StrikerVR, longtime maker of haptic VR guns, is launching its most affordable product yet: the Mavrik-Pro. Though still primarily targeting VR attractions, the company says it plans to launch a consumer version of the new gun next year.

StrikerVR makes some of the best haptic VR guns in the biz which can be found at premiere VR attractions. Though the peripheral packs and impressive punch, the pricey product is a tough sell for smaller venues and consumers.

StrikerVR hopes to fix that with its latest haptic VR gun, the Mavrik-Pro which is now available for pre-order by VR attractions and expected to ship in October. Though it’s the company’s most affordable peripheral yet, it’s still rocking a $1,000 price tag. But the company says it plans to sell the gun to consumers next year at an (unknown) reduced price point, and with a wider variety of colors. That would of course need to be backed by support for at least some consumer VR games, though there’s no word on that at this point.

Image courtesy StrikerVR

Compared to StrikerVR’s flagship gun—which had one huge haptic engine—the Mavrik-Pro has three smaller engines inside. There’s the main ‘Thunder’ recoil module, for the big blasts, which is paired with a ‘Cricket’ module in the front and rear grips, for more subtle haptics. With more haptic modules on board, the company says the gun accessory offers improved haptic fidelity and gives developers more effects to play with. The new product also adds more inputs which will allow developers to create a wider range of possible interactions between players and the peripheral.

In addition to a touchpad at the front and a button near the trigger (smartly mirrored on both sides as to be ambidextrous), the Mavrik-Pro adds two buttons at the front of the weapon so player’s have more ways to interact with the game content (other than, ya know… shooting stuff).

Image courtesy StrikerVR

But they didn’t stop there. The Mavrik-Pro also includes a heap of capacitive-sensing areas which will allow developers to more accurately represent the way the gun is being held and potentially add more intricate interactions for players. You’ll find the capacitive zones at the foregrip, under the body, along the gun’s bottom bar, in the handle, on the trigger, under the rear grip, and even along the top back of the gun.

Image courtesy StrikerVR

The gun also includes a removable top-plate with mounting hardware underneath so it can be adapted for a wide variety of tracking systems.

With these added sensing areas, developers could create several different reload interactions, like slapping the bottom of the rear grip as if securing a magazine, pumping the area under the body like a shotgun, or pulling the rear of the gun like a slide or charging handle. This would of course require some careful work on behalf of the developer, with the assistance of StrikerVR’s SDK for Unity & Unreal.

An example of a virtual skin for the peripheral with several firing modes that could be triggered by the gun’s various inputs.

StrikerVR has been building and selling its gun peripherals for years now, and while they haven’t cracked the consumer barrier just yet, the company has at least had a long time to battle test its products in the VR arcade space—experience that will hopefully mean a well matured product by the time it reaches consumers.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • ViRGiN

    what a nice, fully obsolete product!

    • Kenny Thompson

      Not true, wave shooters are ideal for this thing…. and there is a steady stream of them…. not to mention the incredible back catalog.

      • ViRGiN

        everything ever made has it’s own ‘market’. this product is absolutetly obsolete. i have never seen vr arcades expanding, actually only closing the doors over the years. these creators couldn’t even come up with an appropiate ‘tech demo’ indie style game that would take them a week and showcase the gun used properly. come on.

        • Randy H

          Covid did kill off a bunch of arcades, but to say they’re not expanding? Completely false. I live this industry so I’ve got an idea.

          • ViRGiN

            show me all these vr-related arcades that are anything but ‘pay few bucks to play steamvr games that i have no license to charge for’. proper big roomscale experience are dime a dozen.

  • Ookami

    Unlike other vr gun stocks, this one looks like it will not be able to support vr mechanics like reloading, or just using your hands to grab something else. I can’t really see the point in it because of that.

    • Sven Viking

      Intended for proprietary arcade experiences presumably. They also used to design devices for military training iirc but I would’ve thought they’d design it to approximate a specific weapon for that.

      • Ookami

        fair enough

  • although not as versatile as a gun stock, being a gun-tube, it’s nice to see some high quality, arcadey peripherals for VR starting to come into consumer price points :D

    Would love to try playing Nerf UC with that

  • Jason Redmon

    $1000?
    Stahp it. Get some help.

  • Putler LGBT Army

    VR is dying, nobody needs a 1K gun, we need GAMES.

    • mirak

      Maybe Valve should have sold Alyx for 100$ and show that there was money to be made.

    • Randy H

      Dying? Why do you say that?

      • silvaring

        Why do you think he would make that statement?

      • Arno van Wingerde

        Well the growth curve on Steam should be exponential for a new breakthrough technology. Instead we have seen a linear increase, then a quick doubling of VR users and now the slow growth again. The reason is a lack of AAA games: what Avatar is for 3D TV, Half Life: Alyx is for VR. If the PSVR2, Apple and Quest3 are not accompanied by a surge of real good VR games, the genre may be toast.

        And I love my Quest2, but almost all games are more demos than games, lack depth and options, and the graphics of the Quest2, wel adequate for really good games like In Death: Unchained, Red Matter 2, and the Room: a dark matter but typically cartoony or simply onsharp both of which I hate…

    • starlord

      It’s just born and will grow, but takes time and patience

    • david vincent

      Mobile VR is booming and PSVR2 is much awaited… Remember that PCVR is only a part of VR.

      • Putler LGBT Army

        mobile vr is not booming, tehre are no games for it, zero games actually [please don’t list a bunch of indies or worse rhythm “games” these dont count]
        Mobile VR look worse than PS2, its horrendous, its unplayable.
        I never seen something that looks so bad in my life.
        Low resolution+blur+low level of detail = mobile VR

        PCVR and maybe PS5 is the only platform that can deliver Quality, mobile VR is usless, its only good for the HMD devs so they can lock the games to it and than sell same old indie crap for 50$ for 10 years without any discounts

        • david vincent

          Quest 2 are selling like hot cakes, are you trolling ?

  • XRC

    Got to try striker at zombie movie promotion last year, they had 8 in each “Taco truck” and 6 trucks so lots of guns, optitrack despite Index headsets being used (all in poor condition).

    Found the gun really underwhelming, sensation of holding something heavy / bulky with a weight moving back and forward when firing?

    Felt nothing like firing a gun (previous experience includes military firearms), but hopefully their newest model can improve this sensation as it’s not inexpensive!

    • silvaring

      Know this is an old comment but care to share more details about how the gun compares to a real gun, and then to something more familiar like toy / airsoft guns etc. Im just asking as I havent heard anyone give a detailed write up on the strikervr guns yet from a non journalist site.

      • XRC

        It felt like a weight sliding in a tube? A sort of “thud” feeling.

        Nothing like a real firearm (previous experience includes SA80, FN FAL, 303, GPMG, Bren).

        • silvaring

          Ever played the original Time Crisis / Point Blank arcade games?

          Would you say its a bit like that but much more impactful?

  • It’s silly that Oculus (Meta :p), doesn’t just make a gun controller. If they charged $200 for it, that would be $150 of flat out profit for them! The Quest controller isn’t that expensive to make. They’re raising the price of the headset without even thinking about all of the profitable accessories they *COULD* be making.