During Facebook’s Q4 2020 earnings call today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Quest 2 is “on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset,” noting that the device drove a 156% increase in the company’s non-advertising revenue.
In past earning calls, Zuckerberg has generally downplayed the company’s XR business as a forward-looking investment that isn’t expected to pay off for years. His tune has shifted notably in the company’s latest earnings call, where he told investors that Facebook’s XR business was “one of the areas that I’m most excited about our progress heading into 2021.”
Although Facebook hasn’t confirmed how many Quest 2 units have been sold so far, Zuckerberg was upbeat about the headset’s sales performance, saying he believed it is “on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset.”
It isn’t entirely clear what he means by “mainstream,” though we have one good guess. At Oculus Connect 5 in 2018, the company’s annual XR developer conference, Zuckerberg explained that he believed that 10 million VR users was an important milestone for the company to reach in order to make a sustainable ecosystem for VR developers.
Image courtesy Oculus
The big question is what is it gonna take for it to be profitable for all developers to build these large efforts for VR? To get to that level, we think that we need about 10 million people on a given platform. That’s the threshold where the number of people using and buying VR content makes it sustainable and profitable for all kinds of developers. And once we get across this threshold, we think that the content and the ecosystem are just going to explode. Importantly, this threshold isn’t 10 million people across all different types of VR. Because if you build a game for Rift, it doesn’t necessarily work on Go or PlayStation VR. So we need 10 million people on [one] platform.
So while Quest and Quest 2 likely haven’t sold 10 million units yet, Zuckerberg’s confidence that Quest 2 could become the “first mainstream virtual reality headset” suggests the 10 million unit threshold may appear within grasp.
“In previous quarters I’ve talked about our long-term future goals when it comes to virtual reality,” Zuckerberg told investors, “but I think that this quarter’s results show that this future is here.” He further shared that “more than 60 Oculus developers are generating revenue in the millions, and that’s more than twice as many as a few months ago.”
Zuckerberg also said that Quest 2 was “one of the hot holiday gifts this year,” and was a major driver behind the company’s $885 million Q4 non-advertising revenue. Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, said on the call that this was a year-over-year increase of 156%, and specifically noted that it was “due to strong Quest 2 holiday sales.”
Image courtesy Facebook
Some back-of-the-envelope math can give us a ballpark estimate for Quest 2 unit sales in Q4. The company earned $855 million in non-advertising revenue, which includes both Oculus products and Portal products. With Sandberg pointing to Quest 2 as a major driver for the growth without mentioning Portal, we can probably safely figure at least 50% of the revenue was from Oculus headsets.
From there we might figure that 75% of the headsets being sold are Quest 2, with the soon-to-be-discontinued Rift S making up the other 25%. Similarly, we’d figure that 75% of Quest 2 units sold are the 64GB model, while 25% are the 64GB model.
Plugging in those assumptions yields 1,000,000 Quest 2 units, though that would need to be dialed back by some portion to account for first-party accessory sales.
Looking to the future, Zuckerberg confirmed that Quest 2’s successor is already in development.
“We’re continuing to work on new [VR] hardware as well. The new hardware will fit the same platform, so the content that works on Quest 2 should be forward-compatible [with the new hardware], so that we’re going to build one larger install base around the virtual reality headsets that we have.”
While this won’t be a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention, it does stand in stark contrast to Sony—whose PSVR has long held the lead in VR headset unit sales—but has refrained from indicating any plans to build a next-gen headset.
Facebook has also made no secret about its plans to build an AR headset; the company shared a look at an early prototype last year. On the call, Zuckerberg affirmed the plans to start first with smartglasses, before launching full-blown AR glasses further in the future. He also called out Apple as a likely competitor in the AR landscape.
“[…] longer term, as we move toward building the next computing platform, I think we would expect to see [Apple] as more of a competitor [in AR] as well.”
Canon previously announced its next AR/VR headset MREAL S1 back in October. Now, the Japan-based company has shown off the enterprise-focused device in a new video.
Update (January 27th, 2021): Canon Japan released the first promo video for their upcoming AR/VR headset, which uses a passthrough camera for room-scale augmented reality interactions. The headset is set to release in late February 2021.
Since Canon seems to be pitching the device only within Japan, YouTuber ‘Tyriel Wood’ did the courtesy of running the video through Google Translate so we can get a handle on the particulars.
In the video, we learn the headset weighs an impressive 137g, and claims to be the smallest, thinnest and lightest of Canon’s offerings. With the headstrap attached, it can be flipped in the upward position and adjusted for fit. A mechanical IPD adjuster is also built into the headset’s lenses. As previously seen, the MREAL S1 can also be used like a pair of hand-held binoculars, replete with light-blocking guard around the sides.
Original Article (October 7th, 2020): Unlike the MREAL Display MD-20, which was unveiled earlier this year, you might describe MREAL S1 as technically a VR headset with passthrough AR, which is achieved by the inclusion of stereoscopic camera sensors on the front of the device and VR displays, providing a ‘mixed reality’ view to the user. The headset also includes two additional optical sensors for positional tracking.
Image courtesy Canon Japan
Canon Japan hasn’t released specs, prices or availability yet, however the company says on its Japan-facing site “the smallest and lightest video see-through MR device in the history of MREAL.”
MREAL S1 requires a PC tether to function (ie. not a standalone headset), however the company says its been created to work with mobile workstations, and is both cheaper and more portable than its predecessors, the MD-20 and 2016-era MD-10. Of course, some degree of that portability is owed by the headset’s notable lack of any sort of light-blocking blinders, although that’s been a design choice the company has made with all of their MREAL headsets to date.
Image courtesy Canon Japan
As you’d imagine with any enterprise-focused AR headset, the head-mount version of MREAL S1 is designed for work with industrial applications, which might require two hands such as CAD software. The handheld style however was created for easier use at exhibitions.
Both MD-20 and MD-10 include this level of convertibility, however MREAL S1 is substantially smaller in size, slimming down to about the size of a smartphone. Its handheld configuration is also much less ungainly, as Canon has done away with the giant handles seen in previous models.
Like its previous AR headsets, MREAL S1 is likely to be a Japan-only device for companies there looking to partner with the Canon.
Love them or hate them for it, Bethesda’s games offer up a great opportunity for modders to get under the hood of impressively large-scale virtual worlds and summarily fix whatever messes the studio left behind. The same goes for Skyrim VR (2018), which for all its charms, is still obviously in need of tweaks to make it more like the VR-native game it should have been when it was first released on PC VR headsets in 2018. Now there’s a mod for that.
Created by NexusMods contributor ‘FlyingParticle’, the nifty mod fixes many of the non-VR design conventions that were essentially ported from the flatscreen version of Skyrim, namely the overreliance on text-based inventory menus and point-and-click object interaction system—both total immersion killers in their own right.
Called HIGGS VR (hand interaction and gravity gloves), the mod adds in some seriously useful abilities which were inspired by Half-Life: Alyx (2020). With it installed, both hands and objects have collision enabled so you can actually hold items.
Borrowing the gravity gloves mechanic from HLA, the mod also lets you highlight and select items from a distance and force-grab them to you. Combined with another mod, called VRIK Player Avatar, you can also add in dynamic handposes for more realistic object interaction.
Looting is a more natural experience too, as you can stash items by placing them in an over-the-shoulder inventory on your back. You can also move bodies, and strip them of armor by pulling on it, which are really nice touches for the sake of immersion.
HIGGS VR only works with PC VR versions of Skyrim VR. You can download it atNexus Mods, which hosts a mind-boggling number of mods for many games, including many of the fan favorite mods for Skyrim VR.
Check out the HIGGS VR mod in action below, courtesy of YouTube channel ‘Ben Play’s VR’:
This is the ultimate list of the best Oculus Quest 2 games available now. I'm doing it differently this time, instead of naming my top 20, I will suggest my favorite per genre to make the list more diverse. Timestamps are below! ► Our VR equipment kit & tips here → https://www.amazon.com/shop/caschary (affiliate link) ► Subscribe here → https://goo.gl/bSJ6L8 It’s a new year, and we’re still in lockdown… but the upside is, more time to play VR games. This is why I wanted to make a list of the best games on the Oculus Quest store. These are VR games you can play on both Oculus Quest 1 and Oculus Quest 2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LINKS ► Get an Oculus Quest 2 (US) → http://bit.ly/quest2-casvr ► Get an Oculus Quest 2 (NL - Coolblue) → https://cb.prf.hn/l/784dkp8 ► Get on Amazon → https://amzn.to/2RSxaDi May contain affiliate links that earn us a small referral fee from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Da Intro Starts 00:50 Action 01:52 Adventure 02:37 Battle Royale - Team-Based 03:11 Creative – Art 03:50 Dungeon Crawler 04:17 Experiences - Interactive Story 05:11 FPS 05:41 Hand Tracking 06:17 Movies - Theater 06:56 Multiplayer – Social VR 07:40 Music – Rhythm 08:14 Oculus Link (PC VR) 09:08 Party Game - Family 09:41 Platformer 10:23 Puzzle 11:10 Relax - Meditation 11:51 RPG - MMORPG 12:43 Stealth 13:26 Survival 14:04 Visual Novel - Anime, Manga 15:15 Question Of The Day & Outro Start ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUPPORT THE CONTENT (and become our VR Champion) ► Become our Patron → http://bit.ly/PatreonCasandChary ► Become a Sponsor on YouTube → http://bit.ly/JoinCasandChary ► Buy our VR Merch → http://bit.ly/casandchary-merch VR DISCOUNT CODES & AFFILIATE LINKS ► ► https://casandchary.com/discount-codes-affiliate-links/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUR GEAR Our VR Equipment & Tips → https://www.amazon.com/shop/caschary (affiliate link) Our PC Specs → https://casandchary.com/vr-equipment/ MUSIC Music we use is from Epidemic Sounds → http://bit.ly/CCEpidemicSound ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GET LATEST UPDATES Twitter → https://twitter.com/CasandChary Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/casandchary/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/casandchary/ Join our Discord → https://discord.gg/YH52W2k ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A SPECIAL THANKS to these Patreon Champs 🛡️ for their support: 😘 BaxornVR, Wintceas, Studioform VR, Barr'd4Life, Andy, Albert, Ben P., Steve Dunlap, Thomas M. Rice, Andy Fidel, VR Balance, Nathan S., Adriaan K. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER This video was not sponsored. Links in this description may contain affiliate links. We may earn a small referral fee from qualifying purchases that helps supports the channel. However, it doesn't cost you more. #oculusquest #oculusquest2 #casandchary VR on! - Cas and Chary VR
Schell Games today announced that its breakout VR spy adventure game, I Expect You to Die (2016), is getting a sequel sometime this year.
The studio unveiled the game, called I Expect You to Die 2: The Spy and The Liar, without mention of specific target platforms for the espionage-themed escape game.
For now, the only store listing is on Steam, ostensibly for PC VR headsets. Considering its massive success on all VR platforms, we expect to see it on PSVR, Oculus Quest, and Oculus Rift as well. Notably, the original game generated millions in revenue on the Quest platform alone—strong incentive to get it in the hands of users with Facebook’s latest standalone headset, Quest 2.
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Image courtesy Schell Games
Image courtesy Schell Games
Image courtesy Schell Games
Image courtesy Schell Games
Image courtesy Schell Games
Here’s how Schell Games describes the upcoming sequel:
I Expect You To Die 2 is the thrilling encore to the award-winning virtual reality franchise, I Expect You To Die. In this sequel, prepare for new missions, more villains, and more ways to… well, you know – die. The Agency is thrilled to see you’ve returned… and in one piece! Let’s keep it that way, shall we?
The immersive spy-flavored puzzle game is also said to include new locations, a new story featuring diabolical missions directed by archenemy Zoraxis, and a chance to use your “telekinetic powers and cunning” to complete missions.
Schell Games has been ardent about pushing out free DLC to the original game over the years, and we expect the same level of dedication to what could be a big win for the studio.
Google announced it has stopped active development on Tilt Brush (2016), the company’s VR paint app. All is not lost though. As the team pivots to creating immersive AR experiences, Tilt Brush has officially gone open source, allowing anyone to modify or even clone the app in its entirety.
Fast forward a few months, and now Google is not only shutting down its 3D object platform Poly, which was announced in December, but it’s also stopping all active development on Tilt Brush. In retrospect, Tilt Brush co-creator Patrick Hackett departing Google earlier this month may have been writing on the wall that the VR paint app was on the chopping block.
In a bid to let Tilt Brush live on, the team has released an open source github repo of the app’s code, allowing others to use, distribute, and modify it for use in other projects. The team says in its build guide that while Tilt Brush is a Google trademark, developers are even free to clone it completely as long as they choose a different name.
Now that developers are free to browse, at least one previously planned feature on the to-do list has raised a few eyebrows in the community, namely the missing addition of multiplayer mode.
The team says in a Google blogpost that Tilt Brush will “always remain available in digital stores for users with supported VR headsets,” however the move to open source the app will allow “everyone to learn how we built the project, and [encourage] them to take it in directions that are near and dear to them.”
Originally created by indie studio Skillman & Hackett, it wasn’t long before the studio and its impressive 3D art app were snapped up by Google; a 2015 acquisition proceeded the app’s launch on HTC Vive a year later.
Although it eventually went on to launch on all major VR headsets, development noticeably slowed over the past two years, starting back in 2018 when Google was still enthusiastically pushing its Android-based Daydream VR platform.
Tilt Brush’s most recent feature update came in March 2020, which brought to the app a new Camera Path Panel, Sketchfab, and a beta version of Google Drive backup. The app has only had a few bugfixes since then despite releasing concurrently on PSVR.
While Oculus doesn’t offer much publicly in the way of understanding how well individual apps are performing across its VR storefronts, it’s possible to glean some insight by looking at apps relative to each other. Here’s a snapshot of the top 20 Oculus Quest games and apps as of January 2021.
Why We Publish This Data
While the SteamVR library already has a comprehensive tracking database thanks to SteamDB, Steam 250, and more, no similar database exists to track applications on Oculus storefronts. We publish this data to give users, developers, and analysts insight into the Oculus app landscape.
Some quick qualifications before we get to the data:
Paid and free apps are separated
Only apps with more than 100 reviews are represented
Rounded ratings may appear to show ‘ties’ in ratings for some applications, but the ranked order remains correct
Best Rated Paid Oculus Quest Apps
The rating of each application is an aggregate of user reviews and a useful way to understand the general reception of each title by customers.
Why We Publish This Data
