By all accounts Oculus Quest 2 has been doing rather well, developers are making money and the headset was the most used in Steam’s recent Hardware Survey. Facebook isn’t resting on its laurels with CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously confirming during the company’s Q4 2020 earnings call that work had already begun on a followup. In a new interview, he reveals Facebook Reality Lab (FRL) is looking further ahead to a fourth edition and the features he hopes will be present.
Talking to The Information about all things virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) related, on the subject of hardware development Zuckerberg explains: “Because of how hardware gets developed, you kind of need to know what your next three products are going to look like all at the same time. We have product teams spun up now, working on the next few generations of virtual reality and what Quest 3 and 4 are gonna look like.”
Facebook is certainly in the XR space for the long run and the CEO is keen to maximize the social aspect of the technology and the features that’ll require. “One of the things that I’m really excited about for future versions is getting eye tracking and face tracking in, because if you’re really excited about social presence, you want to make sure that the device has all the sensors to really kind of animate realistic avatars so you can communicate well like that,” he states.
So alongside making the next iterations of the Oculus Quest smaller, lighter and more powerful to offer premium immersive experiences, these standalone headsets are going to be even more feature rich. While these type of sensors already exist and have been employed in devices like HTC’s Vive Pro Eye, they’ve yet to make it onto a standalone headset – or maybe that’s HTC Vive’s 2021 plan?
All that extra tech does beg the question, will the cost of Oculus Quest rise in the future? Well, considering the Oculus Quest 2 came in cheaper than the original that’s probably unlikely, but Zuckerberg does note: “I’m very focused not only on how you can create a good VR and AR device, but how do you make it so it’s $300 instead of $1,000? That’s a pretty big deal in terms of being able to make it accessible to more people.” This also sounds like a slight dig at Apple considering recent reports the company is working on a high-end, $3,000 USD headset.
Apple’s device is expected next year which could very well be when Oculus Quest 3 arrives looking at the timeline between Oculus Quest and Quest 2. As more information comes to light, VRFocus will keep you updated.
Checkout PrimeXBT
Trade with the Official CFD Partners of AC Milan
Source: https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/03/facebook-working-on-what-quest-3-and-4-are-gonna-look-like-states-zuckerberg/
