I’m briefly back in China, and finally, I’ve managed to see a street show for the new year involving the traditional figures of the dragon and the tiger! I’m having a good time here, but I’m eating so much that I think I will explode in a few days. Best death ever.
While I renew my best wishes to you all for the year of the Snake, let me tell you about the best XR news of the past week!
(UPDATE: This newsletter is being published two days later than expected because I actually got really sick for a couple of days after I wrote half of it (not for the food!). Only today I could get off the bed and be in front of a computer again and finish it… and re-reading that positive introduction made me smile. Sorry for the delay in the publication… I hope you still love me)
Top news of the week
Meta had a great Q4 2024
Meta announced its financial data for the last quarter of 2024 and they are great… but there are also a few things to reason about.
The great news is that Reality Labs reached a record $1.08 billion in quarterly revenue, which is the biggest ever for the division of Meta. In Q4 every year there is a jump in revenues for Meta because Quests are a great holiday gift. We had all the indications that this Q4 would have been good again, like the fact that the Meta Quest companion phone app was the first on the iOS store, that 1 Million people had played Batman Arkham Shadow, or that the Quest was the most sold console of 2024 on Amazon. But MR/VR is not in its best moment, so we couldn’t imagine that this year could have been so good to be the best quarter ever for Meta Reality Labs.
The fact is: we didn’t consider Ray-Ban Meta into the equation. Zuckerberg said that in 2024, Meta sold more than 1 million Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which equates to more than $300M in revenues. We don’t know how they split revenues between Meta and EssilorLuxottica, but even considering Meta taking only 30% of the whole cut, still counts for more than $100M in revenues for the whole year, which is more than $25M a quarter, that if removed from the $1.08B of the quarter, make the remaining revenues, which are mostly Quest related, actually lower or at maximum equal than last year (we should also remove the Ray-Ban Meta/Stories revenues from last year to make an exact calculation).
This confirms two trends to me: the MR/VR market is still alive (sorry, I’ll never say it’s dead) and somewhat growing, but it is a bit stagnant, waiting for some innovation to make a big step forward; the smartglasses market is starting and is showing a lot of potential (even if, in my opinion, is being hyped a bit too much). Zuck is very hyped by Ray-Ban Meta, and he believes the next edition of the glasses may even sell from 2 to 5 million units, which would be a great number.
Zuck is also bullish on Horizon Worlds, saying that its numbers are growing and that this year it will become even more visually stunning. Of course, this is happening: the whole Horizon OS is made so to make people go to Horizon Worlds and while this is making Meta executives happy, it is ruining the business of all developers that publish content on the Horizon Store…
One last thing to consider when reading these very positive numbers is that as much Meta had great revenues, it also had great costs: $6.05 billion, which is the biggest expense it had in a quarter. While a big chunk of this money is R&D to beat the competition to build the first consumer AR glasses, another big chunk is derived for sure by the fact that it is selling its devices under cost. If you look at the history of Meta Reality Labs’ financials, you see that the more Meta sells, the more it loses money. This is not a very healthy business to me.
As Road To VR writes, “Meta has spent a whopping $69 billion on Reality Lab since Q4 2020, but it has only brought in $9.19 billion in the same period”. If you are wondering, the expenses are not going to end, they are even going to increase: Meta clearly stated that it is going to burn a lot of cash, and the investments are going to pay off only in the 2030s.
More info (Meta reports its Q4 2024 financials)
More info (A leaked memo pre-announced good revenues for Meta Reality Labs)
More info (Meta Reality Labs’ record revenues and losses)
More info (Batman Arkham Shadow played by 1 million players)
More info (Ray-Ban Meta sold more than 1M units)
More info (Horizon Worlds to become more stunning and inspiring)
Other relevant news
Apple is still finding its best strategy for glasses
According to the usual Marc Gurman, Apple is still interested in building AR glasses (of course), but it seems it has not found the best strategy to follow.
In his latest report, Gurman says Apple canceled some tethered AR glasses that should have been connected to the iPhone to show a large screen in front of the user. The glasses were draining too much battery from the phone, so there was a pivot to connect them to a Mac. But they got bad feedback from early testing so they were canceled altogether.
This does not mean that Apple has given up on AR glasses, though. Apple has a team at a “secretive facility” in Santa Clara that is developing microLED displays intended for AR glasses. MicroLEDs are a new type of display that is very promising for the future of XR. Apple executives are planning that eventual Apple AR glasses may come in 2028 at the earliest, probably even later.
According to Mark Gurman, with all these cancelations of AR glasses and changes of plans, employees in Apple’s Vision Products Group (VPG) now “believe there’s a lack of focus and clear direction within the team”, which is “hurting morale”. Working in innovative technologies ain’t easy… it’s very frustrating… and I know it very well (but eventually, it pays off).
More info (Apple working on MicroLEDs)
More info (Apple cancels its AR glasses)
Apple Vision Pro is one year old!
A couple of days ago, my X timeline was filled by lots of Apple fans wishing happy birthday to the Vision Pro. It was a happy moment, so I thought it would be cool for me to join the happy train and say: Happy Birthday Apple Vision Pro! Thanks for having been a device that has brought some competition back to the XR space and has made all the other companies accelerate their XR plans!
More info (Happy Birthday Message 1)
More info (Happy Birthday Message 2)
More info (Happy Birthday Message 3)
More info (Happy Birthday Message 4)
News worth a mention
VRChat introduces age verification
VRChat has officially released age verification for VRC+ subscribers. VRC+ users can undergo an age verification process provided by the company Persona that involves either providing official documents (e.g. national ID) or a photo of the face. Verification is not mandatory, but it allows to access age-restricted worlds and to showcase a badge that confirms that the user is an adult.
VRChat is the first important social VR world to provide this feature, and I think it’s very interesting to see what is going to happen. For many months users complained about squeaking kids ruining their experience, but there was no way to separate adults from kids. Now there is a method, but it requires the user to share some personal data with an external company. Will people share with Persona their personal data in exchange for the possibility of not being disturbed by kids or will they care more about their privacy? And considering that age verification is available only to a small share of users, how many world builders will restrict their creations to people who are verified adults? I guess only time will tell…
(PS When I was at VRROOM, I proposed the team to implement a similar solution, and many people in the company objected that they would not have shared their documents with an external company just to have their age verified for a VR social space, so I’m very curious to discover if they were right)
XReal One or Apple Vision Pro?
I always balked at the comparison between different types of devices, but Scott Stein’s review of the XReal One glasses posed a doubt in me. The XReal One glasses are really good glasses to have a virtual display to watch movies in and this has been recognized in various reviews, like this one by Scott Stein or another one by Tyriel Wood. Apple based its initial marketing campaign of the Vision Pro exactly on having a big screen in front of you… but if this is the purpose, why not spend a lot less than $3500 and get a device that is lighter and is specialized just for that use case? I know what you’re thinking: the Vision Pro has a wider FOV, has brighter colors, and has many other use cases… but let the provoking thought sink in…
Viture releases Pro XR glasses
Viture released its new Pro XR glasses, featuring 1920×1080 micro OLED displays, 46° FOV, 49 PPD, and 120Hz. The price is $459, with a $50 discount if you buy them now.
The Logitech Pen is a good tracker for the Meta Quest
There is no equivalent of the Vive Tracker for the Meta Quest, and usually, developers have used a Quest controller whenever they needed to track an object in XR. But now there is a new alternative: the Logitech MX Ink pen. This week I got to watch two videos where the pen was used to track objects with the Meta Quest and I’ve found them very interesting. Remember that the Quest can track both the controllers and the pen together, so you could have one object tracked and still give two controllers in the hand of the user. I’m curious to see what the community will create with this.
(Thanks to Rob Cole, and to A.K. for the links to the videos)
More info (A weapon controller using the Logitech Pen)
More info (Some educational experiments using the Logitech Pen)
Haptikos aims to be a new contender in the XR haptics scene
Sunnyvale and Athens-based startup Haptikos came out of stealth mode to unveil a prototype hand exoskeleton. The exoskeleton is part of the Haptik OS ecosystem, which consists of integrated hardware and software. It should offer both finger-tracking information and haptic sensations to emulate the texture of what you are touching. The prototype of the gloves costs $2500, but in 2026, when the product is ready, it should cost only $1000, which is much less than many other XR gloves solutions.
I think the team is a believable one: I remember briefly trying an early version of these gloves in a private demo at AWE some months ago, and they were already working pretty well.
Meta aims at firing all leakers
Meta is taking strong actions against leakers. The company promised to fire anyone found responsible for any leak. Zuckerberg told employees he would no longer be as transparent due to leaks. “We try to be really open and then everything I say leaks,” he said. “It sucks.”
All of this happened in a meeting that was leaked. Oh, the irony.
Integrating Quest passthrough and ChatGPT
The same guy finding the best method to access Quest passthrough is going to release an integration between the Meta Quest 3’s camera with OpenAI GPT-4o. I believe that the integration of passthrough and AI can be very powerful, so I can’t wait to see the release of this facility!
New bad news for VR
The non-positive moment for the VR ecosystem continues and 3 pieces of news from this week confirm it. Orbus VR, the first VR MMO (it dates back to 2017!) is shutting down. Fast Travel Games, one of the most successful studios, is laying off 30 employees because of lower sales than expected in 2024. Vertigo Games is selling the arcade platform Springboard VR to Synthesis VR to optimize its organization.
More info (Orbus VR)
More info (Fast Travel Games)
More info (Springboard VR)
Some news about content
- COLD VR has a new release date: February 11
- Aerial VR combat game Aces of Thunder is headed to PSVR 2 and PC VR headsets sometime in 2025
- Demeo gets an adaptation for Dungeons&Dragons, called DEMEO X DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: BATTLEMARKED. This is a separate game and not a DLC for Demeo
- Cave Crave is a Climb-inspired spelunking simulator. It looks very claustrophobic and can preordered on the Horizon Store for $13
- Daisy Ridley, who played ‘Rey’ in the recent Star Wars sequel trilogy, is going to be the main star of the storytelling experience Trailblazer: The Untold Story of Mrs. Benz, which recants the story of 19th-century German automotive pioneer Bertha Benz. The experience is slated to arrive on Quest in March
- Beyond Blue: After the Storm is a VR follow-up to the 2020 flatscreen game Beyond Blue. It lets you explore the ocean in VR and is now available on the Meta Store for $15
- E McNeill’s VR classic Darknet finally made the jump to Quest headsets as Darknet: Remastered. It is available for $9.99 on the Horizon Store
- Craftrium lets you create a spatial aquarium in your living space for free with your Apple Vision Pro
- Synth Riders is celebrating Super Bowl LIX with a Kendrick Lamar Experience next month as a timed Apple Vision Pro exclusive
- Farming Simulator VR is a VR version of the popular farming simulator. It is a brand-new farming experience instead of an adaptation of an existing entry and it will be available on the Horizon Store starting on February 28
- Owlchemy Labs discounts its games: Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High are now permanently $19.99 on Meta, Steam, Pico, and Apple
- Ahoy! is a very moving storytelling experience on the Apple Vision Pro
- Upload VR has published its usual XR News Round-Up with many minor XR-related pieces of news
More info (COLD VR)
More info (Aces Of Thunder)
More info (Demeo)
More info (Cave Crave)
More info (Trailblazer)
More info (Beyond Blue: After The Storm)
More info (Darknet)
More info (Craftrium)
More info (Synth Riders)
More info (Farming Simulator VR)
More info (Owlchemy Labs)
More info (Ahoy!)
More info (XR News Round-Up)
Some reviews about content
- Path of Fury: Episode I — Tetsuo’s Tower looks like an interesting game from a preview by Road To VR. It is a game that goes on following a rail, but it can provide a good workout framed as an 80s-styled action game
- StageTime VR feels like a promising multiplayer karaoke experience. It is just at its beginnings, but the effort the team has put into features like spatial audio makes us think well about its future
More info (Path of Fury: Episode I — Tetsuo’s Tower)
More info (StageTime VR)
Other news
The VR Games Showcase returns in March, promising the “biggest line-up yet” of XR Games
Animation tool Mindshow unveils enterprise-oriented virtual animation tool
XR4Europe has published various reports about the XR landscape in European countries
XR Bootcamp has published an interesting comparison among all the smartglasses on the market
Learn more (Comparison spreadsheet) Learn more (Comparison article)
The v74 of the Quest seems to succeed in the difficult mission of making the UI of the Quest even worse than it is today
Samsung trademarks the “Beyond” name, but it seems improbable it is going to use the same name as another headset
Astronauts explain how the HTC headset is helping them feel better when they are alone in outer space
News from partners (and friends)
Google Blocks lives again as Open Blocks!
Icosa Foundation, the company that revived the discontinued TiltBrush as Open Brush, has given the same treatment to Google Blocks, the low-poly creation tool that Google abandoned a few years ago. The project is now called Open Blocks and has been built upon the codebase that Google released when it discontinued Blocks. After its first release on Steam, Open Blocks is now available on the Horizon Store and also open source on GitHub. It will be free and open source forever, for everyone.
And do you remember Google Poly, the online platform for sharing and downloading 3D objects made in Blocks? Well, Icosa Foundation is working to launch a spiritual successor called Icosa Gallery, too. Aren’t these people at Icosa amazing?
Learn more (Reddit post about Open Blocks)
Learn more (Open Blocks launched — Upload VR)
Some XR fun
It is actually a cave simulator, but it can be misinterpreted for something else…
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who 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
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And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Meta)