Oculus’ first standalone headset, the 3DoF Oculus Go is on its way out with Facebook discontinuing the headset this year. Those who had the device (or Gear VR) could still access some of the content via Oculus Quest but with the newer version now available that backwards compatibility has been dropped.
There were 66 apps and videogames which could be played on the original Oculus Quest, accessed via a drop-down tab in the Quest library. That feature is absent in the new UI for Quest 2, with John Carmack confirming via Twitter: “Support was remove on Quest 2. I totally lost the internal debate over backwards compatibility.”
While there are plenty of Oculus Quest’s out there able to access the content, this info does mean the end is in sight for all these titles. Some like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes and Republique VR received Quest upgrades but those including Coatsink’s They Suspect Nothing, Daedalus by Vertical Robot and ustwo Games’ Land’s End were only available on those early platforms.
Some did manage to make use of Oculus Quest’s 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) controls but most were still consigned to 3DoF. That tech only allowed for basic controller movement making for point and click style experiences. So it’s not surprising that with the lack of immersive controls 3DoF titles are getting left behind when it comes to pushing VR mainstream.
Of course, that does mean if you’ve been enjoying VR for many years with a library which includes some of these titles you’ll want to hold onto those headsets to ensure the content is still accessible.
Oculus Go sales end this year with Facebook still planning to support the platform with bug fixes and security patches through 2022. Also on the way out is Oculus Rift S, being dropped next Spring, leaving just Oculus Quest 2 as the company’s sole VR headset.
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