(Image credit: Oculus)

It's a close split, but VR developers are apparently now spending more time and energy developing projects for the Oculus Rift than they are for the HTC Vive, according to a new report. The authors says this trend represents a "shift in platform preference."

XRDC just published its fourth annual AR/VR Innovation Report. It contains survey responses from more than 900 professionals involved in the development of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality experiences.

For the first three years that this report has been put out, respondents indicated a preference for the Vive, one of the best VR headsets, based on the number of projects they were committing to the various VR platforms. However, the Rift has now emerged as the most popular at 29 percent, followed by the Oculus Quest and Vive both tied for second place at 24 percent.

"This is a big deal: the HTC Vive has been the most popular platform among devs surveyed for the Innovation Report for three years running, but this year it seems like Oculus has managed to recapture some creators’ interest," XRDC says.

Looking ahead, 30 percent of respondents said their next AV/VR/MR project will release on the Rift, followed by the Quest at 28 percent and the Vive at 24 percent.

We don't want to read too much into this—the Vive is not dead by any means—but it is interesting to see where developers are focusing their efforts the most. Right now it's the Rift.

It's also interesting to see the Quest rise in popularity so quickly. Unlike the Rift and Vive, the Quest is wireless headset that does not draw its computing power from a PC. In our review of the Quest, we found it to be an "excellent value proposition," particularly if you don't want to go whole hog on something like the Vive Pro or Valve Index.