What a disappointment. The Galaxy S8 will not be compatible to Daydream VR out of the box but will force owners to use the GearVR if they would like to enjoy mobile Virtual Reality.

Galaxy S8 owners won’t be able to run Daydream VR which would give them access to platform exclusive titles like for example the YouTube VR app or Need For Speed No Limits, among lots of other platform exclusives.

As VR Nerds reports, trying to install the Daydream app on the Galaxy S8 will result in an error message that states “a compatible version is missing”, making it impossible to run Daydream VR on the Galaxy S8.

Now once it is possible to root the phone, users will be able to hack Daydream onto the Galaxy S8. However, that might take months to happen and not everyone is willing to root their phone and edit the system files in order to make their S8 compatible to Daydream VR.

The reasons that made Samsung not support Daydream VR on the Galaxy S8 can only be speculated about. One thing is for sure though, this is not a move in the best interest of the consumers. The Galaxy S8 could have been THE VR phone to go for if it would have supported both, Daydream VR and GearVR. Unfortunately, Samsung has missed this opportunity but instead opted to build a walled garden around their VR offering.

The lines have been drawn, the mobile VR war is on. Who will succeed? Google with Daydream VR and its open approach, allowing any Android phone manufacturer to build Daydream-Ready phones, or Samsung with GearVR, the smartphone market leader with its walled-garden approach, selling hundred millions of Galaxy devices each year?