Oculus has recently removed its DRM policy that prevented virtual reality users from playing Rift-exclusive games on the HTC Vive.
In April, virtual reality consumers were able to play Rift games on the Vive by using a third-party program known as Revive. However, Oculus took action a month later, ensuring that its games would remain exclusive to the Rift through the use of a DRM headset check. Now, Oculus has backtracked, removing this restriction completely, and allowing VR users to once again play Rift games on the HTC Vive headset. A hardware check will no longer be necessary when playing a Rift game.
An Oculus representative has released a statement regarding this reinstated, DRM-free approach:
We continually revise our entitlement and anti-piracy systems, and in the June update we’ve removed the check for Rift hardware from the entitlement check. We won’t use hardware checks as part of DRM on PC in the future.
We believe protecting developer content is critical to the long-term success of the VR industry, and we’ll continue taking steps in the future to ensure that VR developers can keep investing in ground-breaking new VR content.
For more on virtual reality, check out our top VR games from E3, and read news editor Mike Futter's opinion piece about the Oculus Rift's clumsy launch.
[Source: Polygon]
Our Take
The virtual reality industry is young, and exclusivity with DRM protection probably isn't the way to go right now. It's good to see that it'll remain more open for the time being, and hopefully this turn in events will appease consumers who were unhappy with the earlier controversy.