The XR Week Peek (2022.08.01): Quest 2 price raise, PSVR 2 passthrough, Pico 4 leaks, and more!
I hope you are having a good summer! Before starting with the XR news of the week, let me propose to you an interesting opportunity.
This year I have partnered again with NVIDIA for the promotion of the GTC, and doing that I obtained again the possibility of having one RTX3080 Ti graphics card to gift to one of my followers. Participating in the raffle is easy:
Step-1: Register for NVIDIA GTC using this link: https://www.nvidia.com/gtc/?ncid=ref-crea-201724. To qualify, registrants need to be resident in EMEA region (Europe, Middle East, or Africa).
Step-2: Wait for the GTC to start and join the Keynote livestream.
Step-3: Attend GTC sessions. NOTE: Prizes will be awarded only to those who register for GTC using the link above and attend at least one session.
Step-4: Wait and hope to win a graphics card!
And that’s it. I hope you win!
Top news of the week
Meta raises the price of Quest 2 during one of its most complicated periods
This has been a very complicated week for Meta, for mostly three reasons.
The first one, which resonated a lot in the VR communities, is that the company is raising the price of Quest 2 by $100. This means that the Quest 2 base model will be $399 and the 256GB model will be $499. Meta says that the reason lies in the current economic conditions (that is, the inflation) that makes it impossible for the company to keep selling the device at such a low price.
This news came as totally unexpected: it is very weird that a price of an electronic product gets raised 2 years after its release because usually, it is the opposite to happen. It also shows that at the moment the idea of subsidizing the cost of the hardware with the software sold in the store is not working, so probably the Quest ecosystem is less healthy than we initially thought. Some people also suspected that by abandoning the Facebook login, it will be less easy also to subsidize the price of the headset with the data, but honestly, I don’t think that there won’t be data harvesting on Meta accounts.
Whatever the case, it is not a good sign for Meta, and even John Carmack openly spoke on Twitter about how he disagrees with this decision.
The second news, which is the reason behind the first one, is that Meta’s financials are not doing great. For the first time, the company has had a year-over-year loss in a financial quarter. Metaverse efforts continue to bleed money while being not so profitable. Apple’s new privacy policy on iOS has caused a $10B loss on expected earnings in one year: considering that metaverse efforts cost exactly that money in one year, it means that the money that Meta had previously allocated for XR is no more. This explains in part the rise of the price of the Quest, but actually, Meta’s executives have clarified that the higher price will be compensated by fewer sales, and so probably in Q3 the total revenues coming from Quest will be less than initially expected. Zuck envisions that by 2030 the “metaverse” may be as profitable as advertising for Meta, but it is a prediction that is uncertain and it is expected 8 years from now.
Zuck has announced budget cuts in the company and asked employees to work more efficiently. He even said that “some employees” shouldn’t work at the company because they are not productive enough, and this has caused some internal backlash. He also is aware of Apple entering the market, and said his employees that the battle between Meta and Apple is a battle between open ecosystems vs closed ecosystems.
The cherry on top of this bad week comes from the FTC which has basically opposed the acquisition by Meta of Within, the company behind the supernatural. The FTC says that Meta is gaining an unfair competitive advantage in the VR fitness app sector with this acquisition since it already owns Beat Saber, which is used a lot as a fitness app.
I have mixed feelings about this decision. On one side I’m happy that finally antitrust entities are doing something to stop major companies to acquire whatever they can and create huge monopolies. The acquisition of Within was clearly made to give Meta an edge in the VR fitness sector. On the other side, I’m not happy because if the FTC blocks all major companies from acquiring startups, no startup manages to make an exit, and if startups can’t have exits, then investors don’t invest anymore, and so all the XR startups ecosystem gets killed. We need some kind of balancing.
It’s been really a hard week for Meta… I don’t envy them.
More info (Meta raises Quest 2 price — Road To VR)
More info (Meta raises Quest 2 price — Upload VR)
More info (John Carmack against the price raise)
More info (Denny Unger on the price raise)
More info (Meta’s negative financials)
More info (Meta’s official financial reports for this quarter)
More info (Upload VR’s comment on Meta’s financial reports for this quarter)
More info (Zuck asks for more effort to his employees)
More info (Zuck says by 2030 XR may be as profitable as ads)
More info (Zuck talks about the competition with Apple)
More info (The FTC blocks Meta’s acquisition of Within — Road To VR)
More info (The FTC blocks Meta’s acquisition of Within — Upload VR)
Other relevant news
Sony releases some details about PSVR 2 runtime
Sony is slowly releasing details about the PSVR 2 headset to keep the attention (and the hype) high. This week, it has decided to give us some information about the runtime of the headset, in particular about some quality-of-life features.
First of all, finally, also PSVR 2 gets passthrough vision, and the possibility of setting your play area from within the headset by drawing the play space with your controllers, like in all other devices. But Sony engineers decided to also add one more feature: the system can scan the environment, detect the boundaries of objects, and try to propose an optimal play area automatically. This is pretty cool: I imagined implementing a prototype of this feature myself with the Cosmos XR a few years ago (but I never did it, because I’m lazy), and I’m happy that finally one of the headsets manufacturers has actually worked on it. I think this can reduce friction for players that run the headset in a new room.
Apart from the play area definition, I think that the fact that PSVR 2 supports passthrough vision and environment reconstruction (to suggest the optimal area, the headset reconstructs a rough mesh of the surroundings) means that in the future this headset may also become a hybrid mixed reality one, thing that I found incredibly intriguing.
Apart from these great functionalities, PSVR 2 will also offer:
- Streaming facilities: with PSVR 2 players with the PS5 HD Camera will be able to include a picture-in-picture view of themselves at the bottom right corner of the screen while they play;
- Cinematic mode: players can play any non-VR PS5 content on a big screen inside of the headset.
All of this is great to know, but we all still have two big questions in mind. How much does it cost? When is it going to be released? We still don’t know, but for the first time, Sony hinted that we will have this information soon, so we can expect the launch will be pretty close.
More info (PSVR 2 runtime features)
More info (PSVR 2 price info are coming soon)
Pico 4 Controllers have been leaked
A blogger that goes under the name of Skarredghost (maybe you know it) has published some leaked images of the controllers of the upcoming Pico 4 headset, the new headset by Bytedance meant to compete with Meta Cambria.
From the images, it is possible to see that these controllers are very polished, ergonomic, and have a very sleek design. This is a huge change from the essential and practical style of the previous Pico Neo controllers. The money of Bytedance and the new attention to the consumer market have clearly made Pico pivot towards a new quality for its devices. We don’t have images of the headset, but most probably it will be sleek as the controllers. This means that Bytedance is serious about trying to become a believable competitor of Meta.
Another interesting thing is that Pico is not copying Meta or Magic Leap in proposing inside-out tracked controllers: these ones still have a tracking ring. We are not sure if it is because Pico has not the technology to do that or if it has been a strategic choice.
After having seen these images, I’m more curious than ever to discover the new Pico 4…
VRChat causes angry reactions in its community
VRChat is one of the most popular social VR worlds, and one of its strong points is the huge community, which every day creates not only new worlds, but also new avatars, events, creation tools, and mods. And exactly mods have been at the center of a big drama happening this week.
VRChat has released a new update that implements Easy Anti Cheat, a popular anti-cheating library that, among other things, prevents people from using modded versions of the application. This has been done to prevent malicious users from using mods that could do harm to the other players, but actually, made many other people angry. It turns out that many people were using mods to have quality-of-life improvements in the application, and especially, there were people with disabilities (e.g. deaf people) which were using mods to be able to use the application and communicate with other people in the game.
This caused a huge backlash from the community, which started to complain on all social media, and review-bombed VRChat on Steam. Some people switched to other virtual worlds like Neos. There has been a huge drama online, even if the actual effects on the VRChat userbase numbers have not been that big.
In the end, VRChat decided to find a compromise to try to make everyone happy. It decided to not roll back the security update that implements Easy Anti Cheat, but at the same time, it has committed to implementing all the most used features from the mods in the official application. Some of them will come already next week, while others will come later on, following a re-prioritized roadmap. This has been a wise decision and calmed down the community.
The lesson that we learn from this story is: listen to your community before committing to any strategic decision on your product, always.
More info (VRChat announcing its security update)
More info (VRChat announcing its new roadmap)
More info (Road To VR explaining the situation)
More info (Thrillseeker explaining the situation)
More info (The reactions of the community to the update / 1)
More info (The reactions of the community to the update / 2)
More info (Actual effects on VRChat users count)
News worth a mention
Skyworth has announced its Cambria competitors
Chinese manufacturer Skyworth has announced three headsets based on pancake lenses to compete with the upcoming Meta headset. These are their specifications (thanks to /u/AR_MR_XR):
- Snapdragon XR2, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, WiFi 6, 5500 mAH battery with QC3.0
- 90Hz refresh rate, 95°-105° field of view, interpupillary distance adjustment, diopter adjustment
- headset tracking: vSLAM with 4 fisheye greyscale cameras, < 2ms precision, high precision IMU
- controller tracking: 240°x195°, <10mm accuracy, <20ms delay
Pancake 1C: 1600×1600 resolution, 2,999 yuan ($444), preorder August 26, shipping September (China)
Pancake 1: 2280×2280 resolution, 3,999 yuan ($592), preorder August 26, shipping September (China)
Pancake 1Pro: 2280×2280 resolution, miniLED backlight, RGB passthrough, eye tracking (developed with 7invensun), gesture recognition, price not announced yet, available Q4
These look like very interesting devices. Anyway, remember that features just tell one part of the whole story: a headset must be tried to be really evaluated, so that you can check for comfort, distortions, etc…
You can now try games on the Oculus Store
It is now possible to try the free trials of some paid games on the Quest Store before deciding if buying them. A game that supports this is for instance Zombieland: Headshot Fever. I think this is a great idea so that players can be sure that they are buying a game that they like.
Some articles on the metaverse
As usual, there you are some interesting articles about the M-word selected from a sea of fluff:
- PwC has published a very detailed survey conducted in America about the metaverse and how it is perceived by companies and consumers. From it, it is clear that many consumers still don’t know what the metaverse is. It is very interesting and contains many insights worth a look (Thanks Charlie Fink for the tip)
- According to Bloomberg, job positions that contain the word “metaverse” are diminishing fast. This is for sure a sign that the hype is cooling down, and maybe many job requests have returned to ask for VR or gaming-related skills
- The city of Shanghai has allocated $1.5B to a metaverse development fund, to accelerate metaverse-related projects for the city
- Dean Takashi has written an interesting editorial about how the game industry (VR included) can survive this recession
More info (PwC research)
More info (Metaverse jobs)
More info (Shanghai Metaverse Fund)
More info (Game industry and recession)
There is already a VR mod for Stray
Without any doubt, Stray is the game of the moment. And now, a new mod on Nexus Mods promises to let you play the game in VR. Your stomach won’t probably approve, but it may be an experience worth trying.
Venice Immersive is the VR branch of the Venice Film Festival
This year, the Venice Film Festival will be held physically in Venice and will have again a section dedicated to VR, which will be called Venice Immersive. The lineup of selected experiences has been announced, and it contains many high-level VR stories.
In parallel with the real expo, there will be also a virtual edition on VRChat developed by us at VRrOOm.
More info (Venice Immersive)
More info (Official lineup of Venice Immersive)
Some news on content
- Road To VR has reviewed The Twilight Zone VR and found the game good on the atmosphere side, but very bad on the combat and interaction side
- Retro-style shooter Compound has got excellent reviews
- Immersed has now become free to use in its basic version. You can replicate your screen in VR and collaborate with your small team without spending money
- We have a new gameplay video for the upcoming shooter Gambit
- The new Incursion mod for Half-Life: Alyx looks very well made
- Kayak Mirage is a game getting a lot of attention in the PCVR community for its great graphics
- Someone published on App Lab a game (Unlimited Playspace VR Minigames) that requires a 50x50m play area!
More info (Twilight Zone VR)
More info (Compound)
More info (Immersed)
More info (Gambit)
More info (Incursion mod)
More info (Kayak Mirage)
More info (Unlimited Playspace VR Minigames)
Other news
The US Army performs another cut on the IVAS HoloLens project
Alexandria Heston has released to the community a document on everything she has learned on the VR UX side
Some researchers have discovered that malicious users could exploit developer-unlocked headsets to spy on what you are doing in VR
If Quest 2 has surely already surpassed the 10M units threshold, why Meta hasn’t announced it yet?
Ultrawings 2 developers declared that even if the game has been conceived for PCVR, it is selling 10x more on standalone headsets. This says a lot about the current status of the VR market
News from partners (and friends)
Jamie Feltham is leaving Upload VR
After more than 6 years at Upload, the journalist Jamie Feltham is leaving the magazine to embark on a new adventure. Being in the field since a lot of time, and having read a lot of articles written by him, I’m a bit sad that I won’t be able to enjoy his knowledge anymore. But I hope the best for his future, because he deserves it… good luck, Jamie!
Deo VR is hiring
The company behind the popular video player Deo VR is looking to hire a lot of people in different roles. If you are looking for a job in XR, check out its careers page, because there may be one that suits you.
(Disclaimer: DeoVR is one of the Patrons of this blog)
Discover the new DLC of Adventure Climb VR
On Steam it is now possible to buy “Brave the Elements Expansion Maps”, a new DLC for Adventure Climb VR which adds five new levels with varying difficulty to the original game. In case you don’t know it, Adventure Climb VR is a room-scale climbing experience developed by MXTreality.
Some XR fun
Not everyone is angry about the new price of the Quest
Funny link
True story
Funny link
The VRChat community of course made memes about what happened
Funny link
This happens when you develop a virtual companion VR app
Funny link
Extra! Extra! Damo is back
Funny link / 1
Funny link / 2
When you use VR for too much time
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate for my blog, but to the poor people that are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
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- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
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And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
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