Users of Pimax’s wide field-of-view (FOV) PC VR headsets have always relied upon third-party stores like Steam for VR content. Now the company is looking to incentivize VR developers to publish their games on the new Pimax Store.

Pimax quietly launched its PC VR content store in September 2022, ostensibly in preparation for the yet-to-release “Reality 12K QLED” headset, and standalones Pimax Cystal and Pimax Portal hybrid.

At the time, the company kicked off its store by advertising a program that would award its top 50 indie developers with cash incentives, along with a “choose your own” approach to revenue split for those top 50, which would let those developers “determine how much you would like to contribute to the store’s success and what proportion you need for your own success.”

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Following a $30 million Series C1 funding round announced earlier this month, the Shanghai-based VR headset company has upped the ante by announcing a 100% developer revenue split of Pimax Store content.

For contrast, Valve takes a 30% revenue cut from Steam, while Meta takes 30% from the Quest Store, and 47.5% from content published through its online Horizon Worlds platform.

The company also announced it’s earmarked a $100K fund for the stimulation of VR games, and is giving away 1,000 Pimax Portal dev kits, a standalone hybrid headset which can convert between a Nintendo Switch-style handheld and a 6DOF VR headset.

Image courtesy Pimax

“We’re a hardware manufacturer in the first place, which you could argue Steam and Meta aren’t, so this makes it easier for us to accept a lower margin, but we also want to promote the whole VR market, as technology is advancing fast,” said Pimax’s Carol Yuan. “There should also be more high-quality VR content available. Not only do we think that, but also many users online think this is holding back VR.”

Pimax says its app store caters exclusively to the company’s fleet of headsets, making sure that games support higher FOV and displays resolutions. The Pimax Store also bakes in customization settings for hardware, effectively replacing the company’s Pi Tool.

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We’ve reached out to Pimax to find out the duration of the revenue split and, provided it has a definite end point, what its default percentage is. We’ll update this article when/if the company responds.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Nevets

    Pointless if there’s a tiny customer base. And how far will 100k go? I’d love to see serious competition to Meta but personally I’d want an equivalent games library. It’s hard to see how a small newcomer can gain traction. As for buying a Pimax now: I wouldn’t have traded my iPhone for an Android in 2008… Would you?

    • mellott124

      $100k is nothing for a development program. Paper study maybe. I would guess it will all be in hardware giveaways, which is probably the best approach anyway.

    • Jistuce

      In 2008 I didn’t have a cellphone at all. But looking at smartphones in 2008, I remember thinking the T-Mobile G1 was a really cool gadget.

      I also note that in 2008, I felt a keyboard was essential for any sort of internet usage, as did most smartphone manufacturers. And I don’t really feel differently now, my opinion stronger for the experience of actually typing on touch panels. But there’s not much of an option anymore, because form over function sells.

  • NL_VR

    if all companys with standalone headsets all have their own store it will be verry divided.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      But standalone headsets are like consoles… Yeah, I’d also rather have one store for all consoles, especially since technically the PS5 and Xbox series X aren’t really different, the switch is another matter. That’s why I’d rather have cons

      • NL_VR

        Yes i understand but it feels föor me standalone headsets is more like mobile phones. But maybe we should se it as console instead

      • Lhorkan

        All the standalone headsets are all on the same chip – as a developer, I can say there’s actually no real difference between the builds other than some minor things unique to the platform. As long as all the OEM’s are doing what they’re currently doing, all using the same Qualcomm chipset, then you could definitely have a store across these platforms. It’s just that all of the vendors want a piece of the software pie.

      • Mradr

        I think thats the wrong way to look at it though – they’re NOT consoles. They shouldnt be look at as like a console. At the end of the day – they’re just a SMART Monitor – thats all and thats how they should be design. If they want to add in the SoC/chips to do more with them – thats awesome! But accepting they should be console like is just going to lead into problems later down the road. The headsets should totally be “open” to any compute unit and not strap to a single store.

    • ViRGiN

      we need store competitors more than we need different headsets.
      20 years of steam monopoly lead nothing but to toxic culture of constant sales, never-backing-down 30% tax, and absent support for both customers and developers – they barely have people working in the company for their hundreds of millions playerbase.

      steam – never again.

      • NL_VR

        Steam has nothing to do with my topic.
        Steam is a good example of a store that is not monopoly.
        But you are just blind with you trolling.

      • Cless

        Nah, I’m good. Steam has been a massively positive influence on the gaming PC market making games more affordable and to make people stop pirating so much.

        Them having strong competition would be even better though, there is not denying that!

        • ViRGiN

          Where is the research proving that piracy dropped in numbers?

          • Cless

            To be fair, this time I don’t have any reliable source or a place I’ve read it from.
            In my opinion though, it kinda did what Netflix did for movies and shows. It just sometimes is more convenient to just buy your game on steam when its at like 70% off, than pirating the damn thing.

            Even if 100% anecdotal, so take it with the grain of salt it deserves, in my circles everyone agrees that they stopped pirating completely or mostly since Steam started doing their steam sales.

          • Mradr

            I think the difference though is – you still had the option to buy your game for first party if you wanted to or even 3rd. With the current design – you can’t do either or of that with Meta – the game has to be design for their headsets and that game can’t work on other headsets (not to say the title can’t – just that version of the game). Aka, I can’t just buy a Oculus title and it work for Pimax. I think thats wrong in lots of ways.

  • Bob

    It’s only a matter of time before this company folds.

    No, this idea will not save them.

  • Arashi

    Oh man those guys at Pimax literally live in some kind of alternative reality where this makes sense.

    • Jistuce

      I mean, if they want a storefront that isn’t bonded to Valve’s whims, it kind if DOES make sense. They need to do something to attract developers and get them to expend the effort to put stuff ON the Pimax Store.

      I wish them luck in their endeavor, and do so sincerely. I LIKE competition, and think Valve and frickin’ FACEBOOK shouldn’t be the sole arbiters of software distribution.

      • Arno van Wingerde

        I agree with your last comment… but what is Pimax’s market share? 0.3% or so… This is like a startup phone company ditching the Google store and setting up something themselves: they are just to small!

        • ViRGiN

          Lees than 0.1%.
          And 100% revenue share from $0 is $0.

        • Jistuce

          Oh, it’s a longshot. I also wish them luck because they need all of it they can get.

          But if they can get a solid toehold, it is a place to grow from. Valve didn’t become where you buy 90% of Windows games overnight. Everyone starts from zero.

          And hey, if it fails, Pimax headsets still work with SteamVR, so it is a relatively low-risk reach. They only have to be better than HTC’s Viveport(which seems to still see new releases, somehow?).

  • Octogod

    This same strategy was used by HTC. It doesn’t work.

    As a Pimax customer, this will do nothing but waste developer’s time.

  • gothicvillas

    What if i own several headsets? Basicall stuff bought in Pimax store i cant use with varjo or etc? Nah, if i buy a game i would want it to work on any headset i desire to play with.

    • Dan DeMontmorency

      You are familiar there are game stores that games work on other platforms. Goto steam add game. Bought a couple of games on GoG that commandline options launch it in OpenVR mode or Oculus. Once OpenXR has more DeV support will be even better.

      • ViRGiN

        go black to your chinese toys, pi-shill

  • Hivemind9000

    $100k will do precisely nothing other than attracting some crapware developers. Pimax has such a small market share that it’s a waste of time and effort for any half-decent studio to support them. Who is making these business decisions at Pimax?

  • tc tazyiksavar

    There is nothing serious about Pimax’s announcments. Please stay away from Pimax and spend your hard earned money on reputable products.

  • Peter vasseur

    Wife fov is great but I’m cool with my psvr2

  • ViRGiN

    lol! another pimax lie. they claimed to have sent already thousands of units to developers all around the world; meanwhile nothing about this product is ready. $100k? you just got invested 30 million into company! this company is extremely desperate, and with this offering is basically asking sidequest failed developers to port their crappy clones of other games.

  • Chris Meeks

    *whistles*

  • Peter vasseur

    While stupid spell correct