Facebook unveils $300 Oculus Quest 2, kills Rift
Facebook has unveiled its Oculus Quest 2 standalone wireless virtual reality headset with prices as low as $300 and 50% more pixels than the first Quest.
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Facebook won't make PC based Rift VR headsets anymore
- Thread starter dex3108
- Start date
venturebeat.com
This makes perfect sense and was pretty predictable by the reaction to Quest Link.
and tbh, I like the thought of a PC VR space where Facebook isn't competing to be a vanguard techwise.
and tbh, I like the thought of a PC VR space where Facebook isn't competing to be a vanguard techwise.
I'm still somewhat surprised by this. Even with the link I assumed there would still be a market for Rift.
Quest 1 was nearly identical quailty wise to Rift S and better in some ways. This will be even better.
It's less of a hassle when connecting to the PC. And, you won't get tangled up with the cables while you're playing.
I had a feeling this was going to happen.
If you lurk the Oculus reddit often, you'll see a lot of upset Rift S owners waiting for updates or something to happen. Those updates never came.
You would even see memes of Facebook loving Quest more than Rift. I'm not surprised they stopped making PC based VR headsets.
If you lurk the Oculus reddit often, you'll see a lot of upset Rift S owners waiting for updates or something to happen. Those updates never came.
You would even see memes of Facebook loving Quest more than Rift. I'm not surprised they stopped making PC based VR headsets.
This, I'm surprised so many people in the thread think this was an obvious move.,
The Rift S was a more capable PC device than the Quest 1, and was much cheaper than Index/Vive etc
If the Quest 2 is more capable than Rift S then fair enough I guess, but I'm rather surprised at this personally.
Not surprising, but still kind of a shame. The Oculus PC headsets have been exceptionally good for the price so far. I guess this means Valve and Oculus will barely even compete with each other anymore, which isn't really a good thing.
My Rift S display port connection seems to be faulty. Wonder if they'll fix it or just give me a Quest 2.
The Quest fills the pricepoint and space pretty well. The only thing that I think would make sense is if Oculus went for a play on high-end VR against Index. Releasing one that's about the same but wired won't work anymore. Most people were already just getting a Quest because it was pretty dang close to the Rift S even on PC.
Yes with a USB 3.1 cable. If you want a very light cable though you'd want the Oculus official one which would set you back another 80 bucks. Or you can play wirelessly using Virtual Desktop.
As long as Oculus Link continues to be officially supported for the foreseeable future and Oculus VR exclusive games continue to also be published on PC (even if exclusive to their store), that's fine. Oculus Quest hardware is fantastic.
Problem is, I don't trust Facebook to do any of this.
Problem is, I don't trust Facebook to do any of this.
Yep. I fully played through Alyx wirelessly streamed to my Quest. Was basically flawless for me, and a phenomenal game, too.
Both. You can do wired for free or wireless via a paid app if you have good enough WiFi.
No, it doesn't. The Link has to compress and stream to the headset, which introduces lag and artefacts. Link replaces PC-based VR as much as game streaming replaces home consoles/gaming PCs.
Link works wired as well. It really does completely replace PC-only headsets as it works exactly like one, except it's also got its own hardware inside.
Saw that coming. Makes sense from their perspective. PC headsets were always a stepping stone to their ultimate goal.
Shame, I understand why but the Quest's design is so uncomfortable. Facebook should at least sell upgrade straps for the Quest.
If the Ars review is anything to go by, no, not in the slightest.
OP
OP
As far as i know it still compresses video and basically streams it to Quest. On top of that version 1 was just 72Hz and that is too low.
Have you tried it recently? It's pretty dang good nowadays. I have almost zero noticeable compression and my latency is down below 25ms over wireless. I can complete Expert level Beat Sabre no problem. Not sure what it's like with Link cable, but my experience over wireless is very, VERY comparable to when I was exclusively using a CV1.
The Ars Technica review paints a pretty brutal picture of every corner cut in order to drive the price down. I'm noping out until Quest 3.
Yup. There's a difference between people being satisfied with the Link's performance and it actually replacing dedicated hardware. Personally until the tech gets better I'd rather take full advantage of my PC than be wireless. So it sucks to see Occulus essentially right off that entire market.
Not that I'd buy from them ever again anyway considering their dystopic Facebook requirement.
I guess this makes it even easier for me to move on from Oculus when I buy a new headset. Rift S will do me for a while, anyway.
Yeah, Facebook is going to loss-lead on these stand alone headsets to try to own the mass market of consumer VR (even if it is lower quality etc etc) so they have control over millions of headsets and their data.
I have no interest in investing in such an ecosystem.
I have no interest in investing in such an ecosystem.
This was pretty invevitable. As long as Link still works it should be okay. I'm sure someone will come up with a Quest emulator or something at some point for exclusives. The plus side of this means that the PC VR ecosystem will have less API fragmentation (and no one really cares about WMR anyway)
The Quest 2 with Link is basically technically superior over the Rift S in every way so this makes sense, the dedicated PCVR headsets are redundant for what Oculus is doing. HMDs like the Index will pick up the slack for those looking for the highest end dedicated PCVR experiences.
WMR supports SteamVR anyway so it's not like anyone would need to worry about that if they wanted to develop for only one API.
Yeah, pretty much this. Tracking and ergonomics are also inferior. I hope my Rift S lasts until there are good alternatices in the 400-700 € range from some of the other players. I don't want to downgrade my vr.
