StarVR

StarVR
Basic Info
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Type	Head-mounted display
Subtype	PC-Powered VR
Platform	OpenVR (announced integration in 2015)
Developer	Starbreeze and the former InfinitEye team
Manufacturer	Acer (manufactured partner units from 2016)
Release Date	Unveiled at E3 in June 2015; first partner shipments announced 31 August 2016
Website	http://www.starvr.com/ (historical website)
Versions	2015 E3 prototype; later development and partner revisions
Requires	Personal computer
Successor	StarVR One
Display
Display	Dual 5.5-inch LCD panels (2015 prototype)
Resolution	5120 x 1440 across both panels; 2560 x 1440 per eye (2015)
Refresh Rate	60 Hz (2015 demonstration)
Image
Field of View	210° horizontal, 130° vertical (advertised 2015 specifications)
Tracking
Tracking	6DoF (2015 prototype)
Rotational Tracking	IMU (2015); Gyroscope, Accelerometer, Magnetometer documented in 2017
Positional Tracking	External camera with fiducial markers (2015 prototype)

StarVR, formerly known as InfinitEye, is a virtual reality HMD developed by Starbreeze with the former InfinitEye team. The original prototype was unveiled at E3 2015 with an advertised horizontal field of view of 210 degrees and two Quad HD panels. The project subsequently targeted professional and location-based entertainment installations, with Acer manufacturing headsets for partners including IMAX.

The original StarVR and its development revisions precede StarVR One, the separate next-generation headset announced in August 2018. The original LCD specifications should be read with their prototype dates; StarVR One's AMOLED displays, 90 Hz refresh rate and integrated Tobii eye tracking belong to that successor.

Reviewed 14 October 2026. Original InfinitEye and StarVR prototypes, dated hardware configurations, software plans, partner shipments, contemporary hands-ons and corporate status; successor features kept separate About review dates.

Hardware

The 2015 specification list described two 5.5-inch LCD panels, each with 2560 x 1440 pixels, and custom Fresnel optics. The 5120 x 1440 figure combines the panels horizontally; the manufacturer called this a "5K" panoramic display. The advertised field of view was 210° horizontally and 130° vertically. These were manufacturer specifications, rather than measurements from the contemporary hands-on reports.

The E3 2015 prototype combined an IMU for rotational tracking with an external camera observing fiducial markers for positional tracking. Markers on a shotgun-shaped controller let the same demonstration track the weapon. This was a development configuration: the team told the reporter that it was considering other tracking systems.

Specifications

The following table describes the 2015 demonstration unless a later date is given.

Part	Documented specification or configuration
Display	Two 5.5-inch LCD Quad HD panels.
Resolution	2560 x 1440 pixels per eye; 5120 x 1440 combined horizontally.
Field of view	Advertised 210° horizontal and 130° vertical.
Lenses	Custom Fresnel-based optics.
Refresh rate	60 Hz in the E3 prototype.
Tracking	Six degrees of freedom. The 2015 manufacturer list advertised 360° optical tracking with submillimetre accuracy; the cited hands-on does not provide a laboratory accuracy measurement.
Rotational tracking	Onboard IMU in 2015. The August 2017 company description explicitly lists gyroscopes, accelerometers and magnetometers combined with optical tracking.
Positional tracking	External camera and fiducial markers on the 2015 headset and controller.
Input	Tracked pump-action shotgun for the E3 2015 OVERKILL's The Walking Dead demonstration.
Connectivity	A June 2016 demonstration used two HDMI 1.4 connections, USB and a power connection; the reporter also identified a headphone connection.

Development revisions

InfinitEye's earlier 2013 prototype was different hardware. In an original interview, the team described two 7-inch 1280 x 800 LCDs, two stacked Fresnel lenses per eye, a YEI 3-space orientation tracker with three degrees of freedom, and a vertical field of view of about 90°. Those values do not describe the 2015 StarVR prototype.

At E3 2016, 4Gamer's Zenji Nishikawa tested a revision that the development team called "Ver1.4". It retained the dual-panel 5120 x 1440 LCD arrangement. The Walking Dead demonstration used Sixense STEM tracking packs attached to the rear of the headset and to the shotgun controller, rather than the earlier marker configuration. A separate Cockatoo Spritz film demonstration did not have a STEM pack fitted. These observations document the specific demonstrations rather than a uniform specification for all later StarVR units.

Acer's first-shipment announcement in August 2016 confirmed manufactured partner units, but did not enumerate their complete display and tracking configuration. In February 2017, Starbreeze still described distribution of development versions to key partners and planned further iterations, including an iteration intended to incorporate Tobii eye tracking.

Software

Starbreeze's June 2015 announcement said the project would support the OpenVR framework within its proprietary Valhalla game engine. This was an announced integration plan, rather than a statement that every OpenVR application would work with every StarVR revision.

Tobii announced its collaboration with Starbreeze in September 2015 to develop eye-tracking integration for StarVR. Its proposed applications included foveated rendering and gaze interaction, but the announcement described development work. It does not establish that the E3 2015 headset already included eye tracking.

Apps

The original E3 demonstration was an OVERKILL's The Walking Dead VR experience, presented with a wheelchair and a tracked pump-action shotgun. In May 2016, Starbreeze also presented Cockatoo Spritz, a cinematic VR work directed by Stephane Barbato, at Cannes.

Starbreeze's February 2017 report described two StarVR pods at the Los Angeles IMAX pilot center running John Wick Chronicles: Arcade Edition. Its August 2017 announcement identified both that title and The Mummy Prodigium Strike as integrated with the StarVR system, and described an automotive visualization collaboration with ZeroLight.

Developer

InfinitEye began as a personal project before becoming a company. In an October 2013 interview with Meant to be Seen 3D, Lionel Anton said he had posted his first design work in August 2011, published the later dual-screen design in February 2013, and adopted the name InfinitEye from a forum member's suggestion. He described a team of three friends working in their spare time, with Stephane handling management and communications and Robin developing the demo engine and tracking software.

By June 2015, Starbreeze described InfinitEye as a nine-employee French company in Paris and announced that it would be incorporated into the group as Starbreeze Paris. The subsequent Acer partnership divided the work between headset development, manufacturing and the joint venture's sales and support operation. Starbreeze's October 2017 account said it retained StarVR-related intellectual property, while Acer manufactured the product and held patents concerning electrical engineering, mechanical design and ergonomics.

History

Date	Event
June 2015	Starbreeze announced the InfinitEye acquisition and StarVR project on 14 June, with demonstrations at E3 on 16-18 June.
22 September 2015	Tobii announced development of eye-tracking integration with Starbreeze.
23 January 2016	Starbreeze announced its intention to establish a Los Angeles VR arcade under Project StarCade at the VRLA Winter Expo. Its location and opening date were still to be announced.
May 2016	The Acer partnership began with a letter of intent covering design, manufacturing, promotion, marketing and sales to professional and location-based entertainment markets. Acer's later board announcement dates the earlier announcement to 15 May; its letter-of-intent webpage is dated 17 May.
20 May 2016	IMAX announced its Starbreeze partnership for VR experiences in multiplexes, malls and other commercial destinations. This was a planned location-based offering.
June 2016	The companies' boards approved the joint venture. It was provisionally named Acer Starbreeze Corporation, with equal ownership and authorized capital of up to NT$800 million (US$25 million). The later issuer account dates the original announcement to 25 June.
31 August 2016	Acer and Starbreeze announced that the first manufactured StarVR headsets had begun shipping to IMAX. Larger-scale production in 2017 remained a plan in that announcement.
25 October 2016	Starbreeze announced the acquisition of Belgian VFX studio Nozon and its PresenZ technology for EUR7.1 million, comprising EUR4.6 million in cash and EUR2.5 million in shares, plus a capped ten-year earn-out. It described PresenZ's interactive parallax capabilities as a planned complement to StarVR.
January-February 2017	The Los Angeles IMAX VR pilot center opened in early January. The February report described its StarVR pods and said development versions were being prioritized for key partners, with more hardware iterations planned.
24 October 2017	Acer agreed to inject another US$5 million and increase its joint-venture stake to 66.7%, leaving Starbreeze with 33.3%. Starbreeze described availability to selected partners and visitors at IMAX VR venues, rather than general consumer retail distribution.
14 August 2018	StarVR unveiled the separate StarVR One generation at SIGGRAPH, with custom AMOLED displays, 90 Hz refresh and integrated Tobii eye tracking. It announced a SteamVR Tracking 2.0 version and a One XT variant with active optical markers.

Later corporate status

Starbreeze's 2024 annual report states that it sold its 33% interest in StarVR Corporation to Acer during that year. Acer's consolidated statements for the years ended December 2025 and 2024 list StarVR Corporation as "Currently not in operation", with 100% ownership at the end of 2025. These corporate disclosures do not specify a support-end date for an individual headset.

Contemporary reception

Paul James's E3 2015 hands-on praised the expansive view and the Walking Dead demonstration, but described positional judder, LCD motion smearing, an uncomfortable convergence effect and perceptible tracking latency. The team attributed the tracking disruption to sunlight in the convention-center atrium. These were observations from an early prototype demonstration, rather than quantitative tests or a review of a final production headset.

Images