SteamVR

SteamVR is a virtual reality hardware and software platform developed by Valve, with a focus on allowing "room-scale" experiences using positional tracking base stations, as opposed to those requiring the player to stay in a singular location. SteamVR was first introduced for the Oculus Rift headset in 2014, and later expanded to support other virtual reality headsets, such as the HTC Vive and Valve Index. SteamVR was originally released for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Since then, Valve has dropped macOS support for SteamVR in May 2020 but has continued support for Windows and Linux.
As of February 22, 2022, there were over 2.93 million monthly connected headsets on Steam.
Hardware
The first device to support SteamVR was the Oculus Rift headset. Valve issued an update to the Steam client in 2014 supporting an experimental VR mode for the first time, with the Oculus Rift being the only supported headset at the time.
The first device to support room-scale tracking in SteamVR was the HTC Vive, designed in collaboration between Valve and HTC.
Multiple types of controllers and accessories are compatible with SteamVR.
Software
OpenVR was the original software development kit (SDK) and application programming interface (API) developed by Valve for supporting SteamVR. SteamVR has supported OpenXR alongside OpenVR since 2020, encouraging developers to transition from OpenVR to OpenXR. The Unity Engine has supported SteamVR via OpenXR since one of its 2020 releases.
The SteamVR APIs and runtimes provide support for VR head mounted displays and accessories to a standard desktop computer. SteamVR typically operates from within , but it does not require the service to work at a basic level. Video games can be developed and played with SteamVR without having to access the steam store.
Room Scale VR
One of the primary contributions of SteamVR to the VR industry was Room Scale VR, or 6DOF VR. To accomplish this, SteamVR uses the Lighthouse tracking system for pose tracking.
The lighthouse system uses base stations that are placed at opposite sides of the room. The base stations send out infra-red light sweeps which are detected by the headset, controllers, and accessories at multiple sensor points on each object. Based on the exact timing data of when the light is detected at different parts of the tracked objects, a tracked object can determine its within the tracked area. The system was codeveloped by Valve and HTC and then opened up to third party hardware developers in 2016.

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