The XR Week Peek (2023.02.20): Bigscreen launches Beyond headset, PSVR 2 gets its first reviews, and more!

I’ve almost fully recovered from my little flu so I can be productive again. It’s a weird period, with ups and downs, but I try to focus on the up things. Like a few days ago I had a Linkedin post with 1.5M+ views… an impressive number I had never reached before. It was of course a meme, my favorite form of expression.

Top news of the week

Bigscreen unveils its Beyond headset

I was not expecting this. The company behind the popular VR experience Bigscreen VR has announced a high-end PC VR headset called Beyond.
 
 The headset ticks many boxes related to the desires of PCVR enthusiasts: it is very lightweight (127g), it has a very high resolution (2,560 × 2,560 per eye), it has the bright colors of OLED microdisplays, it is compatible with SteamVR, and has an accessory with integrated audio. All of this for $999, which includes only the headset, without any controller or accessory.
 
 What is impressive of this device is the form factor: it is incredibly small and lightweight. And to increase comfort, this headset is the first one which is completely customized for your face. You have just to scan your face using an iPhone, and then Bigscreen creates the ideal facial interface customized for you. This can give you not only optimal comfort but almost non-existent light leaks around the headset because the facial interface perfectly adheres to your skin.
 
 I think this headset can be very successful in a very small niche of the VR market: PC VR enthusiasts looking to upgrade their headset to play social VR experiences like VRChat or simulation games like Flight Simulator. But honestly, I don’t think that it can become mainstream: it costs too much and it requires a VR-ready PC to work.
 
 I’m also quite puzzled about why Bigscreen wanted to create a headset. The official explanation is that they wanted to offer their customers the ideal hardware to enjoy Bigscreen in the best way possible. But I find it a bit simplistic… I wonder if this is a pivot to hardware because of the fact that Quest Store revenue share is not making Bigscreen movie rental profitable.

More info (BigScreen Beyond — Road To VR)
More info (BigScreen Beyond — Upload VR)
More info (BigScreen Beyond: Interview and hands-on — TESTED)

Other relevant news

PSVR 2 gets its first reviews and teardown

The embargo on the PSVR 2 has been lifted, so many journalists have been able to publish their first reviews about it. I’ve read a few, on Road To VR, Upload, CNET, plus something on Reddit, and they all agree on one thing: this is a great piece of VR hardware. I’m sure the reviews have been positively influenced by the demos that Sony has given to the journalists, in particular Horizon: Call Of The Mountain, which has been praised for the astonishing graphics comparable to the ones of Half-Life: Alyx. Everyone has been impressed by this experience.
 
 Sony PSVR 2 has obtained positive reviews for its very good visuals, its good comfort, and its innovative haptics. But since we are too early to have the perfect headset, it has had its share of critics, too: Road To VR for instance criticized the small sweet spot of the lenses and the lack of integrated speakers. Almost no one complained about the tether, and this is interesting. It’s also interesting that many people appreciated the physical button to switch from VR to passthrough AR, meaning that probably Apple’s choice of having something similar on its headset is the right one.
 
 Sony Interactive Entertainment has also released two official videos with the teardown of the headset and its controllers. The videos are very interesting because they show the care the team had in designing also the interior electronics of the headsets, which are beautiful to be seen exactly like the exterior.
 
 Apart from this, we had a lot of news about upcoming games, like Rezzil, Walkabout Minigolf, Resident Evil 8, Synth Riders, and many others coming to PSVR 2. It’s good to see the content lineup growing every day. I’m linking all of them here below for you to read.

More info (PSVR 2 review — Road To VR)
More info (PSVR 2 review — Upload VR)
More info (PSVR 2 review — CNET)
More info (Horizon Call Of The Mountain review — Road To VR)
More info (Horizon Call Of The Mountain review — Upload VR)
More info (PSVR 2 official teardown)
More info (Drop Dead The Cabin on PSVR 2)
More info (Cosmic Smash on PSVR 2)
More info (Firewall Ultra on PSVR 2)
More info (Rezzil on PSVR 2)
More info (Walkabout Minigolf on PSVR 2)
More info (Resident Evil 8 on PSVR 2)
More info (Synth Riders on PSVR 2)
More info (Solaris Offworld Combat on PSVR 2)
More info (All games announced or rumored for PSVR 2)

Apple headset has been delayed until June

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple has delayed the announcement of its headset from April to June. It should be so announced at WWDC, with a release set for the end of this year or the beginning of the next one. The reason for the delay should be the implementation of the eye and hand-driven interactions, plus the short battery life.
 
 We can so say that a headset that has not even been announced, has been delayed. Something that doesn’t surprise me much, considering that is since 2015 that “Apple is coming next year” every year.

More info (Apple headset delayed)
More info (Original report on Bloomberg)

Bytedance and Tencent cut their plans for XR

The non-positive moment for the economy and for XR technologies in particular is having ripple effects also in China. This week, two different reports highlight negative things happening in two major companies:

• Bytedance seems to have laid offs hundreds of employees from Pico XR, with some teams reduced by 30% of their sizes. Pico had grown a lot after the Bytedance acquisition, but then the current economic moment and the non-spectacular sales of the Pico 4 (especially in China) may have forced the management to lay off many people
• Tencent may have scrapped the plans for its upcoming device. When I was in China, I’ve heard many people mentioning a new headset that Tencent was going to release, so this news surprises me a bit. According to Chinese outlet 36Kr, Tencent has also disbanded its whole 300-people XR unit, but the company had refused this claim, but it admitted having some internal restructuring.

It doesn’t seem like a fantastic moment for XR companies. But the technology is still evolving, so we should not panic, but stay strong and make our businesses survive in this not-so-easy period.

More info (Bytedance and Tencent reducing their VR ambitions)
More info (Detailed article on Bytedance’s layoffs)
More info (Detailed article on Tencent’s layoffs)

News worth a mention

Pico 4 is now fully OpenXR-compliant

Pico has announced that Pico 4 and its SDK are now fully OpenXR compliant. This is a very interesting piece of news for us developers. It means that the OpenXR standard is being fully embraced also in the standalone world, and in the future, it will be possible to create for every application a single APK that works both on Pico and Oculus seamlessly. Building once and deploying everywhere can become a reality for VR devs.

More info (Pico 4 is OpenXR-compliant)
More info (OpenXR start guide on Pico’s website)

Nerf Ultimate Championship shuts down

Nerf Ultimate Championship has been a multiplayer VR game that has been long awaited. And now, after just a few months from its release, it is already shutting down. The reason is that its studio, Secret Location, is shutting down, too. As I said in the beginning, this is not a positive moment for virtual reality companies.

More info

23 augmented reality trends to keep an eye on

Augmented Reality professional Tom Emrich has written a long and detailed post about the 23 trends in augmented reality to keep an eye on in 2023. An absolute must-read to understand what may happen this year.

More info

Frame arrives at version 3.0

Frame is a web-based virtual meeting and collaboration tool created by Virbela. It is slowly growing up quite well and offers a place where to have meetings in VR, all running in the browser, with decent graphics. In the latest 3.0 update, some graphical improvements and even full-body avatars have been added. If you didn’t know about Frames before, you had better check it out.

More info (Frame 3.0 launch post)
More info (Frame 3.0 launch video)

Some news on content

• Yupitegrad 2 will launch first on Pico, and then on the other headsets. This is the first time this happens, but I bet it won’t be the last
• The Light Brigade is a game that looks like the successor of “In Death: Unchained”. It was highly praised by Road To VR in its review
• Gun Jam VR is a rhythm shooter that launched this week for Quest and Quest Pro
• A Street Fighter VR game has been announced and will be tested inside some Japanese VR arcades. Wow!

More info (Yupitergrad 2)
More info (Light Brigade)
More info (Gun Jam VR)
More info (Street Fighter VR / 1)
More info (Street Fighter VR / 2)

Other news

This is the coolest thing I saw this week: a technology to put you inside the most famous actions of the NBA

Learn more

New hints on the guardian update in Oculus Runtime v50

Learn more

A virtual reality sex worker has been denied the Visa to enter the US for “Prostitution”

Learn more

This amazing article reminds us to one of the first persistent virtual social worlds: Ultima Online

Learn more

An interesting article about the USD format and what features may come to it

Learn more

News from partners (and friends)

Follow GermanRifter

This week I had no request for this section, so let me do a huge shutout for one of the most amazing people in our community: Daniel the “GermanRifter”. He’s always so kind and supportive to everyone in the VR community, so I’m happy to give back to him by inviting you all to follow him on Twitter.
Follow Germanrifter on Twitter

Some XR fun

This guy is a genius
Funny link

This mofo is back, stronger than ever
Funny link

How to use ChatGPT for your dirty purposes
Funny link

Bing powered by ChatGPT is making a big mess. It’s hilarious
Funny link

The current status of the technology hype
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
• Terry xR. Schussler
• Ilias Kapouranis
• Paolo Leoncini
• Immersive.international
• Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
• Jake Rubin
• Alexis Huille
• Raghu Bathina
• Chris Koomen
• Cognitive3D
• Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
• Jennifer Granger
• Jason Moore
• Steve Biggs
• Julio Cesar Bolivar
• Jan Schroeder
• Kai Curtis
• Francesco Strada
• Sikaar Keita
• Ramin Assadollahi
• Juan Sotelo
• Andrew Sheldon
• Chris Madsen
• Horacio Torrendell
• Andrew Deutsch
• Fabien Benetou
• Tatiana Kartashova
• Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
• Eloi Gerard
• Adam Boyd
• Jeremy Dalton
• Joel Ward
• Alex P
• Lynn Eades
• Donald P
• Casie Lane
• Catherine Henry
• Qcreator
• Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
• Stephen Robnett
• KaihatsuJai
• Sb
• Enrico Poli
• Vooiage Technologies
• Caroline
• Liam James O’Malley
• Hillary Charnas
• Wil Stevens
• Brian Peiris
• Francesco Salizzoni
• Dimo Pepelyashev
• Alan Smithson
• Steve R
• Brentwahn
• Pieter Siekerman
• Simplex
• Matias Nassi

And now here you are the link to donate:

Support The Red Cross in Ukraine

(Header image by Bigscreen)