Steam News22 June 20262mo ago

Playtest Paused — Play Now at vr-realms.com

Playtest Paused on Steam We've had to turn off the Steam playtest for now. Unfortunately, Steam does not allow playtests to use Workshop items — and Workshop is a core part of the VR Realms experience.

In this update10

Full notes

Full VR Realms update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

1 fix1 addition5 changes0 removals

Workshop
Performance
UI and audio

changedPlaytest Paused on SteamWe've had to turn off the Steam playtest for now. Unfortunately, Steam does not allow playtests to use Workshop items — and Workshop is a core part of the VR Realms experience. Until the base game is released on Steam, we can't offer the full playtest through this platform.

changedCreator Kit v0.2 — Unreal-Native Publishing — Jun 11, 2026The separate publishing app is gone. Publishing tools are now built straight into the Unreal editor (Tools → VR Realms Workshop). One button checks your map or avatar, moves files into place, fixes avatar skeleton setup automatically, then cooks and uploads to Steam. Avatars with extra bones (eyes, jaw, hair, tails) are now supported, meaning far more store-bought characters work out of the box.

changedCreator Pipeline Verified End-to-End — Jun 5, 2026The full Workshop creator pipeline is now verified in-game. Build a map or avatar in the Creator Kit, publish it in a couple of clicks, and it downloads and appears correctly for players. Custom avatars animate with full-body IK, and custom maps load with everyone in your session brought along.

changedSpatial Voice Chat in the Hub — May 26, 2026Spatial voice chat is now live in the persistent hub — previously it only worked inside community-hosted sessions. Also fixed a crash that could happen when rejoining a session you had just left.

fixedCommunity Session Hosting — May 25, 2026Players can now host any Workshop map and have friends join over Steam — no port forwarding required, with NAT-friendly peer-to-peer connections. Also fixed a rare crash when leaving a community session.

changedFriends, Invites & Safer Quitting — May 23, 2026Friends system is live: see who's online, invite them to your session, or join theirs. Steam invites work even if your friend doesn't own VR Realms yet. Invite popups appear in-headset so you never have to break out of VR. The Quit button now hands off the session when you're the host, so leaving doesn't kill the world for everyone else.

VR Realms changes

changedWe've had to turn off the Steam playtest for now. Unfortunately, Steam does not allow playtests to use Workshop items — and Workshop is a core part of the VR Realms experience. Until the base game is released on Steam, we can't offer the full playtest through this platform.

changedThe separate publishing app is gone. Publishing tools are now built straight into the Unreal editor (Tools → VR Realms Workshop). One button checks your map or avatar, moves files into place, fixes avatar skeleton setup automatically, then cooks and uploads to Steam. Avatars with extra bones (eyes, jaw, hair, tails) are now supported, meaning far more store-bought characters work out of the box.

changedThe full Workshop creator pipeline is now verified in-game. Build a map or avatar in the Creator Kit, publish it in a couple of clicks, and it downloads and appears correctly for players. Custom avatars animate with full-body IK, and custom maps load with everyone in your session brought along.

changedSpatial voice chat is now live in the persistent hub — previously it only worked inside community-hosted sessions. Also fixed a crash that could happen when rejoining a session you had just left.

fixedPlayers can now host any Workshop map and have friends join over Steam — no port forwarding required, with NAT-friendly peer-to-peer connections. Also fixed a rare crash when leaving a community session.

Playtest Paused on Steam

We've had to turn off the Steam playtest for now. Unfortunately, Steam does not allow playtests to use Workshop items — and Workshop is a core part of the VR Realms experience. Until the base game is released on Steam, we can't offer the full playtest through this platform.

The good news: you can still play right now! Head to www.vr-realms.com for more information and to jump straight in.

Where the Game Is At

Here's a summary of where development stands as of June 2026:

Full-Body Tracking Avatar — Jun 20, 2026

Full-body tracking is in early testing. SteamVR waist and foot trackers now drive the legs and hips with IK, on top of the existing head and hand tracking. Early feedback has been really positive on how smooth it feels. It's fully optional — standard 3-point setups (headset + two controllers, e.g. Quest) play exactly as before. Still dialing in knee and foot alignment before a wider rollout.

Creator Kit v0.2 — Unreal-Native Publishing — Jun 11, 2026

The separate publishing app is gone. Publishing tools are now built straight into the Unreal editor (Tools → VR Realms Workshop). One button checks your map or avatar, moves files into place, fixes avatar skeleton setup automatically, then cooks and uploads to Steam. Avatars with extra bones (eyes, jaw, hair, tails) are now supported, meaning far more store-bought characters work out of the box.

Creator Pipeline Verified End-to-End — Jun 5, 2026

The full Workshop creator pipeline is now verified in-game. Build a map or avatar in the Creator Kit, publish it in a couple of clicks, and it downloads and appears correctly for players. Custom avatars animate with full-body IK, and custom maps load with everyone in your session brought along.

Spatial Voice Chat in the Hub — May 26, 2026

Spatial voice chat is now live in the persistent hub — previously it only worked inside community-hosted sessions. Also fixed a crash that could happen when rejoining a session you had just left.

Community Session Hosting — May 25, 2026

Players can now host any Workshop map and have friends join over Steam — no port forwarding required, with NAT-friendly peer-to-peer connections. Also fixed a rare crash when leaving a community session.

Friends, Invites & Safer Quitting — May 23, 2026

Friends system is live: see who's online, invite them to your session, or join theirs. Steam invites work even if your friend doesn't own VR Realms yet. Invite popups appear in-headset so you never have to break out of VR. The Quit button now hands off the session when you're the host, so leaving doesn't kill the world for everyone else.

Workshop Avatars v1 — May 22, 2026

First version of the avatar pipeline shipped. Subscribe to a Workshop avatar on Steam, equip it from the in-game menu, and full-body IK picks up the new mesh automatically. Your choice persists across sessions.

Project Restarted from Scratch — May 17, 2026

After the previous build hit a corrupted save, we restarted the project from scratch with every lesson from the old codebase baked in from day one — cleaner foundations, faster iteration, fewer dead ends to debug.

Source

Steam News / 22 June 2026

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