Oculus gives devs blessing to put games on Steam, other platforms

As the Oculus Rift begins to reach the hands of the masses today, the VR company said today in a blog post that its devs will have the opportunity to deliver their games on other platforms that support VR.

Detailed in the blog post, Oculus gives a pretty flexible deal to its developer base:

As a developer, you don’t have to be in the Oculus Store — you can sell outside, and when you do that you can you use your own IAP if you prefer, and we don’t take a cut. You can also request keys (royalty free) to sell your Oculus PC app on other stores, while making it available to the community through the Oculus platform.

In short, this means that developing for the Oculus Rift won’t shut the software out of Steam or direct sales, or vice versa. However, if a developer does decide to make a game with the Oculus SDK but not submit it to the store for review, then users will have to enable “Unknown Sources” — just like on a Mac — in order to run those programs.

As the nascent VR scene begins to transform into a full-fledged ecosystem, Oculus has expressly made a choice about software exclusivity, allowing its developers to feel more comfortable on the platform without tying them specifically to it. It could possibly build returns for the company in the long run and it seeks to build a library of compelling content designed to put their headset on willing faces.