Viveport subscribers will pay $2 more per month for the virtual reality subscription service, beginning next year, said HTC in a February 15 news release. Current subscribers and new subscribers who sign up by March 22 will continue to pay $6.99 a month through year end, but those who sign up on or after March 22 will pay $8.99 per month. All subscribers will pay the increased price of $8.99 a month, starting in January 2019.

‘We are constantly looking to add value to Viveport Subscription membership and enhance the experience for our growing customer base. Vive continues to have the best content available in VR, and our new perks for Viveport Subscription members makes it even easier to discover great content while keeping their costs down,’ said Rikard Steiber, Viveport president, in a news release.

In exchange, subscribers can expect new perks each month, effective immediately. To kick off the expanded membership benefits, Viveport will provide a free VR title (games and apps) to subscribers every month. As the service grows, other benefits and perks will be added to the subscription program. Vive will also be making all-weekend discounts on apps and games available only to members.

‘Viveport Subscription has gained incredible momentum and traction among consumers as well as developers. Our subscription catalog has grown to over 375 titles, which is more than a 600 percent increase since we started the service,’ Steiber said. 

‘We are always looking to support the developer ecosystem and with the subscription increase, developers will now be earning an additional 22 percent from their title in the subscription catalog. Our exclusive promotions on select titles will also give developers another avenue for marketing their games to our most engaged audience,’ added Steiber*.

[*Editor’s note: The news release quoted a figure of 22 percent, but the Viveport blog says that developers will get 28 percent more.]

HTC launched Viveport, a subscription service for room-scale virtual reality games and experiences, in April 2017. At launch, the VR subscription service had more than 50 titles including Lumen, Arcade Artist and Knock Out League. In addition to the $6.99-a-month, auto-renewable plan, Viveport offers a three-month plan for $19.99, a six-month plan at $39.99, and a 12-month plan at $79.99. Each plan offers five titles per month after a 14-day free trial. After a subscriber’s current plan expires, it auto-renews at the current monthly rate.

In Stephen Reid’s February 15 blog post, he shared suggestions for VR games and apps to try:

• Fantastic Contraption
• Overkill VR
• The Wizards
• Earthlight: Spacewalk
• theBlu

In a Variety article about the price increase, Variety quoted Steiber (in a previous article) saying that Viveport subscribers are downloading more titles with their subscriptions than they are in paid downloads. While the paid downloads generate more revenue than the subscription, Steiber told Variety that subscription revenue will eventually be higher than revenue from paid downloads.

Insider Take:

The subscription model has created an opportunity for Viveport to get its product in front of a broader audience at a lower price point, and it seems to have been successful thus far. Viveport has gone from 50 titles to 375 in just a year’s time. Due to the price increase, developers will receive a bigger cut of the revenue, creating an incentive for them to develop more virtual reality games and experiences for subscribers. This seems like a win for all concerned – Viveport, developers and subscribers.