Oculus founder Palmer Luckey thinks 30 frames per second is 'a failure'

Developers offer plenty of reasons for 30 frames per second in blockbuster games, but Palmer Luckey isn't having a bar of it.

Developers offer plenty of reasons for 30 frames per second in blockbuster games, but Palmer Luckey isn't having a bar of it. According to the Oculus Rift founder not only is it inexcusable in virtual reality, but even consoles and onscreen PC games shouldn't be let off the hook.

“For VR you need much higher frame rate than you need on a typical screen,” Luckey told LinusTechTips. “60 frames per second is definitely enough. You see huge improvements up to 90 and 120hz, and even beyond that you can see small improvements."

While 60 frames per second is sufficient, Luckey thinks much higher frame rates will become the norm for VR gaming. "Virtual reality is going to need much higher frame rates than consoles," he said. "Although even for consoles or traditional PC games I don't think 30 frames per second is smart. It's not a good artistic decision, it's a failure.”

“I think that you see diminishing returns between 90 and 120 hz, so In the foreseeable VR is going to end up somewhere in that range.”

Oculus's Brendan Iribe made similar comments on resolution last year, with the suggestion that higher visual fidelity will offset motion sickness.“There are a lot of challenges, like resolution, it's a big one on the current dev kit. You can't imagine what it's going to look like when it's 4K, and it's not far away. It's not now, but it's coming,” he said.

We spoke to Naughty Dog co-founder Nate Mitchelllast week at E3. He's recently joined Oculus and has some interesting things to say about the company's renewed focus on VR content.