The XR Week Peek (2022.02.14): SteamVR headsets go beyond 3M, body-tracking leaked for Quest SDK, and more!
Happy San Valentine’s Day everyone! We are all in love with XR, so this is our day… and I also wish you celebrate it with other meaty humans that you love. So much love and hugs from me: I send you good vibes, hoping for your bright future! Remember that I root for you ❤
Top news of the week
Steam VR headsets reach an all-time high
Despite the rumors about PCVR being dead, the number of monthly connected headsets on SteamVR reached an all-time high. According to the estimates by Road To VR, the number could be as big as 3.4 million.
I think this is a great stat because it shows that PCVR is not dead, but more like in a complicated transitional situation. There are many sides to consider of the whole story.
First of all, the market is growing with a good rate of 30% year-over-year, and this is great news especially for the developers that want to make a living out of Steam content. The more the users, the more the market is interesting, the more the content that will be generated, and this is beneficial for everyone. But at the same time, 3.4M pales in front of the estimated 8–10M Quest 2 users: the standalone market is so much more bigger and appealing for content creators.
The growth of Quest is also influencing the stats on Steam: of all those headsets, 46% (that is, almost HALF) of them are Quest 2 users. This means that while the content market on PC is growing, the sales of actual PCVR headsets (e.g. Valve Index, Vive Pro 2) is not skyrocketing. And Meta headsets account for more than 67% of the whole SteamVR userbase: these numbers are impressive and start looking always more like a monopoly.
As you can see, PCVR is not the biggest market now, but it is growing, and it is finding some benefits itself from the Quest 2 sales. The market is in a transitional moment, and I think the next 12–24 months, that will see the release of many new devices that can change the cards on the table (e.g. PSVR 2, Apple XR visor) and games, will be fundamental to understand its evolution and its potential.
Other relevant news
Body tracking leaked from Quest SDK documentation
A leaked image from the Oculus team shows that the company is working to implement body tracking inside the Oculus Unity SDK. It’s not clear on what platforms this functionality will be working on, but if I had to guess, I would say Project Cambria, since its body tracking was already revealed in a video some months ago. It is not even clear if it will be full-body tracking or just upper-body tracking. But it is for sure a feature that will enable not only more immersive social VR interactions (which I guess are the main goal for Meta), but also new kinds of VR experiences. For instance, since I work on a VR fitness game, I’m thinking about all the new training experiences that will become now possible. With full-body tracking, it would be possible to do Thai-boxing, for instance, enabling new ways of staying fit, and also new ways to break the windows in your home while you are playing VR.
Many of you recall that I started working in VR in 2014 and my first solution was a full-body system that needed a PC, a VR headset, an array of Kinects, and some networking magic to work. And now, 8 years later, just a mobile headset could do all of this. It says a lot about the long road we have gone on since this new VR renaissance started.
Meta Quest 2 brings VR at Superbowl, but with mixed results
Meta is doing whatever it can to market its headsets, and this week it just made a huge investment to showcase VR on the occasion of the Superbowl. The Superbowl is the most important sports event of the year in the United States, and airing an ad during the match is super-expensive, but also super-effective. Probably you all recall the iconic Apple commercial inspired by the book 1984 that helped a lot the company in becoming popular.
Meta has organized two important initiatives to exploit this important event:
- A short ad to be aired on TV to get the attention of many potential buyers in the consumer market. It was associated to a Questy’s world to be opened on Horizon Worlds
- A big concert from the Foo Fighters in Horizon Venues after the Superbowl, to appeal the VR community
Both initiatives stem from a good idea, but the results are, in my opinion, just so-and-so.
Let’s start with the ad: it was meant to make people intrigued by Quest 2 and the social experience offered by Horizon Worlds. And it was also the official debut of the Meta-branded Quest 2 since it was the first time that the design with the new logo was showcased publicly. But the ad itself was a bit weird and cringy… only a few people among my followers liked it. I found its beginning nice, but the whole ending is cringy nonsense. Then I don’t understand why they chose to make an ad with animal stuffed toys… someone said that it has been made to say that VR is full of furries, and this joke made me laugh. The fact that this was not the best commercial made by Meta is visible also on Youtube, where only 2% of the viewers have put a like on the video. But at least the good news is that many Americans have seen something about VR on the TV.
The Foo Fighter concert was also a great idea, but its execution was not that great, either. First of all, it was just a prerecorded 180 video, so nothing special. Then, many people didn’t understand how to enter the concert, and when they got it, they couldn’t enter because of server problems. It was a big mess, and not great publicity for Meta: it is a company that wants to own the metaverse and it seems it can’t even handle a concert that is a video streaming…
More info (Meta Quest ad during the Superbowl)
More info (Superbowl ad had the new Meta logo on the Quests)
More info (Playthrough of the new Questy’s space in Horizon Worlds)
More info (Foo Fighters’ concert inside Venues)
More info (Eminus complaining about not being able to attend the concert)
More info (Kent Byte detailing all the issues of the concert)
References to Apple RealityOS have been leaked
Leaks about Apple are intensifying over the weeks. Some days ago, two developers have found references to “RealityOS” both in the Apple Store logs and in an opensource repo by Apple. This seems to confirm that Apple is working on an operating system for its upcoming headset and that it is called “RealityOS”… and indirectly it also confirms it is working on an XR headset. From the data gathered from the leaks, it is possible also to understand that there is already an emulator in the works for this OS, and this could help developers create applications for it even before it gets launched (between the announcement and the actual launch).
More info (Leaks on RealityOS — Upload VR)
More info (Leaks on RealityOS — 9to5Mac)
New info on Microsoft abandoning the Hololens 3
Last week we all heard the news about Microsoft abandoning the HoloLens 3, and the denial of it by Alex Kipman and Microsoft itself. Now, Business Insider has published new info about it.
The new report confirms that the HoloLens 3 project has been scrapped. In particular, it details that what was known internally as project Calypso, “a [HoloLens] device [that] was going to feature a more robust design with longer battery life, and was able to be used in outdoor settings” has been abandoned. Kipman in his tweet advised not to believe in this rumor because people also told that HoloLens 2 was abandoned and then it was released… but Insider’s source told that actually there was a version of HoloLens 2 that was abandoned, and then a new one was pursued. The source goes on to say that the fact that Calypso was abandoned doesn’t mean that Microsoft is abandoning XR or that there won’t be new HoloLens devices, but just that what was currently the best candidate for becoming the HoloLens 3 will never see the light.
Microsoft is keeping pursuing AR, and in fact, part of the resources that were devoted to HoloLens 3 are now dedicated to what is known as project Bondi, which is the AR glasses that Microsoft is building with Samsung. Bondi should be a headset that can bring multiple virtual displays in front of the eyes of the user: something very useful, but for sure not as interesting as a new HoloLens.
And the company is also experimenting on a new edge headset that should work via cloud streaming, but it is still too in the early days to even know if it will ever see the light. It’s an intriguing project, though.
I believe this report about HoloLens 3, also because I have multiple sources that are confirming me the internal turmoil in the HoloLens team.
More info (New report by Insider)
More info (Info about the new report by Insider — No Paywall)
News worth a mention
Neuralink experiments may be causing sufferings to animals
Elon Musk’s Neuralink aims at revolutionizing brain-computer interfaces. Some months ago, the company made the world dream showing a monkey that could play a simple computer game just with the power of its mind. But according to an animal rights group, the situation is different from the one depicted and 15 out of 23 monkeys have died because of the experiments among terrible sufferings. Neuralink has not answered the requests for comments, and this says much.
Apart from the huge ethical implications of what has happened, I think that this shows once more how the road towards BCIs is long and complicated, and no project of this kind that requires to drill the skull is going to become mainstream anytime soon, not even in the usual “5 to 10 years” timeframe we always mention.
Some articles on the metaverse
Here I am, like every week, giving you a digest of the most interesting articles about the M-word I have read in the last few days:
- Bandai Namco is going to invest $130M in something metaverse-related that involves its IP. I think this could be a very interesting project: many people love Bandai’s characters, and a platform in the metaverse that involves them would be quite successful, I guess;
- Gartner predicts that by 2026, 25% of the people will spend at least 1 hour every day in the metaverse. I think this is the weirdest prediction of all, and to me, it sounds like “By some year in the future, some people will spend at least some time in some platform we don’t even know what it is”. And I agree, it seems totally reasonable to me…
- Epic has filed a trademark for “Epic Games Megaverse”. Considering that it recently got $1B in funding to build the metaverse, it is possible this is one of its upcoming projects;
- An article on Protocol gives a good overview of virtual spaces where you can buy land and the current situation of the ecosystem.
More info (Bandai Namco’s metaverse platform)
More info (Gartner’s prediction)
More info (Epic Games Megaverse)
More info (Real estate on the metaverse)
Meta is hosting an event about AI
On February, 23rd, Meta is hosting a digital event about AI and its use to build the m**averse. Mark Zuckerberg has invited himself people to join the event with this message:
Building for the metaverse will require major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. I’m excited to share more about the progress we’re making at our Inside The Lab event on February 23rd at 9am PT on the Meta AI Facebook Page. See you there.
Emerge is a new XR haptic device
Emerge is a new haptic device that can give you haptic sensations while you are in VR without the need for you to wear anything. It is a little box that casts ultrasound waves towards your fingers, in a similar way to what Ultrahaptics was used to doing back in the days. The device is currently on Kickstarter, but it is not having a huge success.
NVIDIA has abandoned the deal with ARM
It has been rumored for a few weeks but now it is official: NVIDIA is dropping the acquisition of ARM because of too many problems with the anti-monopoly regulations of many countries. ARM will choose to go public, and I think this is the best option, considering that whatever acquisition of this strategic company would probably be questioned by regulators.
NVIDIA is forced so to abandon a big business opportunity, but it still remains one of the most powerful companies in the world: news of the week is that it is now worth more than Meta (after Meta stock value dropped last week)
More info (NVIDIA no longer acquiring ARM)
More info (NVIDIA is now worth more than Meta)
Discover Sundance New Frontiers 2022 festival
A good article on XR Must highlights the best work that has been presented at Sundance Festival New Frontiers this year. There are many interesting XR projects, and I hope some of them will arrive in the main stores of the headsets!
Gleechi SDK can improve interactions in XR
Gleechi VirtualGrasp SDK is now finally available through the company’s early access program. This is a very interesting software kit that should make sure that the fingers of your virtual hands adapt automatically to the shape of the object you are holding, for more believable XR interactions. I can’t wait to try it myself.
NeosVR is suffering from internal troubles
Internal troubles are happening at Neos, the open social VR ecosystem. What is causing the biggest troubles is the NCR crypto that Neos was introducing and that attracted speculators wanting to make easy money without even knowing what the application was about. It seems that the CEO and the CTO (who is Frooxius, the genius we all know well) have a different vision for the experience, with the CEO being more focused on the money and pleasing the crypto investors and the CTO on building an actual product for the community (as in every company). These internal problems have become public, and now Neos is in limbo while the two agree on a future direction. I hate how the speculation in the crypto world is risking to ruin what was one of the most interesting open social VR worlds in Europe.
Virtual Reality is creating a rise in insurance claims
According to an article published on The Guardian, the rising popularity of VR headsets has sparked a 31% rise in insurance claims. The reason is the one you can imagine: people playing at home and punching windows, furniture, and other people around them. VR is a dangerous technology lol.
Virtual Virtual Reality 2 has been released
Virtual Virtual Reality 2, one of the most awaited games of 2022, has been released. But the sequel of the popular Virtual Virtual Reality has not been received very well: many reviewers highlighted the high amount of bugs found, and some others (like me) the clunky controls and the slow pace. Probably the game should have been delayed to polish it more because these problems are ruining what was designed as a fun, intriguing, and original experience.
More info (Road To VR delaying the review for the many bugs)
More info (Upload VR delaying the review for the many bugs)
More info (My first impression review where I highlight some problems of the game)
More info (Kent Bye summarizing the impressions on the game)
Some info on content
- “Wands Alliances” is a 3v3 spellcasting battle arena coming for Quest as a successor of the game “Wands”
- The Tale of Onogoro, a game that combines traditional Japanese culture and steampunk elements, is coming to Meta Quest in Spring 2022 for around $30
- There has been the reveal of the map and new screenshots of Among Us VR. It’s interesting to see that the map is very similar to the one of the flatscreen game
- “We Are One” is an interesting puzzle with time loops based on an intriguing mechanic: you co-op with yourself, with different versions of you operating at different times, and all together they create a loop that solves the level
- Upload VR has finally reviewed Zenith. It confirms that the game is amazing, but at the moment is also rough around the edges and a bit repetitive. It has huge potential, though
- Open Brush introduces passthrough AR so that you can draw in 3D in the space around you.
More info (Wands Alliances)
More info (The Tale Of Onogoro)
More info (Among Us VR)
More info (We Are One)
More info (Zenith)
More info (Open Brush)
News from partners (and friends)
CPR Simulator
CPR Simulator is an application available on App Lab meant to teach CPR (CardioPulmonary Resuscitation) through VR in an easy and user-friendly way. This is an interesting project because CPR can save the lives of people having a heart attack or similar problems around you. Of course, this can’t substitute the training with a physical instructor, but it is great to teach you the basics of this life-saving technique.
Cognitive 3D
Copy-pasting a message from Cognitive 3D:
We are Cognitive3D, a spatial analytics platform built specifically for collecting, measuring and understanding user behavior data from 3D environments.
We are preparing to provide access for our platform to consumer-based applications for closed beta. Our goal is to provide creators, developers and teams with the proper tools for extracting 3D insights.
Below are more details about what we’re looking for:
Do you have a consumer facing VR game or application that is launched on Oculus Store, Viveport, Steam, or a combination of any/all of these?
- A 3D-based experience with six degrees of freedom built in Unity or Unreal
- Access to source code, with ability to implement a 2MB SDK.
- We are not supporting eye tracking or biometrics for this closed beta.
What we need from you:
- Implement the SDK within your application. We are willing to support you with this process over Zoom to keep this as short as possible
- Work with Cognitive3D to ensure your Privacy Policy is in-line with our requirements.
- Once tested and working, ship the analytics capability in your next build.
- Use the product, make suggestions on how it could be improved for your needs. Report any bugs, issues or concerns.
What features do you get?
- Full access to Cognitive3D with an unlimited amount of minutes, sessions and participants for a period of one year. Which includes:
- SceneExplorer: exact replay of exactly how a user interacted in their session. Rendered in WebGL with spatial data and timeline.
- ObjectExplorer: aggregate metrics of how users interacted with all 3D objects represented in sessions.
- Scene Viewer: aggregate spatial data such as gaze, fixation, position and events. Supports real-time filtering.
- Analysis Tool: powerful event query system that considers spatial data and context
- Objectives: measurement of sequential and non-sequential multi-step behaviors present within sessions
- Dedicated and named customer support engineer, with access to Slack or Intercom
- A committed partner looking to help solve problems and optimize experiences in immersive applications.
If interested, please drop an email to: [email protected] or contact us through our website to apply.
Some XR fun
These are the most interesting gaming haptic devices I have ever seen. I want them now!
Funny link
Virtual worlds then and now
Funny link
Oh the irony of the corporate metaverse…
Funny link
I love stupid jokes…
Funny link
Here you are some FREE NFTs, just for you!
Funny link
Show me your love!
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(Header image by Road To VR)
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