Facebook is Retiring Oculus Go, Announces New Content Distribution Platform for Quest

Facebook announced that, at the end of this year, it will officially retire Oculus Go, its 3DOF standalone headset. In early 2021, the company will also be making way for more apps on Quest with a new content distribution platform that will be separate from the Oculus Store.

The company won’t be releasing any new first-party features for Go, effective immediately, the company says in a blog post. Facebook will also be tuning down the headset’s third-party content pipeline later in the year, as the company will no longer accept any new Go apps or app updates after December 4th. No new Go apps will be permitted onto the Oculus Store after December 18th, putting a final lid on the growth of the Go’s content library.

The headset’s system software will however still receive bug fixes and security patches through 2022.

Oculus Go & Gear VR, Photo by Road to VR

Facebook says the move to retire Go is about pushing towards a “future of VR with 6DOF platforms like Oculus Quest.” This presumably also means that Go will be the company’s last 3DOF headset offering.

“As the technology has advanced rapidly since we launched Go, you’ve helped us prove out the value of positional tracking with the incredible experiences you’ve built for 6DOF VR, and we’re ready to double down on that,” the company says in a developer blog post.

Released in May 2018, Oculus Go was hailed as a VR headset priced for the masses. Although hobbled by its rotation-only headtracking and single non-positionally tracked controller, Go was championed for its low price-point of $200 and ability to serve up casual games and traditional streaming content, such as Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube.

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Opening the Gates for Quest Content

There’s been a greater number of Quest apps to hit the Store recently, however the headset’s library of games is still dwarfed in comparison to both Oculus Go or Oculus Rift.

Facebook has been notably more strict with which apps it allows on Quest since the headset’s launch in mid-2019, as there are both technical hurdles and the apparent need to keep a manicured storefront for new users.

Image courtesy Oculus

Early next year, the company says it will offer a new way to distribute content on Quest, which will allow developers to share their apps to anyone with a Quest.

Details are still thin on the ground, however Facebook appears to be creating an alternative marketplace with a lower technical acceptance threshold than the Oculus Store. Unlike sideloaded apps though, content accepted through this channel will still need to adhere to its Oculus Platform policies and Oculus Content policies.

“By making it easier for more developers to reach Quest owners in the future, we hope to spark inspiration with those who will build the next wave of engaging experiences for Quest,” the company says.

In practice, this may act as a way to stymie sideload-based content stores such as SideQuest, and bring all developers under the same roof, so to speak. Additionally, the still unnamed content channel could act as an avenue for Early Access content, or simply an updated of the old Oculus Share platform back in the heady developer kit days. The company says it will be sharing more info on the new content channel in the future.

The post Facebook is Retiring Oculus Go, Announces New Content Distribution Platform for Quest appeared first on Road to VR.

Oculus Go’s Place In VR History Comes Into Focus As Industry Bids Farewell

Oculus Go is already gone from certain areas of Facebook’s official site for virtual reality products after the company confirmed it would cease sales of the headset.

The entry level standalone headset’s retirement after two years of availability marks the end of an era for virtual reality. One of Facebook’s technical guides in VR, John Carmack, was a driving force behind the Android-based optimization efforts at the company and commented that “it was not the VR headset that most of Oculus wanted to build, and it faced internal headwinds the entire time.”

“Go was about ‘do more with less’. Cheap, passively cooled silicon, smaller batteries,” Carmack wrote on Twitter. “I’m still a bit wistful about the unexploited potential — almost nothing maxed out the quality of experience that the existing hardware could provide. I can get a little down thinking about might-have-beens, but playing some Beat Saber on Quest always makes me feel better!”

His voice joined a chorus of comments from across the VR industry reflecting on the loss of the entry-level standalone VR system. Darshan Shankar, the CEO of virtual movie theater Bigscreen, said his company plans to drop support for Oculus Go by September of this year in light of the announcement. Late last year Facebook dropped support for the earlier phone-powered Gear VR and, shortly after, Bigscreen followed.

“The Oculus Go was an excellent entry point for people seeking a media consumption device. A large number of our active users continue to use the Go (>5%). We’ve commonly seen someone fall in love with Bigscreen, say on a Rift or Quest, and buy their friends or family an Oculus Go in order to hangout with them and watch movies,” Shankar wrote in a direct message. “It’s been tough to support the Go, as it’s the only 3DOF device we support and its performance capabilities are heavily restricted. We’re excited to standardize Bigscreen: now, all headsets we support have 6DOF controllers and we can create awesome interactions and avatars with that in mind. This also allows us to push the bounds creatively and visually, as the Quest is now our lowest-end device (and it’s very powerful, nearly 2x more capable than the Go).”

Virtual Desktop‘s sole developer, Guy Godin, commented in a direct message that “it was expected to happen at some point. The Go did provide a good transition from GearVR to Quest.”

Oculus Go Game Developers Move On

When it comes to games, the CEO of Resolution Games Tommy Palm explained over email “we still have games on the Go that are selling well, including Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs. But 6DoF is here to stay, and anything 3DoF was always just a stepping stone. ”

“The market will ultimately benefit from a more unified market though,” Palm explained. “We saw many examples of consumers as well as professionals misjudging the state of VR because they couldn’t quite understand the difference between the Quest and the Go, so this is ultimately another step in the right direction for the industry.”

Stealth game RÉPUBLIQUE VR was an Oculus Go launch title from Camouflaj — the same company behind the upcoming PSVR title Iron Man VR — and founder Ryan Payton remembers “fawning over how frictionless it was to just strap the darn thing on and play VR. (Compared to the arduous process of loading up a Gear VR, previously.) I ended up getting really into watching NBA via NextVR from my Oculus Go until I graduated to Oculus Quest.”

“Oculus Go felt like a pivotal connecting point in the evolution of virtual reality,” Payton explained over email. “I think Facebook’s move to discontinue the product should be celebrated because it means that it’s time to move on to bigger and better things.”

Oculus Go casting vr mobile standalone

The Anshar Wars trilogy from Ozwe Games spanned all Oculus-powered 3DOF VR headsets and CEO Stéphane Intissar wrote over email that the “VR industry owes a lot to the Oculus Go and its predecessors” because without “learning to solve many technical challenges such as massive multiplayer infrastructures, flawless locomotion, rich story telling and very mobile VR specific optimization techniques, it would not be possible to even dream of making solid AAA titles on a platform like the Quest like those that emerge on the PC VR platforms.”

Justin Wasilenko, Director at Orange Bridge Studios, wrote in an email that Oculus Go provided a “huge revenue stream” for their game End Space space fighting game.

“The Oculus Go was understated in it’s popularity,” Wasilenko explained. “End Space was one of the more successful apps on Go. Its success even saw myself and some other developers flown down to Oculus headquarters where they first showed us Quest and what the future was going to be for the company. It was clear 2 years ago after that visit to Oculus HQ that this was going to happen. Quest is superior in every way except price. 3 DoF headsets provided an entry point into VR, however I feel they did more damage than good. I definitely profited from it but I have met many people who tried a Go or something similar and experienced motion sickness because of the lack of positional tracking or were just underwhelmed by the whole experience. As a media viewer the Go was great, but as a VR platform it was extremely limited. I think it’s not until you experience full 6 DoF with tracked hands that VR becomes truly magical. Go just isn’t good enough to make people believers in VR.”

“In the future you are going to see more Quest-like products come out at a cheaper price point and that will drive more VR sales and convert more people. I feel Cardboard / GearVR / Go might have done a lot of damage in convincing people that VR truly is awesome because they just weren’t good enough. Quest with the Link capability is such an amazing value now, there is no need for a product like Go. When there’s a wireless Quest that is more comfortable and cheaper, that’s the future of VR. Better headsets and better content will drive the future of VR.”

The post Oculus Go’s Place In VR History Comes Into Focus As Industry Bids Farewell appeared first on UploadVR.

Oculus Go Sales to End, no new Apps After 2020

Oculus Go GDC Promo 03

The virtual reality (VR) industry is moving at such a rapid rate that 12 months can seem like an age ago, new hardware appears, gameplay mechanics are improved an so much more. With that in mind, today, Facebook has announced that sales of Oculus Go will now finish, putting an end to 3 degrees-of-freedom (3DoF) products from the company.

Oculus Go GDC Promo Hero

The little grey headsets launched a couple of years ago, bridging the gap between the Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift. It provided a tidy all-in-one solution for entry level VR gaming, as well as being used by businesses and other organisations who were embracing VR.

But just like the Oculus Go helped kill off Gear VR, when Oculus Quest launched in 2019 that signalled the end of Oculus Go; why have basic 3DoF controls when 6DoF was so much more immersive.

“That’s why we’re going all-in, and we won’t be shipping any more 3DOF VR products,” said Oculus in a blog post. “We’ll end sales of Oculus Go headsets this year as we double down on improving our offerings for Quest and Rift.”

Oculus Go Lenses

That doesn’t mean to say your Oculus Go is now suddenly dead weight. While you won’t be able to buy the headsets Oculus will: “continue to maintain the system software with bug fixes and security patches through 2022.” But, this year will see the software side being wound down. “We won’t be shipping new features for Oculus Go moving forward, and we’ll no longer accept new Oculus Go apps or app updates into the Store after December 4, 2020,” Oculus notes. “We’ll stop adding new Go apps into the Store after December 18, 2020.” 

For most of 2020, stock of any of Oculus’ headsets has been highly erratic due to the coronavirus pandemic. Currently, Oculus’s UK website is completely out of stock of all three and when stock is available it doesn’t last long. So that’s the end of Oculus Go, bringing Facebook’s hardware lineup to two. However, as VRFocus has previously reported, could a smaller, light Oculus Quest be on the way within the next year? For further Oculus hardware and software updates, keep reading VRFocus.

Facebook To Stop Selling Oculus Go, Vows No More 3DOF Headsets

Facebook will stop selling Oculus Go this year as the company sharpens its focus on fully positionally tracked VR headsets like Oculus Quest.

Oculus Go entered the market in 2018 as Facebook’s first standalone VR headset. Priced at $199 and pitched as a media viewer, Go transitioned VR developers supporting Facebook’s products from the earlier Gear VR phone-powered headsets to the more robust (and more expensive) Oculus Quest which started shipping in 2019.

Ending The 3DOF Era

While Oculus Go combined the benefits of standalone VR with one of the lowest prices for an all-in system we’ve ever seen — dropping to $149 this year before its retirement — the headset also severely limited input options and could only track the rotation of your head, aka 3DOF. Both Oculus Quest and the PC-powered Rift fully track head position, aka 6DOF. While Quest sells for $399 and is heavier than Go, the addition of 6DOF tracking for both head and hand movement is a considerable upgrade for both comfort and overall experience. The feature is necessary to play VR’s most popular titles, including those from Beat Games, Sanzaru Games and Ready At Dawn — the first three VR-focused game studios Facebook acquired over the last few months.

“You’ve told us loud and clear that 6DOF feels like the future of VR,” a prepared statement from Facebook explains. “That’s why we’re going all-in, and we won’t be shipping any more 3DOF VR products. We’ll end sales of Oculus Go headsets this year as we double down on improving our offerings for Quest and Rift.”

Facebook removed Go from its business program in January and an editorial we published last month suggested Facebook’s next Quest should try to combine the lower weight of Go with the feature set of Quest and the visuals of a high-end Rift.  Late last year, Facebook retired its Rooms social service for Go while only announcing support for its upcoming Horizon social networking service on the Rift and Quest.

With the latest confirmation today, Facebook says it will stop accepting new Oculus Go apps and app updates for its store on December 4, 2020, and won’t add any more new apps to the store after December 18, 2020.

“If you own an Oculus Go headset, you’ll still be able to use it even after sales of Oculus Go end. We’ll also continue to maintain the system software with bug fixes and security patches through 2022,” a statement from Facebook explains.

The post Facebook To Stop Selling Oculus Go, Vows No More 3DOF Headsets appeared first on UploadVR.

Hulu Ends Support For Some VR Platforms, Including PSVR And Oculus Go

Hulu quietly ended support for several VR platforms this week, including PlayStation VR, Oculus Go and Windows MR headsets. The only two headsets with continuing Hulu support, at the time of writing, are the Oculus Gear VR (not Quest) and Oculus Rift.

Bad news for VR users subscribed to Hulu – it looks like the streaming platform has started slowly winding down its supported VR platforms this week. As of June 17, users of now-unsupported VR headsets won’t be able to access and stream Hulu on their headsets anymore. As reported by Road to VR, Oculus Go, Windows MR, PlayStation VR, and Google Daydream all became unsupported platforms as of June 17, 2020, according to their respective Hulu help articles.

Oculus Rift and Oculus Gear VR remain the only VR platforms currently supported. Some of the platforms, such as Google Daydream, losing support may not come as a surprise. However it is a bit surprising to see the Gear VR remains supported while popular platforms such as PSVR and Oculus Go are left behind. That being said, there could be plans to drop Rift and Gear VR support in the near future as well, but hopefully not.

Unlike many other streaming services with international options, Hulu is only available in the United States and offers both streaming on demand and live TV streaming. Luckily, several other streaming services still have VR offerings, the biggest of which is, of course, Netflix. The VR app for Netflix is available across many VR headsets and puts you in a cozy winter cabin with a giant virtual TV screen for your viewing pleasure.

Will you miss Hulu on your VR headset? Let us know in the comments.

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Facebook’s $1000 Oculus Quest For Business Platform Is Now Available To All Companies

Today Facebook announced that its enterprise-edition Oculus Quest that sells for $1,000 as part of its Oculus for Business platform is now available for all companies to purchase.

Back in January Facebook withdrew its 3DOF headset, the Oculus Go, from the business platform and began offering the Oculus Quest instead as part of a new Oculus for Business initiative. However, that was only in closed beta until now.

When a business purchases a Quest through the Oculus for Business platform for $1,000, they’re not getting a consumer device. Instead, this Quest is specifically designed for their company with enterprise-focused features like a kiosk demo mode and two years of enterprise-quality support via phone, live chat, or email.

Business edition Quests feature a custom operating system that doesn’t access the typical Quest store for downloading games and other consumer-facing content. Instead, businesses get unique features such as multiple device setup, the ability to load the headsets with their own content to launch directly, and even remote access.

oculus-business-multiple-device-setup-quest

The multi-device setup should help speed things up for businesses at events and for internal use. Using a separate version of the Oculus mobile app, businesses can simultaneously setup and update several headsets at once with the app as a central hub.

When using an Oculus for Business Quest the user interface is different as well, placing company-approved content at the front and center rather than needing to sideload things or access a store that wasn’t designed for enterprise use cases.

Facebook has some details on the Oculus for Business platform in a blog post on the Oculus website and a landing page Oculus for Business page right here.

The post Facebook’s $1000 Oculus Quest For Business Platform Is Now Available To All Companies appeared first on UploadVR.

Oculus Quest & Rift S are Currently Back in Stock

Oculus Rift S

Over the last few months, Facebook has struggled to maintain any sort of stock levels for Oculus Quest and Rift S, whether that’s on the official website or elsewhere. If you’ve been keenly awaiting stock to return and have the cash waiting then today’s a good day to buy, as several countries are showing the headsets are available for purchase via Oculus.com.

Oculus Rift S

The stock levels aren’t universal and likely won’t be maintained for long, but here are the stock listings as of this morning (14th May).

Oculus Stock LevelsOculus QuestOculus Rift SOculus Go
UKYesYesNo
USANoNoNo
IrelandYesYesNo
AustraliaYesNoNo
AustriaYesYesNo
BelgiumYesYesNo
CanadaNoNoNo
DenmarkYesYesNo
FinlandYesYesNo
FranceYesYesNo
GermanyYesYesNo
IcelandYesYesNo
ItalyYesYesNo
JapanYesNoNo
NetherlandsYesYesNo
New ZealandYesNoNo
NorwayYesYesNo
PolandYesYesNo
South KoreaNoNoNo
SpainYesYesNo
SwedenYesYesNo
SwitzerlandYesYesNo
TaiwanYesNoNo

Delivery won’t take that long either. On the UK website if you order today the estimated delivery in Tuesday, 19th May.

Oculus Quest Lifestyle 5

Oculus Quest has been the most popular of the two thanks to its easy standalone design, with no PC or cables to worry about. The device tends to see regular software releases on the Oculus Store, recent ones include fitness app Supernatural, Audio Trip, Pixel Ripped 1995, Felix & Paul Studios and Lies Beneath.

During an investor call in April, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “Quest has surpassed our expectations. I wish we could make more of them faster during this period.” By the looks of it the company has now begun catching up, with manufacturing in countries like China beginning to return.

Facebook is also looking towards what’s next for standalone VR, reportedly working on a smaller, lighter Oculus Quest.

Whether these stock levels continue to endure remains to be seen, certainly looking more positive. VRFocus will continue its coverage of Oculus, reporting back with the latest updates.

Chart-topping Lewis Capaldi is Live in Oculus Venues Tomorrow

LEWIS CAPALDI Oculus Venues

Oculus Venues has been ramping up its efforts to keep virtual reality (VR) fans entertained by providing several concerts from high-profile artists like Offset and Wiz Khalifa. Tomorrow will see Scottish artist Lewis Capaldi team up with Supersphere for a unique set.

LEWIS CAPALDI Oculus Venues

Thanks to the current lockdown measures Capaldi will be performing his set from his parent’s home, broadcast through Oculus Venues and simulcast on his Facebook page at 4 pm PST/7 pm EST (12 am BST 14th May).

Capaldi’s debut album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent was a massive hit in the UK, containing his breakout single Someone You Loved. According to the UK’s Official Charts Company, the album and single were the biggest of 2019.

Securing Song of the Year honours and Best New Artist at the 2020 BRIT Awards he spent three weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as being nominated for a GRAMMY Award.

LEWIS CAPALDI Oculus Venues

The set will see the singer perform Someone You Loved alongside his latest single Before You Go, which has already done well in both US and UK charts. “Capaldi turned to Supersphere and Oculus Venues because of the technology’s unique ability to allow fans to feel close to him in a way that two-dimensional streams through YouTube and other platforms can’t offer,” notes the press statement.

Oculus Venues is free to download for Oculus Quest or Oculus Go, also playing host to sports events, comedy shows and other entertainment.  VRFocus will continue its coverage of Oculus Venues, reporting back with the latest concert announcements.