It appears that the life cycle of Meta's Oculus Quest has come to an end, after the company announced that it will stop updates.
This week, Quest users received an email informing them that the original Oculus Quest would no longer receive new features or access to existing VR social services . This is a major change for many who rely on these services and updates.
Quest headset owners will still have access to the device and its multiple apps, however, they will no longer be able to “create or join a party.” Additionally, Meta ’s Horizon Home features will no longer be accessible after March 5. While no new updates will be rolled out by Meta for users Quest 1 , essential bug fixes and security patches are guaranteed until 2024.
See also: Microsoft, Amazon and Meta abandon offices in Europe-London
Four years ago, Mark Zuckerberg announced what was known as the Oculus Quest and released it a year later. Despite that launch being in 2019, Meta has recently redefined its products and services – which is why it says the device was released “four years ago.” After initially launching as Meta ’s (then Oculus ) first wireless headset with full six-degree head and hand tracking just four years ago, the Quest was upgraded to the $300 Quest 2 in late 2020. It’s clear to see here that the Quest 1 is using technology from many moons ago, which explains why Meta doesn’t want to continue supporting hardware this old.
The Quest 2 has already sold a surprising number of units, even with a $100 price increase last year. That remarkable success means that many VR developers are now tuning their games to run better on the Quest 2 's updated Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset , as opposed to the Snapdragon 835 of its weaker predecessor. Meta 's announcement will not affect support for either version for now - including those using the recently released and extremely powerful Quest Pro .
Just a month ago, John Carmack — former CTO of Meta and a major backer of the Oculus Quest — announced his departure from the company due to it being “half as effective” as he wanted it to be. Even after the original Quest, Carmack continued to work on improvements for its predecessor, the Oculus Go, in 2021, where he eventually fixed it with an update. With this recent announcement about the discontinuation of the original Quest, we can only speculate as to why this decision was made.
During his October keynote, Carmack warned software developers not to work exclusively on high-end applications for the Quest Pro, but to also modify them for the less powerful Quest 2.He warned that “the low-performance system is where all your real customers are.” This advice can help ensure a successful product launch in one of today’s fast-growing markets.
See also: Mark Zuckerberg: The Meta Quest Pro VR headset costs $1500
The discontinuation of the Quest 1 means that VR tech will be particularly expensive for users looking for the cheapest device. Pico , part of ByteDance , has announced headsets priced at $425 and $499, but there has been no word yet on a potential US release date. Meta has unveiled its own Quest Pro at a whopping $1,499, while HTC has launched the VIVE XR Elite mixed reality headset that costs over a thousand dollars! It’s clear that budget-friendly options haven’t been on the rise lately – unfortunately, this means that virtual reality could become unaffordable for many people in the near future.
It's always sad when companies decide to end support for their products before they've had enough time on the market, but sometimes it's necessary in order to stay competitive and move forward with more advanced technologies.
Source: arstechnica.com
