The XR Week Peek (2021.02.08): Quest 2 ecosystem is profitable, App Lab launched, and more!

This week has been pretty amazing for my blog. I have hosted two great interviews I am very proud of: one with the CEO of HaptX about the new haptic gloves his company has delivered; and the other one with the CEO of Happy Giant with some exclusive news and footage of the upcoming “Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual!”. If you missed them, take some time to read them, because they are very interesting!
 
And after that, come back here, because there are the most important pieces of AR/VR news of the week we have to talk about.

Top news of the week

Oculus Quest 2 keeps showing impressive sales stats

Last week we talked about how the Quest 2 sold particularly well, and this week, well… we talk about the same topic because Facebook has shared new info about it.
 
With a new post on its blog, Facebook has shared some more statistics on the games published on its store, and they are quite impressive: 60 titles have generated revenues superior to $1M on the Quest store, and 6 are above the $10M mark. Among these top-selling games, there are also titles that have just launched, like Population One. And many of these revenues come from the launch of the Quest 2: almost all developers claim a big jump in the number of users after its release. For instance, SuperNatural and Resolution Games saw a 5x increment of users on their platform, while Tetris Effect and Synth Riders a 3x one. Carbon Studio has been able to reach the target of 200K copies of The Wizards sold thanks to it. The Quest 2, thanks to its affordable price, has brought many new people to VR.
 
Of course, the king of revenues still is Beat Saber, VR’s real killer app. Facebook has revealed that the game has sold more than 4 million copies of the game, and more than 40M songs as DLCs. Making a rough count of the possible income, Road To VR estimated a total revenue of around $180M for the game. This is impressive for a rather simple game with an original team made by only 3 people. It is probably also the first game going beyond the $100M mark. I have to make my kudos to Tipatat Chennavasin, a popular VR investor, that this time last year forecasted that in 12 months we would have had the first game crossing the $100M revenue. His forecast was straight on point.
 
The sales of Quest 2 have brought new users and so fresh money to VR. But how much has it sold? Of course, it is not clear: last week I reported how many journalists tried to estimate it and the results were around 1–1.5M units. This week, SuperData in its quarterly report, stated that the sales were around 1M+ units. But Rec Room CEO has tweeted that his social VR app gained 1M of new users alone, so probably the number of sold Quest 2 is much higher, he thinks around 3M. So the range is surely 1–3M.
 
SuperData figure is pretty conservative, but it is interesting to notice the relative values of the Quest 2 compared to the ones of the other headsets. If it is conservative with the sales of all headsets, the proportion between the numbers should be more or less correct. And the result is that, according to SuperData, in Q4 2021 the Quest has sold 3x units than all the other headsets combined. From this, you can get how this headset is becoming huge.
 
On Steam, VR users have finally passed the 2% of total gamers, and you can guess what has been the headset making the biggest jump: yes, the Quest 2. It is now the most used headset after the Rift S. Thanks to this, Facebook now controls more than 56% of the SteamVR market.
 
Kudos to Facebook for having found the formula to increment the adoption of VR. But I really hope that someone else joins the match. Because all these numbers smell of monopoly: if this is the trend, we risk that by the end of the year, Facebook controls 99% of the consumer standalone market and 75% of the PC VR market, giving it too much power. Monopolies are never good for consumers, and we need a competitor to show up. Someone from a major company (Amazon, Apple, Microsoft), with pockets big enough to be able to compete with the rich Facebook, giving users an alternative and stimulating Facebook in doing even better. Please someone come and help the VR ecosystem.

More info (Facebook’s official post on games’ sales)
More info (Some of the games earning more than $1M)
More info (Beat Saber selling 4M copies)
More info (Tipatat’s prediction of $100M revenue in gaming)
More info (Road To VR’s collection of indicators on the VR market)
More info (SuperData’s quarterly report)
More info (RecRoom CEO inferring 3M Quest 2 units sold)
More info (Steam Hardware Survey — Road To VR)
More info (Steam Hardware Survey — Upload VR)
More info (Resolution Games talks about its increase of number of users)
More info (Tetris Effect’s creator talks about its increase of number of users)
More info (The Wizards sold 200K units)

Other relevant news

Facebook launches App Lab, its new distribution platform

In the end, Boz was right, and Facebook has launched its new content distribution platform for all content that has not been approved for the Quest 2. It is called App Lab, and it works this way:

• You create your content and submit it for the Quest App Lab. All content for Quest will be submitted this way from now on;
• If the content gets miraculously approved (very improbable), you get published on the official Oculus Store;
• Otherwise, if it doesn’t get approved but still adheres to Oculus Content Guidelines, and passes some basic quality checks, your content earns a page on the Oculus Store, but it will be unlisted. It becomes so part of App Lab.

It is like with Youtube unlisted videos: they are on Youtube, have all the features of other content, but unless you have a direct link you can’t access them.
 
App Lab brings many advantages. Since the game works through the Oculus Store, it can exploit all the features of the Oculus SDK (e.g. Oculus Avatars), plus the features of the store (e.g. easy updates). Furthermore, to install a game that is on App Lab, people have just to access the link of the unlisted store page and click on the “buy” button: there will be no more need for sideloading, developer mode activation, etc… everything will be much easier for the user. The developer wanting to promote its content must just share its store link (or the exact name) to everyone and that’s it. Easy peasy.
 
The disadvantage of App Lab is that it brings more content curation. Sidequest was completely free of control, while on App Lab you have to adhere to Oculus guidelines. And this means for instance no content on gambling and no porn. It’s Facebook’s way to put more control on what is happening on its platform. Furthermore, while the submission on SideQuest required 1–2 days for approval, on App Lab it may take up to 5 weeks. Not to mention the fact that it sounds a bit like a joke: you must wait 5 weeks to have a store page that no one can see. This doesn’t help indie developers that much.
 
John Carmack has also clarified that App Lab is not a sure way to enter the Oculus Store. For sure Facebook will check the stats of the games published there, but a successful game on App Lab is not guaranteed to be published on the official store.
 
Facebook has to re-think its content publication strategy: App Lab is a good first step in this sense, but it is not enough. It is news of this week that the content lineup for Quest is full until 2022: FRL people can handle just a certain number of games per week, and they have filled all the slots until the end of the year. So if I create the new Beat Saber today, I can’t publish it on the store until 2022… and the only store I can use is App Lab, which requires me 1 month to have just an unlisted link to share somehow with people. This is a joke, and as an indie developer, I suggest Facebook do something to change this situation.
 
You may wonder what will happen to SideQuest: SideQuest and Facebook worked together these months, and SideQuest has just created a new section for App Lab apps. If a game has been submitted through an APK, the process will be the same as before, otherwise, if it is an App Lab link, the page will just contain the link to the Oculus Store from which the game can be installed. SideQuest will so become the search engine for all the App Lab unlisted content, something that will help a lot all the indies that have published their games on App Lab.
 
SideQuest people are happy about this, but I would be careful. Facebook has shown us that it is very good in slowly taking control of stuff (Palmer knows this very well), and App Lab may be the first step to create a new ecosystem for indies that bypasses SideQuest. Consider that all indies will try to publish on App Lab now because it is easier to use and offers more possibilities than the standard sideloading method. If everyone uses App Lab, always fewer people will set up developer mode to try indie apps, and always fewer people will so be able to install APKs. This means that before the end of the year, probably all the Quest content (with the exception of porn) will go through the Quest Store in one way or the other, reducing the importance of SideQuest, and killing sideloading in general. At that point, I think phase 2 will start, whatever it will be.

More info (App Lab’s Official launch blog post)
More info (App Lab on Road To VR)
More info (John Carmack on App Lab)
More info (How to install content from App Lab)
More info (How to create and submit content for App Lab)
More info (What App Lab means for SideQuest)
More info (SideQuest confirming the support for APK and sideloading)
More info (Oculus lineup filled until 2022)

Apple rumored to release a VR headset worth $3000

Another week, another rumor about Apple’s XR plans. At the beginning of the past week, MacRumors published an article stating that Apple is working on a VR headset that is more expensive than the Quest, with the cost being above $500, and the expected release date of Q1 2022.
 
Then, some days after, The Information published a report about a VR headset by Apple that should have:

• Sleek curved design;
• 8K per-eye resolution;
• Foveated rendering thanks to eye-tracking;
• Integrated audio;
• Passthrough AR features;
• More than 12 cameras in total;

For the affordable price of $3000.

According to the sources, this headset should be targeted at prosumers and Apple is not expecting to sell many units. It should be the first part of the plan that will lead to the release of affordable and thin Apple AR glasses.
 
Personally, I don’t know what to think about it. It sounds a bit absurd to me, also considering the fact that Apple has always declared not to be interested in VR. So, either they are creating a device for the niche of professional content creators (e.g. 3D artists) that typically work with Apple devices, or this news is just about an internal prototype.
 
When I interviewed Robert Scoble, he told me that Apple is working on at least 19 different prototypes of XR devices, and this may just be one of them, of the experiments that will never see the light. So do not trust any of these rumors about Apple until we have more solid info about them.

More info (MacRumors about a VR headset by Apple)
More info (New rumored headset worth $3000)

Magic Leap Two is coming at the end of the year

At the end of 2021, we will discover what will be the fate of Magic Leap. Peggy Johnson, the new CEO of the company, has just revealed that in Q4 2021 will start the early access to the second iteration of the device, promising it to be:

• 50% smaller
• 20% lighter
• With a 100% larger field of view.

The last point is the most interesting: most probably they won’t duplicate 2x the horizontal and vertical FOV, but they will duplicate the overall area, a trick similar to what Microsoft did with Hololens 2. If it is the case, the resulting FOV will still be pretty small: according to Road To VR, it may be around 55° horizontal.
 
I’m curious to see what the new CEO has brought to the company: I want to see what will be the features of this device, and especially the related services. Magic Leap must compete with Microsoft, which has a long expertise in B2B, and that thanks to Azure can offer many services attached to the HoloLens 2. I think we’ll discover it at the end of the year… I’m not very confident, honestly, but I hope to be wrong.

More info

News worth a mention

Oculus Quest updates to runtime v25

Facebook is rolling out the runtime v25 for Oculus Quest, bringing Facebook Messenger on the platform. You’ll be able to communicate with your friends by just typing messages in Messenger and even invite them to play from there.
 
There are also improvements with the Guardian, Passthrough Shortcut has become an official feature and there is now support for Bluetooth mice. All welcome features for Quest users.

More info (Quest v25 update)
More info (Messenger now on Quest)

Tiltbrush now multiplayer and AR-compatible

The community has not stopped working on TiltBrush, the popular VR drawing app that has been open-sourced by Google.
 
Highlights from this week are a multiplayer version now (finally!) available on SideQuest, and an AR version compatible with Hololens 2.
 
I really love what the community is doing, and I hope that this won’t stop after this initial hype.

More info (TiltBrush multiplayer)
More info (TiltBrush in AR)

Fable Studio’s Lucy attended the Sundance Festival

The Sundance Festival 2021 was all digital and this made possible the participation of a special guest: Fable’s Studio Lucy.
 
Lucy is a digital intelligent avatar (she was the main character of Wolves In The Walls, do you remember her?) and she participated in the Zoom calls of the festival, exactly as all the other participants. It is interesting because what should be “a product” to showcase was instead a participant in the festival.
 
Digital beings are slowly coming, and in the far future, they will mix with real humans in all the activities that will happen in the metaverse.

More info

Galea from OpenBCI will work with the Valve Index

Probably we have understood why Gabe Newell was creating all that hype around BCIs. It is known that OpenBCI was working with Valve, but now it seems that its upcoming brain-computer interface device, dubbed Galea, will also include eye-tracking provided by Tobii and “incorporate design elements from Valve Index”. The release date for the devkits is expected to be in the first part of 2022.
 
It may be that Galea can be an accessory of the Valve Index, or even more, that Valve will release a Valve Index with eye-tracking and BCIs for prosumers next year. This would explain why Gabe Newell is providing all these statements on BCIs: he wants to raise interest towards the next device he’s launching.

More info

The VR community goes to Clubhouse

Clubhouse is the social media of the moment: if you don’t know about it, is a platform where you can create rooms to discuss with other people, and everything happens by voice. At the moment it is only iOS-compatible and you can join only via an invite, but given its enormous success, I guess it will release an Android version soon.
 
Many esteemed VR voices have already joined Clubhouse and started talking about AR and VR in some rooms. The community is trying and appreciating this new social medium. Even Mark Zuckerberg has gone there to talk about the future of immersive realities and the work he’s doing with them.
 
I don’t know if Clubhouse is here to stay or if it is only a momentary hype, but for sure, if you have an iPhone, it is worth checking it out.

More info (Some XR community members meeting on Clubhouse)
More info (Mark Zuckerberg talking on Clubhouse)

HoloLens 2 Industrial edition costs $4950

Last week we talked about Microsoft HoloLens Industrial Edition, and this week we have some new info about it.
 
This edition meets the “clean room compatible” standard, with an ISO 14644–1 Class 5–8 rating, as well as the “Intrinsic safety” standard, with a UL Class I, Division 2 rating.
 It also offers a two-year warranty for the device and a ‘Rapid Replacement Program’, to speed up the replacement of broken parts.
 
All these new features come for a cost: the headset’s price becomes $4950, even higher than before (even if still cheaper than a Canon HMD).
 
A little curiosity: as César Berardini made me notice, the headset is compatible with clean rooms, but its carrying case is not… so I guess you have to take it there by hand…

More info (HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition)
More info (HoloLens 2 Industrial Edition Carrying Case)

Some news on content

• Steam Games Festival lets you try for free some of the most awaited VR games of 2021!
• Upload VR had reviewed Contractors on Oculus Quest and found it funny, even if its graphics are pretty bad;
• Relaxing world-building game Wind & Leaves is due out on PSVR in Spring 2021;
• Tinker is an original and moving experience on Oculus Quest showcased at Sundance, where you slowly see your grandfather become old and suffer from some form of mental problems;
• Wolfenstein 3D Now Available On Oculus Quest With QuestZDoom;
• Catan has finally arrived on Quest and Quest 2!
• MaskMaker, the promising game from the creators of A Fisherman’s Tale, is coming on April, 20th. Upload VR has gone hands-on with it, and liked it a lot: it is a MetroidVania game where you can impersonate people by wearing a mask related to their face;
• Toss looks like a nice VR indie game where you can jump as if you are a monkey. Return to Monke, reject humanity 🙂

More info (Steam Games Festival 2021)
More info (Contractors for Oculus Quest)
More info (Wind & Leaves)
More info (Tinker)
More info (Wolfenstein 3D on Quest)
More info (Catan on Quest)
More info (MaskMaker release date)
More info (MaskMaker hands-on)
More info (TOSS)

News from partners (and friends)

UK-based Immerse is a top enterprise VR software leader whose license revenues have skyrocketed more than 300% in just the last 12 months. Two great people have joined its U.S. office: XR tech futurist, Cathy Hackl, as a global strategic advisor, and Johnathan Sutherlin, an XR/VR/AR business expert as a business development manager.
 
We all know Cathy Hackl: she’s not only very smart, but also very kind, and I wish her the best of luck for this venture.
 
It is also interesting for me to read the name of Johnathan Sutherlin. He is probably the first person that has interviewed me: it was 2016, and he was a member of Quad7Computers, and I was at Immotionar. I remember his great passion, and I’m really glad to read that he’s making a great career in XR.
 
Good luck, Cathy, Johnathan, and Immerse!

Learn more

VR visualization solution The Wild is organizing a series of webinars. This month, on the 17th, AJ Lightheart will “walk through how easy it is to adopt VR/AR for your team to save time, design smarter, and collaborate from anywhere. He’ll give a start-to-finish run through of how your team can pick up this transformative technology today”. If you’re interested, join the Zoom webinar!

Learn more

After the successful Kickstarter campaign, Cybershoes wants to double its success, starting also a new campaign on IndieGogo for its Quest version! If you missed the opportunity of backing them some weeks ago, you can do it now. For the occasion, they announced “full integration” with Doom3Quest, the sideloaded port of Doom 3’s single-player campaign by modder DrBeef and his team. A new cool experience to play with this gadget.

Learn more (Cybershoes for Quest on IndieGoGo)
Learn more (My review of Cybershoes)

Some XR fun

1950: In 2021 we’ll have flying cars!
 
2021:

Funny link

I can’t wait to watch this TV series about the Decagear

Funny link

No, Billy, wait!!!

Funny link

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