YouTube is the biggest video distribution platform in the world, but it’s still prone to issues. Every major update to the site results in some backlash or another, and this often extends to YouTube implementations on other platforms as well. Today, that platform is SteamVR.
So what happened?
The YouTube VR application on Google Daydream lets users browse YouTube in a 3D space with full 360-degree visuals, allowing 360 videos to be watched in VR. This same application was ported from Daydream to SteamVR, and unfortunately, the Steam counterpart doesn’t seem to function quite as smoothly. For some users, the YouTube VR app outright doesn’t work and simply crashes on launch. For others, it does, but is prone to horrible bugs, crashing and baffling design decisions. Among these issues is YouTube VR automatically locking to the left-hand controller, pointer control being inaccurate and no way to change video quality.
To say the least, YouTube VR for SteamVR is a bit of a disaster. While this is an “Early Access” application (Steam Early Access applications and games are in active development and not yet considered stable or complete), one would still expect better from Google, one of industry leaders in virtual reality. You can try it today, although you are better off waiting for an update.
