HTC Vive's VR game and app subscription service starts April 2 for $13 a month
The Viveport Infinity service offers unrestricted access to more than 600 titles.
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HTC's Viveport Infinity unlimited subscription service could deliver a much-needed boost to the virtual reality scene.
Subscriptions cost $13 a month, HTC announced Thursday, or you can prepay an entire year for $99. The service, which was announced at CES 2019 with the upcoming Vive Cosmos headset, allows subscribers to download any of the more than 600 games and apps currently available in the Viveport store.
Membership will include additional perks such as "weekend deals on select titles, free title giveaways, and monthly coupons," HTC said in a blog post. The service starts on April 2.
Along with the considerable investment in hardware, the lack of quality VR content has been a major turnoff for people interested in buying headsets. To help with the content part, HTC launched the Viveport Subscription service in 2017 for Vive headset owners that gives subscribers access to up to five titles at a time for $9 a month. The service was expanded to support rival Oculus Rift headsets in August 2018 and the upgraded service works for both Vive and Oculus users.
New Viveport customers can sign up anytime for a free two-week membership to the Infinity service. Current subscribers to the Viveport Subscription service, as well as those with prepaid memberships, will be upgraded to the Infinity service at no additional charge through 2019.
To encourage developers to crank out more titles, Viveport also increased revenue shares for developers to 80/20 up from 70/30 starting April 1 and runs through the end of 2019. It applies to all titles in the Viveport Infinity service.
