Following confirmation of the cancellation of its latest ConceptD OJO VR headset, Acer says it’s still in the XR game.
Earlier this week Acer confirmed that it decided to cancel its ConceptD OJO headset; it had been 10 months since the headset was announced before the company confirmed it had been canned.
The company didn’t offer any real details on the reasoning behind the decision, though we speculated that Acer may be shifting priorities away from VR. When we reached out to clarify, the company told us that it still has skin in the game.
“Acer continues to explore opportunities and invest resources in XR-related technologies,” a spokesperson told Road to VR.
It’s a seemingly intentionally vague statement; our read is that the company doesn’t have concrete plans right now but isn’t dropping VR either.
When it comes to Windows VR headsets (like Acer’s), Microsoft is the linchpin as it creates and controls key hardware and software for the WMR platform. However, the company has shown little interest in the VR end of the WMR platform in the last year or two (instead focusing heavily on its first-party HoloLens), leaving headset partners like Acer in the lurch. Without seeing much enthusiasm from the key stakeholder in WMR, it’s understandable that it would be difficult for Acer to make future commitments.
The Acer spokesperson also told us that the company, “continues to support the sales and service of the Acer OJO 500,” its enterprise-focused headset which launched in late 2019, a year after initially expected.
Though we asked about it specifically, the spokesperson avoided mentioning the first-generation Acer WMR headset (launched in 2017), which suggests the headset has been discontinued. As we spotted back in mid-2019, many of the original Windows VR headsets, including Acer’s, had vanished from the Microsoft store after apparently being discontinued.
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