With just one iteration forward, Meta has declared that its first Meta Quest VR headset gained’t be receiving any extra love or TLC.
In an e-mail despatched to Meta Quest 1 customers and later posted to Twitter, the corporate spelled out how will probably be dropping assist for its authentic, cheaper digital actuality gadget. Most significantly, the gadget will now not obtain future content material updates. By 2024, the gadget will now not get any bug fixes or safety patches.
Notably, customers will now not have important performance. Although Meta promised you’ll nonetheless have the ability to use the headset and its put in video games and apps, Quest 1 customers will now not have the ability to be part of events, and they’ll additionally lose entry to Meta’s function product Horizon Residence on March 5 this yr. Customers will now not have the ability to invite others to their houses or journey over to a different person’s dwelling.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced what was initially known as the Oculus Quest in 2018 because the premiere wi-fi VR headset. The corporate launched the headset in 2019 (so Meta is slightly off of their letter once they stated they launched the gadget “over 4 years in the past”), and this was all earlier than Meta formally renamed the gadgets and its numerous providers in 2021. So the Quest 1 is working off four-year-old tech, and it could make some sense why Meta wouldn’t need to assist getting old {hardware}.
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The Meta Quest 2 has been billed as a funds, entry-level VR headset, however that was Meta making an attempt to engender assist for his or her entire idea of the “metaverse” whereas working at a loss, a technique which lastly bit them within the bottom in Q3 final yr. Meta then instituted worth will increase for the Quest 2, elevating prices to $399 for its 128GB model and $499 for its 256GB version.
The unique Quest debuted for $399 for a 64GB model and $499 for its 128GB rendition, however you possibly can simply discover cheaper variations nonetheless being bought for less expensive on-line. It simply means there shall be one much less low-cost(er) headset in the marketplace, and there don’t appear to be any new releases to switch it.
The tip of assist for the Quest 1 means entry-level VR will grow to be that rather more costly for the common particular person. Pico, which is owned by TikTok mum or dad firm ByteDance, introduced its personal $425 and $499 headsets final yr, however the firm was absent at CES 2023, and we nonetheless don’t have any phrase of U.S. launch plans. Past that, there’s been little push for extra budget-friendly VR as of late. Meta has its personal $1,499 Quest Professional it launched final yr to decidedly blended critiques. This yr, HTC launched its VIVE XR Elite blended actuality headset for $1,099, which Gizmodo bought to attempt at CES.
And, in fact, there’s Sony and its PlayStation VR2. The corporate had these headsets prepared for demo at CES, however scheduling difficulties meant Gizmodo didn’t get the chance to demo the gadget. We’ll simply need to see what occurs with Sony’s $549.99 headset when it lastly releases in February.
