The Game That Made VR Mainstream - Beat Saber

[@Akshonesports]

Hey everyone, this video was look into the game and it’s rise. We are looking into a more in-depth video on the game’s competitive scene in the future.

[@GregiPlays]

Hey :) I'm a Helper and Staff of the World Cup and BSL Team. Feel free to reach out to get more insights. We'd be glad to help on every Way.

[@aperson5182]

Can’t believe the timing for this release with the Umbra stuff

[@UglyMagician]

I've been Casting and organising almost every major Beat Saber tournament since the games launch and would love to help out with a more in depth video.

[@MHT-112]

I also recommend reaching out to Gregi and Magicia👀

[@realtalk13]

you don't talk about this but what's also a major part of beat saber's commercial appeal is that it genuinely can make you build up a solid sweat if you play on the harder maps and difficulties. I've seen beat saber marketed as a fitness game during the pandemic. Given how big Wii Sports / Wii Fitness was in the mainstream, it doesn't surprise me Beat Saber blew up outside of its core fanbase. And more casual folk are WAY less likely to try modding (if they even know of it)/way more likely to buy in game song packs

[@Flee_VR]

Wow! Thank you so much for showing off our competitive scene. I've been competing in Beat Saber for years in both BSL and the Beat Saber World Cup and to see you cover it is really awesome!

[@saquial]

Beat Saber is that game everyone wants to at least try out, and that when you buy it becomes one of the games with the highest spent time of your VR library.

[@livingreverie5951]

Imagine how much confidence a CEO must have to step down and say “I’m helping with adding the music to the game”

[@stormedrain]

beatsaber is not only a new and interesting take on rhythm games (as are vr rhythm games as a whole) but they also took one of the best proven and unique formats and made it their own, being (mostly) community created content with tons of high quality official content as well

[@JKingTheVA]

I'm a major Beat Saber fan, and have been playing for over a year now. Genuinely, out of all the rhythm games I have played and grown up on, nothing comes close to the feel of Beat Saber. The simplicity, the flow, the music, everything just combines into an experience unlike any other. One of the first rhythm games I genuinely wanted to get better at, and grinded to about top 8k in the world through Scoresaber. Not only this, but the fact it gave me a way to stay active in a way that's not only fun, but addictive, is something that no other rhythm game gave me. Beat Saber I genuinely feel is one that can last due to how strong the community is, the support from the devs, and just how accessible the game is and how easy to pick up and play it is

[@AcencialAMV]

The only issue is that watching this game on a flat screen doesn't do justice to how amazing it feels to play in VR. One of my favorite games of all time.

[@LicensedTaddus]

The standard game and the competitive experience are 2 completely different things in my opinion, would love a follow-up on this, some suggestions being the obvious World Cup and Beat Saber League, individual country tournaments or the entirety of accsaber. If you want to go more in-depth on playstyles then the distinctions between acc/tech/speed/midspeed and concepts such as time dependency would also be great.

[@DatBisa]

You guys are deadass reading my mind. Love the channel already, and now while preparing for my imminent dive into VR you put out this? Serendipity some might say, I call it destiny.

[@dinosore_rs]

Beat Saber blew all my expectations of it out of the water on first playthrough. It’s a nice touch that the devs aren’t actively hunting down the modding community like _cough_ other larger corporations out there.

[@saquial]

Although it sometimes feels like they do, it’s a pain in the ass that even the smallest update breaks absolutely all mods.

[@moneyplsss]

@@saquial that's not on purpose, lately most updates haven't broken mods

[@mimixis]

Its been mentioned before but what would be more than awesome would be if you guys could highlight the fitness capabilities of these rhythm games... thats legit what 90% of players play these for.- Extreme high intensity cardio without feeling like cardio. You guys have the reach to put the word out there, that there is more to fitness than ust gymming and running on the treadmill. This is legit the future of many sports especially with AR on the rise! As a VR enthusiast, Thank you for this!!!

[@ShaolinPretzels]

For a while I was like, “it’s cool that they’re covering Beat Saber, but why?” Then we got to the esports league and it clicked for me. 😅

[@Sadeyo1]

As a retired PIU player, I always wanted to play Beat Saber. I can afford it, but my job has me so occupied all around the world I can't lug it. I have seen all the amazing mods and unique way to keep playing it that I know I'll enjoy it 24/7.

[@c_Railyn]

Beat Saber is really great, and I do love it, but the thing that made me look to other games is that it became harder and harder on my wrists as I kept getting better. The faster notes got, the more I found myself having to rely on flicking my wrists to hit them rather than moving my whole arms, and that was kind of counter to what I'd enjoyed about the game in the first place. Nowadays, I play Synth Riders way more than Beat Saber, but I do still boot up Beat Saber every so often. I just can't stay away forever.

[@Lacirev]

Beat saber is a big reason I bought VR, and it's the only thing I've played other than a few minutes into other stuff like superhot. Super worth and incredibly fun game.

[@meizufluxx]

I really wish you guys focused on the competitive aspect a bit more, especially considering this is an esports channel. There’s so much more to the community than the yearly tournaments. There’s a community leaderboard mod called ScoreSaber which has its own ranking system, and this is what keeps a lot of players, the players who will sink 100s of hours into the game, sometimes even 1000s, engaged and playing the game. I am glad that you guys touched on mods, as they are really what make the game what it is, since in my opinion the devs don’t really do all that much for the competitive community, and the OST +music packs have awful mapping.

[@moneyplsss]

facts

[@Akshonesports]

This was more of an intro video on the game itself. We’re taking a look into making a more competitive focused video in the future.

[@meizufluxx]

@@Akshonesports Glad to hear that!

[@onirem4973]

I still remember trying it out and enjoying the rave aesthetic back at SmashCon 2019. Ended up being my first purchase for my Index and I've dropped hundreds of hours since. Definitely worth it 👍

[@seraphin01]

this is simply one of my favorite games of all times up there with FF6 and the likes.. it's just that good. I didn't know there were a world cup of the game though, I'm so gonna check it out cos that game is SO much fun to play but it's actually a lot of fun to watch as well!

[@koisa8550]

Its a pretty tightknit community, especially if you join your national discord, easy to make friends with more local players

[@luxorgames7569]

Beat Saber just feels right to play

[@IEatFloor]

Don’t you love the Famous rhythm game “Oss”?

[@timothyprovost7573]

Im hooked. Tried it twice and cant get enough

[@skinnyjeens64]

As a professional beat saber player, I often see videos/articles about the surface level of what beat saber is. Hearing about its history was one thing but including the modding community AND EVEN the competitive community put a massive smile on my face. I am really glad that big competitions like BSL and the World Cup are finally able to get the attention then deserve. This was an absolutely awesome video y’all made and I really appreciate how deep y’all dived into what beat saber actually is. Check out CubeCommunity if you wanna see what top Beat Saber plays look like as well as the monthly highlights that really show what our community really is.

[@pyramidhead0420]

You should do some actual research into what happen to rock band and GH , the instruments are worth big big dollars now. Rock band 4 has still been going this entire time. Releasing 2 dlc songs every weeks for years now. Since nobody make the instruments anymore, the price goes up , up , up. Guitars are worth hundreds now, full sets go for a 1k and the right accessories go for multiple thousands

[@Gio_Panda]

OMG I am in this video :DDDD 11:10 casting with my man Connor! Thank you SO MUCH for bringing up the competitive community! 😭😭😭 Finally an outsider who talks about it. It's such an underappreciated scene, mostly because the game developers and publishers really don't have anything to do with it and can't really talk about it either. It's a real shame: the Beat Saber competitive community is a straight up miracle. Hundreds of people designing, programming, organising, modelling, mapping, composing, casting, coordinating, modding, all for absolutely free, fueled just by the passion they have for this game and its community. I really can't make it justice with a youtube comment, I haven't seen anything like that in any game ever.

[@fhjunior6183]

Thanks for the vid

[@egulio]

I used to play the game for 30 minutes everyweek at the library's vr set that you could rent. And after testing all the gamed I just stuck with beat saber. I've been wanting to get a vr set JUST to play the damn game now but haven't found the opportunity. (yes the library vr was shut down because of covid :(

[@TetraBui]

I refuse to believe that they used Dance rush footage to show DDR

[@tstsdrtsdrtsts]

fr, this channel usually has spotless editing, as someone who primarily plays rhythm games(and fighting games, that’s why i’m here), that hurt me a little.

[@Highlydangerous13]

I bought VR for this game. And it got my dad into Green Day.

[@ryvyr]

AudioShield long preceded BeatSaber, in the original Vive early days and able to play anything from SoundCloud and then KZbin with a scaling algorithm translating sound to interactive targets, and lost that options though can still turn video/audio on PC into scaling song - rather than need pay for specialized tracks from big artists. I still play now and then :>

[@XiGo1699]

Guitar hero back in the day used to be my go to Rhythm game. But as time and time has passed I’ve gotten bored sitting down and playing the plastic guitar. The day I picked up a quest 2 and bought the game I immediately feel in love with it. I went from hard to expert+ in just several months and has become one of my favorite vr games to play of 2022. My only wish is for them to finally bring us official custom sabers because stand alone quest users don’t have the power of modding

[@Yiffbait]

I dropped money for a headset just for this game.

[@unwono]

Great video!

[@deathgamer77]

hi unwono

[@evanmcandrew9166]

Even though I've modded my headset, I still find myself gravitating back to official OST packs and Artist packs simply because of the expert selection and creation of songs. Two newer packs, OST 5 and the Electronic Mixtape paid music pack, come to mind as having some of the best maps I've played. Also, especially once you get to more difficult songs, it starts to become quite the workout! It brings listening to music while working out to the next level.

[@faradise3819]

Awesome video.

[@Floffy22]

Yeaaahh beat saber!!

[@ricodo1244]

I think a problem beatsaber has is that 1. On quest modding is very tedious and 2. even if you mod on quest most custom songs have an awful map or really weird difficulties (mostly since the game doesn't have an algorithm to determine difficulty)

[@triadwarfare]

11:45 "headsets becoming more affordable..." ...err, about that...

[@EstablishedAxes]

As A beat saber player I really enjoyed this video and I think Beat saber is going to stay for a bit. Sadly I think we as the modding community have a limited number of players who will get old (much like bandoot) and cant play the game much anymore due to the lack of ability and the real worlds responsibilities. I would like to say beat saber will stay but without drastic changes from Meta that will bring in a bunch of new players, some of which will mod, then I think we will die out in around 5-7 years

[@otgontugserdenee7121]

Just discovered y'all. Love how u guys explain things, how I can put my phone while working and listen is Wonderful. Have a good holiday and I will be digging into y'all's videos.

[@SjaakSchulteis]

I tried the first Beat Saber demo on my old Quest. Then I liked it so much, I bought it. When I wanted different sons and maps than those that were offered officially I installed modded versions of Beatsaber on my Quest. This didn't work always very well and so I stopped doing that. Then I had an illegal copy of the steam version. That gave the possibility to add custom songs without much fuzz. So I bought it on Steam. A few weeks ago I bought the Pico 4 and tried to play Beatsaber on steam with it. Unfortunately it was lagging too much. And to my question how Beatsaber in the Oculus store (PCVR) was compared to the Steam version, nobody could give me an answer. So I decided to try it out. Turns out that I finally found the version that works best. With the Oculus/Rift version one can use the purchased songs from the Quest version and add custom songs in one game without any hassles. And.... it looks better too. What I like about beatsaber is that you don't need to play one hour in a row, but can choose between many songs. The maps have greatly improved over the last three years. And though I am not one of the best players (I'm 65 now), I do play most songs in expert. It is a great workout and with the right music a blast to play. I don't play it every day though... just about 3 times a week. That's enough for me.

[@Sugarist0]

VR being dominated by rhythm games may be due to the fact that we aren’t capable of developing huge open world/multiplayer games. Imagine the SAO world being developed (ofc to a less extreme extent where people won’t actually die), that game would probably sell super hard for people who play vr

[@stanleychen2584]

just like osu, beat saber’s definitely staying imo. they got the same formula down just gotta keep it going

[@lemon-ity]

I am second truly one of the moments ever of my life

[@JpCarranza1610]

*best*? Lol

[@steel5897]

Played this game for 500 hours and it's just painful right now, I'm too good to have fun with slower maps but my body is too weak to keep up with the faster ones due to stamina. This game is basically a sport, not even an e-sport, straight up a sport, and young people who are fit will do way better at it when you get to the higher levels of play.

[@dragonclaw4159]

Beat saber looks freaking cool. I can't play it because I don't have a vr headset, but I want to.

[@djcranejr.3045]

Beat Saber is a testimony for the capabilities of the human brain, maybe even the body.

[@montybowman6245]

is there going to be more overwatch league microplays?

[@Bantalope]

Good vid for the mostpart! However the editing isn't really doing it justice for this one. Keeps showing incorrect gameplay, credits, showing different tournaments from different organisers while discussing one etc. If you do decide to have a look into the games competitive scene more then me and others will be more than willing to help out. :)

[@thebeast9869]

Beat Saber is the tetris of gameboy every vr headset you will be buying beat saber

[@armorbearer9702]

Did Beat Saber ever partner with any family entertainment centers? It would be great way to advertise the game if it was playable at Chuck E Cheese.

[@wondrus_slime3167]

I recommend the moding scene in contractors vr

[@DangerDurians]

With how active playing beatsaber is, I don’t know if it should be consider an E sport Or if it’s something closer to a sport Or tech sport?

[@Zipperlepsy]

1:23 You guys mention DDR but shows Dancerush Stardom. Same makers but two completely different games.

[@a_randomdev]

gave me carpal tunnel 10/10

[@Isaax]

>VR technology has been improving at an astounding rate No! It has not, truly. I mean, if you talk about individual tech being developed in a lab, then yes, we've made leaps and bounds, but even headsets that come with those features are lacking in other areas or have a watered down version of it. In general, the pace at which boundary breaking new headsets come out has slowed to an absolute crawl, and 3 years after launch the Valve Index is still the overall best consumer PCVR headset you can get (and btw also the best one to play Beat Saber with for a few reasons) which is ridiculous for such an immature technology that you would expect to rapidly evolve in this stage. But no, there is no financial incentive, even with many Quests sold, no real AAA games are being made, everything that tries it fails horribly, the only real AAA game is Half Life Alyx, and then you have some more indie gems, and that's really it Sorry for semi-unrelated rant

[@koisa8550]

Quest 2

[@Victini0510]

You sound very uninformed on VR if you think HLA is the only AAA game or that other games are just small indie titles lol

[@Isaax]

@@Victini0510 That's rich! I've been into VR since before 2019 and started using VR headsets regularly since January 2019. I've played through Half Life Alyx about 4 times, 3 times through Boneworks, twice through Bonelab, I have over 200 hours in Beat Saber, almost a thousand on VRChat, 200 on Pavlov, and so on and so forth, tried other games here and there. HLA is the ONLY triple A game, with a triple A budget, triple A graphics, presentation, story progression, polish, you name it. That is not to say that other games aren't as good or even better, HLA isn't my favourite VR game even despite it being the only triple A game, but we define AAA as games made by big studios with deep pockets and large teams working on the product to make a high profile title. No one has invested enough money into a title in the way Valve did to make one grand game like we see with flat games all the time. If you seriously think the likes of Skyrim VR or Hitman VR are "triple" A, then you're delusional or have never played them. They're cheap ports done by smaller teams within bigger studios that don't know shit from fuck when it comes to VR game design, unlike SLZ, who actually understand VR, which is why Boneworks, for example, is still a better game than HLA in my eyes, even if it's clearly faaar far from triple A. VRChat is a glorified tech demo, Pavlov is a good shooter game with little polish elsewhere, Beat Saber is, well, Beat Saber, and even games like Blade & Sorcery - while absolutely fantastic, can simply not be called AAA. Saints and Sinners falls in to a similar category, terrific and fun game, but not AAA (though clearly still higher budget that most others, and I hope the sequel can built on top of that). Make no mistake to think that I believe that games are bad if they're not triple A, I am merely arguing that the only game that truly qualifies as triple A for VR as of right now is HLA. And yes, almost everything else IS small indie. Even Beat Saber was indie, though I guess you can't say that anymore after the facebook purchase. StressLevelZero, probably the highest regarded VR studio at the moment, is also still indie. Unless you define an indie game as something developed literally by a guy or tiny group in their basement. It's just a matter of definitions, and if you want to judge VR for what it is right now against flat games, then this is just how it is

[@sh0ker]

@@Victini0510 maybe instead of just dismissing his opinion, give us an example of another AAA VR game because I don't know any either

[@jerichohasfun]

You saying osu! Like that hurts me but I am not confident enough that I am correct to be mad.

[@dinosore_rs]

OUS

[@HornetVirtualReality]

banger video

[@Joka-qm9qe]

Bro said os instead of Osu that killed me mate

[@TrickyJebus]

what about Mobile Rhythm Gaming esports??? dont look down on mobile gaming when it comes to rhythm games. no im not talking about tap tap revenge. there are so many quality rhythm games in this platform that have their own dedicated community and competitions. games like: Arcaea, Lanota, Deemo, Cytus, Voez, DanceRail3, etc...

[@Junniebug]

gigachad beck

[@axeldenvon]

Theeerd

[@VoltiXHD2]

I wouldn't say it's the best vr game, best rhythm vr game sure. There is way better out there

[@HaHaBIah]

Beat Saber: The only rythm game I enjoyed

[@hulkman245]

It definitely ain't mainstream

[@WorldWide3strada]

EEE

[@moneyplsss]

you guys chose the worst possible clips for beat saber...

[@deathgamer77]

fr, can't blame them tho cuz if ur not in the community, the good and impressive plays are always not known to the mainstream same for the entire challenge community, its just sadly unpopular

[@moneyplsss]

@@deathgamer77 true, but you could always just ask someone

[@deathgamer77]

@@moneyplsss yeah, I just realized the pinned comment, I might help them out if they need some help, because I'm strongly inside of the challenge community

[@deathgamer77]

(funny I only saw ranked players or people in the ranked community replying to the comment)

[@DelectableDays]

Lmao it wasn’t beat saber it was VR Chat that made vr truly mainstream. No one is buying a VR headset to play beat saber these days, I assure you.