Expecting average people to have a PC capable of supporting VR is still a significant stretch.

With SteamVR and the Vive now up and running on MacOS, eyes turn to Oculus, but the company isnt ready to commit.

Since then, the first Macs with VR Ready specifications have begun shipping, and external GPUs for modern Macs and MacBooks are now officially supported out of beta, allowing systems without a dedicated internal GPU to meet VR Ready specifications.

And while there arent many supported games yet, SteamVR and the Vive on MacOS is now fully functional and gets updated in sync with its Windows counterpart.

It wasnt uncommon to see developers building and running VR applications on Apple computers.

Then in mid-2015, the company paused their support of MacOS (and Linux) in order to focus on the impending launch of the consumer Rift headset with Windows as the only compatible platform.

At the time the company said they planned to get back to development for OS X and Linux but we dont have a timeline.

Additionally, the company announced that Valve is bringing SteamVR to MacOS, which will bring Vive support along with it.

And while SteamVR supports the Rift on PC, it relies on elements of the Oculus PC SDK to function, which means Rift support on MacOS wont be seen officially until Oculus is ready to commit to it.

When we asked the company for an update in light of this weeks Apple VR announcements, a spokesperson offered, Were committed to bringing PC VR to as many people as possible, but no news on MacOS support at this time.

With an estimated PC market share around 7.4 and only the newest, high-end models of that 7.4 being VR Readyits likely to take a long time before any significant number of VR end-users are using VR Ready Macs and iMacs.

With one of the most successful app ecosystems in the world, Apple has attracted a large and loyal developer community.

Supporting Rift on MacOS would mean easier access for Apple devotees to experiment with and ultimately build for VR; as long as Vive remains the only option for VR on Mac Oculus could be missing out on that unique developer population.

Oculus is owned by Facebook, which competes with Apple in a number of realms.

Oculus Games Software That Will

Meanwhile, Apple is rumored to be working on their own VR andor AR headsetsand just launched AR development software that will reach hundreds of millions of users on iOS deviceswhich would put the companies in direct competition in the high-risk realm of hardware.

Thats just one example of potential broader competitive pressures which could inform Oculus commitment (or lack thereof) to MacOS.

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Oculus Games Mac For VR

And even then, there wont be many people buying an external GPU for their MacBook, or buy a new mac for VR only.

Personally I dont think it will take them much time to make the current SDK work with the Mac.

Even corporations as collective wholes have feelings, and no doubt his bluntness in describing the inability of current Macs to support VR stung them a bit.

Apple, since they like a closed ecosystem, also may not care for Oculus home, etc.

I spoke with the guy running it for the Microsoft store it was outside of and no question this kind of ground floor, hands on exposure is what VR needs and a is a good play for Oculus.

I think the big problem right now is still the fact we live unfortunately in a console led world.

VR will fly when the headset, controllers and decent tracking units are an all in one box like consoles in the 70s were and there is good content to go with it.

Oculus Games For Mac