Meta is planning to ship a VR headset in 2024 which the corporate desires to make as accessible as doable to customers.
In response to a report by The Verge, Meta’s VP of VR, Mark Rabki, informed 1000’s of staff in a memo that it plans to launch a client VR headset in 2024, codenamed Ventura.
“The objective for this headset may be very easy: pack the most important punch we are able to on the most tasty worth level within the VR client market,” Rabki wrote within the memo.
Meta appears to be positioning Ventura as a ‘Quest 3 Lite’ of kinds. Within the reported memo, the corporate introduced its upcoming Quest 3 could be focused at fanatics, which is alleged to be a “bit more cash” than the present $400/$500 headset, whereas additionally together with blended actuality capabilities much like Quest Professional. The corporate has publicly confirmed Quest 3 will launch sooner or later this yr.
Moreover, the report maintains that any ‘Professional’ degree headset will be “means out sooner or later” after Ventura is launched in 2024.
This implies Meta can be promoting Quest 3 on the similar time it releases Ventura in 2024, and sure inside the life span of Quest Professional too, so the corporate might want to supply all of them at becoming worth factors as to not muddy the waters.
It’s unsure the place Meta hopes to chop corners with the ostensibly cheaper standalone. One factor the corporate can do is ship with out movement controllers, which might lower down on general worth, though that might stymie client entry to the again catalogue of VR video games. Not all video games make use of Quest hand-tracking.
With Ventura, the corporate might choose to primarily replace Quest 2’s {hardware} with minor modifications, like changing the Fresnel lenses with pancake optics to slim down the general profile, and add a quicker chipset.
Regardless of the case, it appears the corporate is capturing the low finish of the VR market, which might higher lock in a brand new technology of VR customers into the Meta ecosystem—one thing the corporate wants if it hopes to extend person retention. Providing a less expensive headset might additionally probably broaden Meta’s entry to rising markets, someplace Chinese language opponents like Pico Interactive could succeed given the prospect.
