Are you ready to read about some interesting pieces of XR news? You are in the right place…
Top news of the week
Apple may launch its headset on June, 5th
Apple has finally announced the date of its upcoming WWDC event: it will be held on June 5–9. The event will be pre-recorded and visible online, but there will also be a “special in-person experience at Apple Park on June 5”.
According to the latest rumors from the most recognized Apple analysts, WWDC will be the moment when Apple finally unveils its headset, the Reality Pro. There are some hints from the event announcement that make us think that this is going to happen for real: the WWDC picture may resemble to shape of a visor, and the “special in-person experience” seems made so that selected people can have their first hands-on with the device. Everything seems ready for the great moment.
But actually many reports talk about many doubts inside Apple for the new product, which looks like “a solution looking for a problem”… a sentence that has haunted many products in the immersive realities field. And for this reason, the analyst Kuo says that the actual launch of the headset may be postponed again… but Mark Gurman confirms that June, 5th at WWDC will be the day.
So, as usual, there is a lot of confusion about what’s happening in Cupertino. The soap opera continues…
More info (Apple WWDC date announced)
More info (Official WWDC announcement by Apple)
More info (Apple headset may be delayed again — Road To VR)
More info (Apple headset may be delayed again — Mac Rumors)
More info (Marc Gurman confirming the launch is going to happen)
Other relevant news
PSVR 2 sales have been below expectations
Bloomberg News reported that, according to the analysts of IDC, Sony sold 270,000 PSVR 2 units between the launch and the end of March. This number pales in comparison with the 2 million units that Sony prepared for launch according to a previous report always by Bloomberg. The conclusion of the market analysts is that the launch of PSVR 2 has been a total failure.
In my years in the ecosystem, I’ve seen market analysts saying a lot of bullshit, and this looks to me like a very rushed conclusion. Imagining that Sony could sell 2 million PSVR 2 in just one month seems to me a bit irrealistic, especially at that price and with the present economic conditions. I think no one was expecting that number for real. 2 million at launch would mean that the PSVR 2 could sell its headset at the same pace, or even more than the very popular Quest 2.
In my opinion, in the current conditions, selling 270,000 units is not that bad. But at the same time, I think that at Sony they were expecting a bit more. The launch day is very important for every product, and if at launch your peak is 270,000, during the rest of the year, you are going to sell much less than that, so the headset has not been a great success. But probably Sony has not pushed much yet and just had a soft launch in preparation for some bigger campaign to happen when there will be more content and the economic conditions will be better. And as many people suggest, also when there will be a price slash that can favor a bigger adoption…
News worth a mention
Rokid unveils Rokid Max
Rokid has announced its new Rokid Max smart glasses, which are meant for the enjoyment of media (a bit like Nreal Air). Rokid Max weights only 75g, but it is 50% larger than its Rokid Air predecessor and supports a 120Hz refresh rate, around 50 degrees of FOV, and 1080p resolution. Pre-orders for the Rokid Max AR glasses are available now starting at USD $439. Shipping will begin at the end of April 2023.
Disney eliminates its metaverse division
Disney’s former CEO Bob Chapek defined the metaverse as “the next great storytelling frontier.” Now the new CEO Bob Iger has just closed down the division meant to explore metaverse projects, which was composed of around 50 people, during a big layoff of 7,000 people inside the whole company. Disney had real potential with immersive solutions, so the fact that is closing this division is a big pity. But during this economic downturn, everything that is not profitable is cut down, and metaverse projects are future-oriented, so not profitable in the present…
Meta adds haptics and local dimming
Meta has just presented two very interesting updates for the Quest. First of all, it has announced a haptic SDK meant to let developers implement well-designed haptic feedback in their experiences.
And then it announced local dimming for Quest Pro over Link: remember that the Quest Pro has the faculty of making darker blacks thanks to its local dimming feature. Well, now this feature is available also over Link, meaning that if you connect your Quest Pro to the PC via the Link, you can have a PCVR headset with black colors that look better than the ones of the standard LCD-based headsets.
More info (Haptic SDK)
More info (Quest Pro local dimming)
VRChat goes mobile
One of the most popular social VR worlds, VRChat, has just announced a very important update. The platform is following the footsteps of RecRoom, and after having become very popular on VR headsets, it is now coming to Android phones. The launch should happen in a few months, and a porting to iOS should follow suit. This can be huge for VRChat, which can so expand a lot its user base.
VR sleep rooms are a thing
I discovered this week that VR sleep rooms in social worlds like VRChat are becoming a thing. People meet there, relax, and fell asleep together, maybe hugging each others. This seems it is helping some people overcome their insomnia.
Vertigo 2 has finally launched
One of the most awaited VR games of the year, Vertigo 2, has finally been launched on Steam for $29.99. And according to the first reviews, it is not disappointing at all: Upload has even defined it as an ESSENTIAL game to play!
Some news on content
- Original and fun game Eye Of The Temple is coming to Quest platform this year
- Co-op VR Shooter ‘Gambit!’ is coming to Quest and SteamVR on April, 6th. I’m pretty intrigued by the trailers of this game
- Sky Strikers, a game that reminds a bit of Rocket League, has launched on Quest and Steam VR
- The Last Worker has been postively reviewed by Upload, which praised its fine narrative and great satirical humor
- According to a preview on Upload, Yupitergrad 2 is a clear improvement over the first episode of the series
- A Knight In The Attic, set to release April 13 on Meta Quest and PC VR, seems one of those indie hidden gems that many people would like to play
- Pin City shows a way of playing bowling in VR that reminds a bit mini golf courses
More info (Eye Of The Temple)
More info (Gambit!)
More info (Sky Strikers)
More info (The Last Worker)
More info (Yupitergrad)
More info (A Knight In The Attic)
More info (Pin City)
Other news
My review hero Ben Lang has positively reviewed the BigScreen Beyond headset
E3 has been canceled again. I wonder if this event will ever return
An interesting VR installation tries to simulate how it is dying
CapCom has spoken in an interview about Resident Evil Village VR
This example of use of ChatGPT is amazing for us developers
Latest Algida’s promotional video mocks the metaverse, but in a smart way
News from partners (and friends)
Play HitMotion: Reloaded!
It’s the best VR fitness game. Or maybe not, but I’ve been one of the developers, so I can’t say anything different 🙂 Please try it and review it on the Meta Quest Store!
Learn more
Some XR fun
I love April Fools’ day! As it is a tradition of my blog, I made a post in which I said I’m actually an AI. And many other companies published funny news, too: Pimax has invented the Pimax 0K, VRChat has become VR Rat, and…
Funny link (Skarredghost doesn’t exist)
Funny link (VR2Flat removes VR from Virtual Reality games)
Funny link (Pimax launches Pimax 0K)
Funny link (VRChat is now VR RAT)
Funny link (An AI has written an article about AI not being good enough)
The next book I’m going to buy.
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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- Sb
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- Caroline
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- 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 Apple)