Steam Releases Desktop Game Theater Beta For Playing Any Game In VR

It was only about a week ago that Valve announced a new feature for its SteamVR software, Desktop Game Theater, which will allow soon-to-be HTC Vive and Oculus Rift owners to play any game on their headset, beyond those specifically designed for virtual reality. With both VR hardware options about to start shipping in the coming weeks, Valve has just rolled out a public beta for Desktop Game Theater, so those with developer editions of the headsets can give it a try.

The feature is meant to allow any Steam game to be played on headsets compatible with SteamVR, projecting it onto a flat, 2D plane within the VR environment. Valve notes that any game with Steam Broadcast functionality should work with Desktop Game Theater, on both the Vive and Rift.

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Assuming the feature tests well, it should be a great addition for early VR adopters, as the number of VR-specific games will certainly be limited for some time. Desktop Game Theater will allow them to continue enjoying their headset, but play some other titles from their Steam library.

In the beta release notes, Valve mentions that some games may need to have their graphics settings adjusted to display properly, while Desktop Game Theater itself can be accessed by adding "-vr2dgames" to the command line when launching Steam.

SOURCE Steam