Social VR platform Somnium Space is rolling out its biggest update yet, which aims to bring major improvements across the entire platform ahead of its planned release on Steam Frame and Apple Vision Pro.
The News
Somnium Space’s v3.1.6 update is slated to rollout today, bringing to the social VR platform a number of quality of life features that could put it more on par with its main competitor, VRChat.
Arguably the most important feature to the update is how it handles World Instances, which now supports a wider degree of privacy, including friends instances, friends+ private instances, paid instances, and PIN-protected instances. Previously, Somnium Space was largely built around a persistent shared world. That essentially means instead of every event existing in one open space, communities can now have private concerts, classrooms, meetings, paid events, and moderated gatherings.
You can check out all of that and more in Somnium Space’s v3.1.6 update video below:
The update also includes a major creator upgrade with server-side scripting, which aims to lower the barrier for creators by removing local installation requirements.
A big chunk of the update is however dedicated to the much less glamorous task of smoothing out essential infrastructure. The v3.1.6 update redesigns a host of systems, including friends, favorites, bubble chat, moderation tools, blocked users, global chat, and improved voice reliability.
Meanwhile, desktop support seems to be getting a lot more focus, as the update includes better onboarding, movement, sprinting, controller support, and Inspector functionality, which seemingly aims to expand Somnium Space beyond its hardcore PC VR audience.
Notably, Somnium Space is slated to launch on Steam with full Steam Deck support in the near future, with versions for Steam Frame and Apple Vision Pro set to follow. The Steam re-release, which comes after more than five year’s of absence on the store, is also slated to include the company’s signature user ID system, which ensures all users are verified as being over 18.
My Take
TL;DR: Somnium Space is looking to cement itself further as an alternative to VRChat for niche adult communities. The platform’s crypto ambitions are still unclear though, since re-launching on Steam will mean it needs to comply with Valve’s blanket ban on NFTs and crypto.
I don’t know anything about Somnium Space’s financials, so it’s difficult to tell whether the update and eventual rollout on Steam means it’s at crossroads or not. Companies can push right along with planned releases and features one day, and then the next say they have to close up shop due to lack of funding, like Rec Room did, which closed in June. That’s more of a warning that the space as a whole is dangerous right now, and not an assumption of what Somnium Space is or isn’t facing internally.
What is certain: Somnium Space isn’t Rec Room, or VRChat for that matter, as the app prides itself on verifying the identity and age of each user to ensure absolutely no children are allowed. Its planned release on Apple Vision Pro and Steam Frame will also be its first version available for standalone devices—notably missing is a dedicated Quest version.
Also certain: For a time, Somnium Space was all about cryptocurrency and NFTs. In October 2019, the platform auctioned off virtual land in an initial NFT offering, leading to the release of the platform’s token CUBE a year later. With the platform allowing for free, private instances, all of that means a lot less than it used to, especially since the platform is making a bid to return to Steam after its delisting amid Valve’s crypto games purge in 2021.
And it will be interesting to see how the platform detangles from this overtly crypto-forward architecture when that day comes.
In the meantime, the next challenge is attracting and retaining enough creators and users to take advantage of the improvements seen in v3.1.6, which nowadays could be harder than ever.
Love it or hate it though, Somnium Space is one of the most technically ambitious PC VR social platforms out there. That, and it’s strong creator tools and a team that so far hasn’t let up on its continuous development, could mean it’s looking to further cement its lead as the premier ‘no kids’ social platform as enthusiasts become a bigger relative percentage amid consumer slowdown.
