By all accounts, the Oculus Quest is doing really rather well. Oculus’ UK store says the 64GB version can currently be delivered from 11th February onward and it’s not much better for the 128GB version. So naturally, developers are keen to get on the store. The only trouble is its highly curated (unlike Steam for example) which can make the process a little tougher. So tough in fact that one of VRFocus’ favourite, retro-inspired titles of 2018, Pixel Ripped 1989 has been denied. Strangely, its sequel Pixel Ripped 1995 has had no problem.
Over on Twitter Pixel Ripped creator, Ana Ribeiro revealed that Oculus Quest support wasn’t down to the videogame not running or being properly optimized for the headset, simply it fell foul of Oculus’ processes. Ribeiro explained to a fan: “We had optimised pixel 1989 and it is running well on the oculus quest but we can’t release on the quest without oculus approval. Sorry man :/ we done what we could in our end.”
Giving a little more detail she said: “Is not a Queue, you submit a pitch for Oculus and if they don’t approve we can’t go forward. It is a more selective restrictive process than the Oculus Rift. Unfortunately, 1989 is not approved :/”
So for a reason only Oculus knows (and probably won’t share) Pixel Ripped 1989 will not appear natively on Oculus Quest. Thanks to Oculus Link it will still be possible to play via a cable just so long as you own a compatible PC. And in all likelihood, most headset sales will probably be to those who don’t, purely because Oculus Quest is standalone and easy to pick up and dive into VR.
Oculus Quest owners will still be able to enjoy Pixel Ripped 1995 when it arrives this spring, as will PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, Valve Index, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality owners.
VRFocus got a taste of Pixel Ripped 1995 at Oculus Connect 6 (OC6), finding that: “From what’s been shown so far the sequel retains the atmosphere and humour of the original, whilst updating it with some awesome 90s mechanics and gaming references.”
As further details regarding Pixel Ripped 1995 are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.