Analysis of asymmetric VR games – Steam platform case study

Abstract

The paper presents research on the topic of asymmetric virtual reality (VR) games. These types of applications are in the development phase when it comes to their presence on the market, range, amount, and popularity. This research discusses the original topic, as it is still a niche compared to video games and even to VR applications on the market. The article presents a quantitative analysis of asymmetric VR applications available in the international market. One of the popular gaming platforms, Steam, was chosen as a subject for the case study in this investigation. The objectives of the conducted research include, first, a quantitative analysis and presentation of up-to-date data on asymmetric VR games available on Steam; then, providing and systematizing new knowledge about the asymmetric VR term, identifying the nature of asymmetric VR games, and finally, recognition of the current situation and the latest trends within the concept of asymmetric VR. Based on the results, it was concluded that the dominating genre of asymmetric VR was action (49.4 %), indie (46.0 %) and casual (45.4 %), followed by simulation (37.4 %). Most of the games were available in English (96.6 %), and far behind English, there were French and German languages (30.5 %), and then Spanish – Spain (28.2 %), Russian (27 %), Japanese (25.9 %), simplified Chinese (25.3 %) and others. The analysis of user re-views on Steam that asymmetric VR receive favorable feedback, with ‘very positive’ as the most prevalent label, representing 35.0 % of analyzed games. Notably, only four games achieved the ‘overwhelmingly positive’ label, including ‘Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes’ in the basic version and in the version with soundtrack (97 % positive reviews), ‘Rock Life: The Rock Simulator’ (95 % positive reviews), and ‘IronWolf VR’ (95 % positive reviews). Last but not least, the paper describes the features of the analyzed asymmetric VR application. The results of the research make a contribution to the field and provide new knowledge on the following: the new subarea of VR, the nature of asymmetric VR (author's concept), human behavior and interaction in asymmetric virtual gameplay, and communication in asymmetric VR.