StarCitizen:Virtual reality
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Virtual reality, also called VR, is one of the promised feature in Star Citizen and Squadron 42.<ref name=":1" />
History
Promise
Virtual reality was part of the StarCitizen:Star Citizen initial crowdfunding campaign, with the kickstarter indicating: "We have backed Oculus Rift and will support it in Star Citizen / Squadron 42. Who doesn't want to sit in their cockpit, hands on your joystick and throttle, swiveling your head, to track that enemy fighter that just blew by?", and having Oculus Rift support for the hangar module was the 12 Millions stretch goal.<ref>Template:Cite RSI</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite RSI</ref><ref>"We have backed Oculus Rift and will support it in Star Citizen / Squadron 42. Who doesn't want to sit in their cockpit, hands on your joystick and throttle, swiveling your head, to track that enemy fighter that just blew by?", Star Citizen Kickstarter, 2012</ref>
VR Platforms
Despite the early focus being on the StarCitizen:Oculus Rift, when asked about supporting other VR platforms Chris Roberts answered that they're looking at them and that it's easier to add them once one is already supported.<ref>10 For the Chairman Episode 29. July 14th, 2014, Star Citizen, Youtube</ref> CIG is not committed to one platform.<ref name=":3">10 for the Chairman: Episode 58 (2015.03.30), Star Citizen, Youtube</ref>
First implementation and removal
An early iteration of VR support did get added to the hangar module in patch 11.1 in 2014, however as more things were changed, the VR broke and rather than constantly fixing it in an evolving code it was removed, with dev time being spent on things like procedural planets instead that every player can experience.<ref>Star Citizen: Reverse the Verse LIVE - Squadron 42 Q&A, Star Citizen, Youtube, 27 January 2018</ref><ref name=":2">Wingman's Hangar ep058 . February 26, 2014, Star Citizen, Youtube</ref><ref>Template:Cite RSI</ref>
Mentions
During the StarCitizen:Holiday Livestream 2015 Chris Roberts said that StarCitizen:CryEngine were doing a lot of VR and that Cloud Imperium Games needs to integrate that work, however it's complicated since CIG changed the [[StarCitizen::Category:Video game engines|game engine]] so much and it's a matter of spending engineering time on it, including from people who previously worked on VR at StarCitizen:Crytek itself and had since joined CIG. He said he expected that work to happen possibly in early 2016 but that the focus for now was performance, which is why VR is pushed back.<ref>Holiday Livestream 2015: Full Presentation, Star Citizen, Youtube, 17 december. 2015</ref>
At StarCitizen:CitizenCon 2024, Chris Roberts reconfirmed that VR is to be supported.<ref>CitizenCon 2954: Day Two [Full Broadcast], Star Citizen, Youtube, 20 october 2024</ref>
In July 2025 at Quantum Vegas 2955, Sean Tracy mentioned that the biggest problem is going to be dual render, which is essentially rendering twice, and that some testing was to happen in a month or two.<ref>Quantum Vegas 2955: Session 1: "Tech & Tools" with Sean Tracy, Quantum Vegas 2955, Youtube, 21 July 2025</ref>
In November 2025, OpenXR files were found by players in the tech preview.<ref>Tech build screenshot of OpenXR, MaskedMan, VRse Discord, November 13 2025</ref>
In December 2025, Silvan announced that the Alpha 4.5.0 StarCitizen:PTU would be introducing early experimental VR support. It would not be the full implementation, but would allow the community to get hands-on with what was available and guide the features direction.<ref>Template:Cite RSI</ref>
In January 2026 Silvan said he had been able to add VR basically without any CPU overhead while if the GPU is struggling DLSS can be used, and that he's pretty sure than in 2026 they can add foveated rendering and QuadViews which will make it better and faster.<ref>Star Citizen | Silvan Hau interview: Why you shoud play Star Citizen in VR, Pimax, 3 january 2026</ref>
Squadron 42
In Febuary 2026, Chris Roberts announced that StarCitizen:Squadron 42 will be fully available in virtual reality :
"Squadron will be fully VR supporting, too it'll be very cool. [...] You can reach out and touch Jillian Anderson, not inappropriately [...] we're pretty committed to making the VR implementation the best that you've seen in gaming for any game." -Chris Roberts.<ref>Enter ATMOSPHERE 2956 - Star Citizen Esports Showcase Youtube - 21-02-2026</ref>
Technological requirements
Engine Programmer StarCitizen:Silvan Hau said that implementing VR into the rendering itself isn't a big deal, but having support from the game itself in terms of gameplay is, namely tying it into the animation system and what locomotion the game offer. There are lots of unknown questions which need to be solved and require a collaboration from various teams. He expects VR to be implemented in stages, e.g. for a first step just being able to view ships in the hangar or using it in a cockpit. But a full VR implementation similar to Half Life Alyx is a whole different story.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite RSI</ref>
Sylvan said that before CIG can even can consider VR they have much bigger fish to fry like StarCitizen:Vulkan, more optimizations and other new rendering technologies including StarCitizen:Gen12.<ref>Star Citizen VR QnA Session with Silvan from CIG, Chachi Sanchez, Youtube, 19 December 2021</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>Template:Cite RSI</ref>
Community solutions
Player Chachi Sanchez runs the VRse Discord server and has videos on how to set up VR by oneself, using tools like VorpX or OpenXR on his youtube channel.
Quotes
"[...] there are people here at CIG who are huge VR enthusiasts and we will do anything within our capabilities to bring it to Star Citizen. It will be a huge task, it will take a while, but i have no doubt we will get there.[...]" -Sylvan Hau.<ref name=":0" />
See also
Trivia
- Chris Roberts had already made looking around the cockpit possible in StarCitizen:Strike Commander, where the player’s head and the environment could be controlled separately, with the able to look around freely in any direction rather than just left, right, forward and backwards, which was innovative at the time, in the early 90's.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Wingman's Hangar ep058 . February 26, 2014, Star Citizen, YouTube</ref>