seemed to be heading to the exact same disappointing conclusion.

Or at least it did until the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx.

The Game That Took Over A Decade

Half-Life 2 released in 2004, and revolutionised first person shooters. It introduced players to a world where even a shooter had incredible focus on realistic characters, featured a fully functioning physics system, and even took players on an epic cross country journey. Visited locations covered everything from futuristic dystopian cities, to a series of abandoned beachfront properties. To put it bluntly; the game was head and shoulders above everything that had come before it.

But then, after two more brief continuations of the first release, the series went inexplicably dead. As the years ticked by, Half-Life fans gradually began to lose hope of a new release, turning to real money pokies online for entertainment instead. Eventually, even the optimistic decided that the series had died completely.

A Fusion Of Excellence

The VR industry needed a shot in the arm if it wanted to survive, and it couldn’t ask for a more powerful shot than the return of one of the most iconic game franchises in history. Half-Life: Alyx was announced, exclusively for VR systems. The ground-breaking design of the Half-Life games is going to be inserted into the innovative space of virtual reality, and already eager gamers can imagine the possibilities.

But, on the other hand, taking a franchise this beloved to an ailing technology market may just spell disaster. The adoption of VR has not been as rapid as was hoped, meaning that there is more than a reasonable chance that the game may simply outright fail.

Will The Gamble Pay Off?

Many speculated that in order for Valve, the company responsible for the franchise, to return to the Half-Life universe, it would have to be with something revolutionary. Indeed, using VR technology does indeed have revolutionary potential. But not only is the game going to be VR exclusive, it is also only going to be released for PCs only.

The current number of PC users that have VR capability sits at 0.8%. That the game will even sell to the point that it pays off its production costs is questionable, so much so that many are extremely dubious that the game can be a success at all.

Will the game turn the floundering VR industry around, or will it land up being one of the biggest failures in video game history?

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