HTC is betting on virtual reality being “the next big thing.” While Oculus VR has been showing of prototype and developer units of Oculus Rift for a few years now, HTC and Valve is planning to have a commercial version of the HTC Vive ready by the end of this year. While beating the competition to market by a few months may not be huge, HTC’s unique Vive motion controllers which track both hands give the HTC Vive a unique advantage.

While VR may be intriguing for games who want to be completely immersed in a virtual world, virtual reality has traditionally been a lonely place as users haven’t been able to have any meaningful interactions with other people in a virtual environment. We’ve tried a few multi-user VR demos at CES, but all of them required you to sit and use a standard controller to move around. Since HTC Vive can track users in real space, a multi-user VR experience may look like the latest demo put together with Real Virtuality.

The demo shows two people walking around and exploring a virtual Egyptian Tomb while using a motion controller as a virtual torch to light us their surroundings. HTC and Valve have not confirmed that the HTC Vive will support a multi-user VR experience, but we expect it’s definitely on their road map.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur4KQakkmA8

If you want to test HTC Vive for yourself, be sure to check out the HTC Vive global tour schedule.