SteamVR gains support for open cross-platform VR standard OpenXR

SteamVR version 1.16 gains support for OpenXR 1.0, an open standard for cross-platform VR development. Supporting OpenXR should make it easier for developers to develop VR games that work both on Steam and elsewhere.

SteamVR gets full support for OpenXR. Khronos Group’s OpenXR standard is an API that makes it possible to develop AR and VR applications that work on different VR platforms. Currently, OpenXR is supported by Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, by Oculus headsets such as Facebook’s Quest and Quest 2, by open source xr platform Collabora Mondano for GNU/Linux, and by Vive and Magic Leap. . OpenXR can also be used in the development of games in Unreal Engine and Blender and recently also Unity.

OpenXR has been partially supported in SteamVR as a preview since June 2020, but from now on OpenXR is fully supported from Steam VR 1.16. The support makes it possible for developers to develop a VR application once that works seamlessly on all major VR hardware for PC, without the need to port games and applications. The games therefore work outside of SteamVR, for example, a SteamVR game developed in OpenXR can also be released to Oculus PC, without having to adjust the code, explains the Road To VR site.

In 2019, the 1.0 version of OpenXR was announced. At that time, Valve already promised that the standard would be integrated into SteamVR in due course. As of now, Valve developers will be able to create and distribute OpenXR apps via SteamVR.