Page 1 of 1

The future of Track IR?

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:34 pm
by smygolf
Hi

I bought my Track IR back in 2009 to get more immersion out of Arma 2. After a quick learning period it became a tool I could not live without in arma , and I soon discovered its usefulness in flight and racing sims just as well.

During the years I have often wondered why you guys at naturalpoint never have tried to be more aggressive in your marketing of this product?

Why haveyou never tried to make some bundle deals with games like Arma 3, PUBG and newer car games like project cars and Assetto Corsa? or do other commercial stunts in cooperation with popular games like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and DCS which benefits tremendously from tracking devices?
Coop with a head set manufacturer to build the proclip senors into a gaming head set. Just seems to have been a lot of opportunities to expand this.

Is the production cost of it the same still, seems like the price is unchanged since I bought it ten years ago?
Have you ever thought about upgrades to the flimsy pro clip, like making a more sturdy version e.g in aluminium or tougher plastic ?

Do you have any future plans with Track IR, Will there be any new versions or are you on the fence watching the VR development?

Re: The future of Track IR?

Posted: Fri May 03, 2019 12:01 pm
by Neil Abrew
smygolf wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:34 pm During the years I have often wondered why you guys at naturalpoint never have tried to be more aggressive in your marketing of this product?
You make a good point! NaturalPoint is three different companies in one, OptiTrack, TrackIR, and SmartNav. We are actually a fairly small company and most of our resources are poured into OptiTrack, progressively more each year since OptiTrack's inception in 2007. That being said, we still sell a lot of TrackIRs and have an incredible and active user community, so it is only fair that we put in the effort to stay connected with them. We haven't done great the last few years in that regard, but we are diving back in with renewed energy to re-establish the relationship with our community, address software issues, and get into some newer games!
Why haveyou never tried to make some bundle deals with games like Arma 3, PUBG and newer car games like project cars and Assetto Corsa? or do other commercial stunts in cooperation with popular games like Elite Dangerous, Star Citizen and DCS which benefits tremendously from tracking devices?
Back in the days of physical copies of games, we actually did do this quite a bit - including coupons for discounts on TrackIR hardware and coupons for discounted games inside TrackIR boxes from distributors. In terms of commercial stunts, we haven't done much recently, but we do partner with streamers of those popular games who use and promote TrackIR during their streams.
Have you ever thought about upgrades to the flimsy pro clip, like making a more sturdy version e.g in aluminium or tougher plastic ? Coop with a head set manufacturer to build the proclip senors into a gaming head set?
The TrackClip Pro's build quality has improved substantially, and we have seen the RMAs for them drop dramatically after the redesign. The plastics were improved, and it should easily hold up to years of gaming. We're also in the process of redesigning the 'clamp' to make it better fit modern day headsets that have increasingly wider headbands.
Do you have any future plans with Track IR, Will there be any new versions or are you on the fence watching the VR development?
The VR vs TrackIR debate has been well discussed and will probably continue to into the future, but we aren't concerned about that and that in no way affects the road map for our product. On the OptiTrack side, we make tracking systems for massive VR arcades, so in some ways we embrace VR as an industry, but don't think it will completely take over in the hyper-realistic simulation market. For those who love TrackIR, there is no substitute!

As for future plans, the aforementioned TrackClip upgrade is on the horizon, as is a new software version to address customer requests and needs. We will update you on that here and on social media as soon as updates are available!