The Rift Arcade
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| The Rift Arcade | |
|---|---|
| |
| Information | |
| Platforms | All |
| Devices | DK1, DK2, Oculus Rift CV1, HTC Vive |
| Operating Systems | Windows, Mac, Linux |
| Accessible | Desktop, Mobile |
| Notable Personnel | Tom Rudderham (editor) |
| Apps | 49 (November 2017) |
| Website | http://www.theriftarcade.com/ |
The Rift Arcade was an open platform Virtual Reality App Store. It started as an English-language website with news, reviews, previews and videos about games for the Oculus Rift, and in February 2015 it added a download store, The Rift Arcade Downloads, where independent developers could sell or give away games for the Rift.[1][2] Tom Rudderham edited the site.[1] Its last news posts date from May 2017, and by April 2018 the domain showed a parked page offering it for sale.[3][4]
General information
On its about page, The Rift Arcade called itself "the leading Oculus Rift games website" and "the number one independent site for Rift gaming news, reviews, previews and videos". The same page said the site hosted "the biggest and most popular database of DK2 games" and described the download store as "the only place developers can directly sell and share their VR games".[1] These are the site's own claims.
The about page listed four contributors: editor Tom Rudderham, Morgan Bedford, Dominic Blaquiere and Tom Wojcik. It gave a postal address in Poole, England.[1] The games section sorted Rift titles by headset (DK2, and later also CV1) and by genre, with sections for Action, First Person, Casual, Horror, Racing, Flight, Experience, Puzzle, Strategy and RPG.[5] In April 2015 the home page also carried a "Latest from Oculus Share" feed of new releases on Oculus Share, next to a list of the newest paid games in the site's own store.[6]
The site also ran a curator page on Steam. Its description reads "Any game that comes with native Oculus Rift support." In September 2026 the page showed 117 reviews and 141 followers, and its most recent recommendation, for Windlands, was dated 18 January 2016.[7] A Steam community group for the site was founded on 26 January 2015.[8]
History
The earliest copy of the site in the Internet Archive, captured on 22 April 2014, shows news posts by Rudderham about new Oculus Rift DK2 orders shipping from August, the alpha 4.5 release of Darkfield VR and a giveaway of keys for that game. A "Latest Games" list on the same page included Elite: Dangerous and Minecrift.[9] In an August 2014 Kotaku article about playing the Elite: Dangerous beta on the DK2, Kirk Hamilton quoted Rudderham's reaction on The Rift Arcade to the same beta as one of several examples of enthusiastic VR coverage in the gaming press: "It's insane, and ambitious to the point of insanity; but what's incredible is how the game is actually living up to these promises."[10]
Rudderham posted the developer registration page for the download store on 20 February 2015.[2] An archived copy of the store from 27 February 2015 lists seven games.[11] By December 2015 the about page said the site had "recently expanded to include the Rift Arcade Downloads Store".[1]
The site also published scored reviews. Its review of Radial-G, written by Rudderham and posted on 24 July 2015, gave the game 9.1 out of 10 with the verdict "Very good".[12]
The site's menu had a section for the consumer Oculus Rift CV1 by December 2015.[1] Its 2016 posts covered the announcement of Star Trek: Bridge Crew at E3, the release of Kittypocalypse on the Oculus Store, and the news that the Rift would go on sale in retail stores in Europe and Canada on 20 September 2016, priced at £549 or €699. Blaquiere wrote a review of Combat Air Patrol 2 and a preview of Dragon Front.[5] By October 2017 the newest posts on the home page were dated 3 and 4 May 2017.[3] The store was still online in November 2017.[13] In April 2018 the domain showed a parked page titled "This website is for sale!" that said the domain had expired,[4] and by June 2019 it showed a "Coming soon" placeholder.[14]
The Rift Arcade Downloads
Terms for developers
Developers registered for a developer account, which let them add, edit and sell their games on the store. When the registration page went up in February 2015, the store accepted only full games. The Rift Arcade took 20% of the asking price, which it said covered bandwidth and payment fees, and paid developers every two weeks through PayPal. The page said every game sold on the store would also be featured on the site, covered on its social media accounts and in a news story, and reviewed where applicable.[2] The store's terms of service offered buyers a refund if a game had genuine technical problems, such as not running on their system. Buyers had to ask for the refund within 14 days of purchase, and The Rift Arcade could first try to fix the problem.[15]
Catalog
The first archived listing, from February 2015, has these seven games:[11]
| Title | Listed price (US$) |
|---|---|
| STRANDED | $6.00 |
| The Simpsons - Moe's Tavern VR | $1.50 |
| Nighttime Terror | $7.99 |
| CINEVEO - Virtual Reality Cinema | $10.00 |
| MazerQuest - Escape the Envasion | $5.00 |
| Territory Defense | $2.00 |
| All Birds Must Die | $4.99 |
Games could be filtered by hardware (DK1 and DK2) and by operating system (Linux, OS X and Windows).[11] In February 2016 the store listed 41 products, and SDK 0.8 had been added as a hardware filter. Free demos and prototypes were listed next to paid games. Some free entries, such as climbtime, linked to downloads on Itch.io, and paid games included CINEMATARIUM at $9.00, VROOM: Galleon at $9.99 and Rampage at $15.95.[16] By November 2017 the catalog had 49 products. The hardware filters then covered CV1, DK1, DK2, Linux, OS X, SDK 0.7, SDK 0.8, SDK 1.3, Vive and Windows, and a separate "Free / Demos" menu had been added. The newest listings included Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy VR, Russian VR Coasters, Shoot Mania and Cosmic-VR.[13]
Categories
The store sorted its games into genre categories, including Action, Arcade, Casual, First Person, Flight, Horror, Puzzle, Racing, RPG, Simulation and Software. The number of games in each category changed as the catalog grew:
| Category | February 2015[11] | February 2016[16] | November 2017[13] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Action | 2 | 17 | 25 |
| Arcade | 3 | 8 | 14 |
| Casual | 3 | 21 | 20 |
| Educational | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| First Person | 4 | 31 | 28 |
| Flight | Not listed | 2 | 5 |
| Horror | Not listed | 4 | 2 |
| Platformer | Not listed | Not listed | 2 |
| Puzzle | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Racing | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| RPG | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Simulation | 1 | 16 | 20 |
| Software | 1 | 3 | 5 |
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "About The Rift Arcade". The Rift Arcade (archived by the Internet Archive, 6 December 2015). https://web.archive.org/web/20151206101851/http://www.theriftarcade.com/about/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Tom Rudderham (2015-02-20). "Developer Registration". The Rift Arcade Downloads (archived by the Internet Archive, 28 February 2015). https://web.archive.org/web/20150228073132/http://theriftarcade.com/downloads/developer-registration/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Rift Arcade - The latest Oculus Rift games news, reviews and previews". The Rift Arcade (archived by the Internet Archive, 1 October 2017). https://web.archive.org/web/20171001053606/http://theriftarcade.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "theriftarcade.com - This website is for sale!". theriftarcade.com (archived by the Internet Archive, 4 April 2018). https://web.archive.org/web/20180404182210/http://theriftarcade.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Rift Arcade - The latest Oculus Rift games news, reviews and previews". The Rift Arcade (archived by the Internet Archive, 1 November 2016). https://web.archive.org/web/20161101021706/http://www.theriftarcade.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ "The Rift Arcade - Oculus Rift Games, News, Reviews, Previews and Videos". The Rift Arcade (archived by the Internet Archive, 2 April 2015). https://web.archive.org/web/20150402042107/http://www.theriftarcade.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ "Steam Curator: The Rift Arcade". Steam. Valve. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7720875-The-Rift-Arcade/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ "The Rift Arcade". Steam Community. Valve. https://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheRiftArcade. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ "The Rift Arcade - Oculus Rift and VR News, Games, Reviews and Forum". The Rift Arcade (archived by the Internet Archive, 22 April 2014). https://web.archive.org/web/20140422110828/http://www.theriftarcade.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ Kirk Hamilton (2014-08-18). "I Just Spent Two Weeks Being A Space Commander". Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/i-just-spent-two-weeks-being-a-space-commander-1622502556. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "Oculus Rift Games and Software - The Rift Arcade Downloads". The Rift Arcade Downloads (archived by the Internet Archive, 27 February 2015). https://web.archive.org/web/20150227025841/http://theriftarcade.com/downloads/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ Tom Rudderham (2015-07-24). "Radial-G Review on Oculus Rift". The Rift Arcade (archived by the Internet Archive, 26 July 2015). https://web.archive.org/web/20150726144600/http://www.theriftarcade.com/radial-g-review-on-oculus-rift/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Products - Page 4 - The Rift Arcade Downloads". The Rift Arcade Downloads (archived by the Internet Archive, 15 November 2017). https://web.archive.org/web/20171115050710/http://theriftarcade.com/downloads/downloads/page/4/?orderby=date&per_page=16. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ "www.theriftarcade.com". theriftarcade.com (archived by the Internet Archive, 4 June 2019). https://web.archive.org/web/20190604121922/http://theriftarcade.com/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ "Terms and Conditions". The Rift Arcade Downloads (archived by the Internet Archive, 3 April 2015). https://web.archive.org/web/20150403184516/http://theriftarcade.com/downloads/terms-conditions/. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Products - The Rift Arcade Downloads". The Rift Arcade Downloads (archived by the Internet Archive, 6 February 2016). https://web.archive.org/web/20160206194614/http://theriftarcade.com/downloads/downloads/?orderby=date&per_page=16. Retrieved 2026-09-27.