Facebook is riding high on the success of its Oculus Quest 2 standalone VR headset – so much so that it's already been talking about a successor to the device.
But a recent online chat between two key Oculus executives suggest it'll be a while yet until we see a new VR headset from Oculus – and that it's more likely to be an incremental 'Oculus Quest 2 Pro' upgrade rather than a full on Oculus Quest 3 follow-up.
"There isn’t a Quest 3, there’s only a Quest 2," said Vice President Andrew Bosworth in conversation with Consulting Technical Officer John Carmack.
"But I did hint at an AMA earlier this year about Quest Pro because we do have a lot of things in development where we want to introduce new functionality to the headset along the kinds that people theorize that we would want to introduce, and that’s a little ways off still.
"It’s still not gonna happen this year. For those who are curious, Quest 2 is going to be in the market for a while – for a long while, and it’s gonna be, you know, I think the best bet for the most accessible way to get into VR and have a great experience."
- Check out our Oculus Quest 2 review
- Everything we know about Oculus Quest 3
- The best Oculus Quest 2 games in 2021
Quest 2 success decisions
As Oculus's hardware progresses, developers are also having to choose where to focus their efforts. So far, all Oculus Quest software has supported both the first generation of the hardware and the second. But the recent unveiling of Resident Evil 4 VR is the first game that will be exclusive to the higher-powered Oculus Quest 2. The argument over whether to push for higher-fidelity experiences or chase the money of the wider install base is another topic the pair discussed.
"I’m supportive of Quest 2-only exclusives, but I think that if a developer is doing something to, you know, make money there’s still a pretty substantial market there in Quest 1 users," said Carmack.
"I expect the incentives to be for developers to support Quest 1, absolutely, and to your point, we don’t think it’s too expensive to do that," added Bosworth.
"You are unlocking, you know, seven figures of additional users who could potentially buy your software — which is a pretty good deal when you can get it. So the formal answer is that we may eventually allow developers who have really high end apps to target Quest 2 alone, but our very strong recommendation is to support both and that’s actually what we expect to have happen based on historical norms.”
The aim, it seems, is to allow games to be developed over two tiers – one targeting older hardware and one pushing the envelope with newer and upcoming devices. With the Oculus Quest 2 seemingly significantly outselling its predecessor however, it seems it won't be long until the audience tips in the favour of Quest 2 (and above) exclusives.
Via Upload VR
