VR / XR

Virtual / mixed / augmented reality development. Pairs with 3D engines, 3D / WebGL (for WebXR), game audio (Steam Audio), and input systems. For full landscape see Game Development.

The 2024–26 landscape: OpenXR is universal. Meta Quest 3 + 3S dominate consumer VR. Apple Vision Pro launched 2024 — visionOS uses Unity PolySpatial or RealityKit. Pico is the Quest competitor outside the US. WebXR works on Quest browser well; iOS Safari support is partial.

Standards / abstractions

• ★ OpenXR — Khronos standard, the universal XR API. Supported by Quest, Pico, Valve Index, WMR, Vive. Drop-in for Unity XR / Unreal XR.
• WebXR — browser standard, see 3D / WebGL.
• Khronos OpenXR Tools — free.

Engine XR support

• ★ Unity XR Interaction Toolkit — built in, OpenXR-based. Hand tracking, locomotion, grab, ray, teleport. The Unity default.
• ★ Unreal VR Template + Enhanced Input — built in, OpenXR-based.
• Unity XR Hands — free package, hand tracking.
• Godot OpenXR — built-in, surprisingly capable.
• Unity PolySpatial — paid (within Unity Pro), required for Apple Vision Pro from Unity.
• Bevy + bevy_oxr — community Rust XR crate.

Web XR

• ★ A-Frame — free, MIT, entity-component HTML for VR/AR. Beloved for ed-tech and quick prototypes.
• ★ react-three-fiber + @react-three/xr — see 3D / WebGL.
• Babylon.js VR — free, very capable.
• Three.js + WebXR — direct.
• Mozilla Hubs — free, social VR platform; check current Mozilla support status.

Headsets / SDKs

• Meta Quest — Quest 3 / 3S / Pro. Meta XR SDK for Unity / Unreal, free. Quest Store + App Lab.
• Apple Vision Pro / visionOS — RealityKit + Reality Composer Pro, or Unity PolySpatial.
• Pico (Bytedance) — OpenXR-compliant, Pico SDK.
• Valve Index / SteamVR — Steamworks VR + OpenXR.
• HTC Vive — VIVE Wave or OpenXR.
• PlayStation VR2 — Sony SDK, NDA.

Social VR / UGC platforms

• VRChat SDK — free, builds avatar worlds for VRChat. Massive UGC ecosystem.
• ★ Resonite — free, Mac/Windows social VR with deep in-world editing tools. The successor to NeosVR.
• Rec Room Studio — free, makes content for Rec Room.
• Horizon Worlds Creator Tools — free, Meta's social VR.
• ChilloutVR — free, smaller alternative.

Spatial computing / AR

• ARKit (Apple) — iOS / iPadOS / visionOS.
• ARCore (Google) — Android.
• Niantic 8th Wall — paid web AR.
• Niantic Lightship — paid mobile AR with VPS / world-scale.
• Mind AR, AR.js — free WebAR (see 3D / WebGL).
• Snap Lens Studio — free, Snapchat AR.
• TikTok Effect House — free, TikTok AR.

Audio

• Steam Audio — see game audio.
• Meta XR Audio SDK — free Quest spatial audio.
• Resonance Audio — free, Apache (mostly maintenance mode).

Performance

• VR demands consistent 72/90/120 Hz at high resolution. Foveated rendering (Quest Pro / Quest 3, Vision Pro) is essential.
• Asynchronous Spacewarp / Reprojection — engine-handled.
• Renderdoc for shader frame analysis (see perf profiling).

Pick this if…

• Default VR engine: Unity XR Interaction Toolkit or Unreal VR Template.
• Web VR / AR: A-Frame (HTML) or R3F + @react-three/xr (React).
• Quest-specific polish: Meta XR SDK on top of OpenXR.
• Apple Vision Pro: Unity PolySpatial or native RealityKit.
• Social VR UGC: VRChat (giant audience) or Resonite (deeper tools).
• Mobile AR app: ARKit (iOS) or ARCore (Android), or Niantic Lightship for world-scale.