The new Oculus Quest is the “world’s first all-in-one gaming system built for virtual reality”, the company said. It will available in spring 2019 for $400.
Oculus Quest VR headset
Oculus Quest will be positioned between the affordable Oculus Go mobile headset and the high-end Oculus Rift that must be connected to a PC. Oculus Quest is a stand-alone headset that does not require a PC or wires. It was previously showcased as the ‘Santa Cruz’ prototype.
Facebook touts it as a “six degrees of freedom” (6DOF) VR product with handheld controllers. It has inside-out tracking, meaning that it can track your movement via built-in sensors. It can also “go beyond room-scale”. The display resolution is 1600x1440 per eye and the headset offers lens spacing adjustment.
The company did not release full specifications but Quest appears to be using LCD display technology rather than the better OLED technology that is implemented in the high-end Rift headset.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a stated goal of bringing Facebook’s VR to one billion people. At the launch even, he admitted that the goal is still far away. The CEO also said that Quest will “complete our first generation of Oculus products”.
Analyst company IDC recently claimed that sales of VR headsets were down a staggering 33.7% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2018. Companies such as Facebook/Oculus and HTC are now pegging their hopes on standalone headsets for growth.
- "One of the major issues with the VR market is that consumers still find it difficult to try a VR headset," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst, IDC. "This is where the commercial market has an opportunity to shine. HTC's recent partnership with Dave & Busters or Oculus' work with schools around the world stand to play an important role in educating and enticing consumers to use VR."
Oculus Quest will come with over 50 games, including Robo Recall, The Climb, and Moss. In addition, a Star Wars themed Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series is in development at ILMxLAB, which is Lucasfilm’s immersive entertainment division. It will debut sometime in 2019.
Oculus Quest will launch in the spring of 2019 for $400 for a 64GB version.
