Meta announced that security patches for Quest 1 are officially coming to an end next month, marking the final phase-out of the now five-year-old headset.
Meta sent an email to Quest 1 owners on Friday stating the 2019-era Quest will no longer receive any security updates or bug fixes starting August 31st, 2024.
While users will still be able to download and play supported apps, the company notes that “if any security vulnerabilities are discovered in the future, private data that is directly stored on the device or accessible from it would be at risk of compromise.”
Quest [left] and Quest 2 [right] | Photo by Road to VRThe first indication that Quest 1 was headed for the chopping block came in early 2023 when Meta announced that first-party social apps Parties and Meta Horizon Home would no longer support Quest 1.
It’s unclear whether Quest 2 will meet a similar fate so quickly. While Meta hasn’t released official sales figures, the company’s 2020-gen standalone is widely considered the best-selling VR headset to date. To boot, it still holding the top spot as a the most popular VR headset on Steam, with 38.10% of surveyed users using Quest 2 to play SteamVR games.
Meanwhile, Meta appears to making room for a new headset to supplant Quest 2 in its lineup, as Quest is now out of stock in nearly all regions when purchased direct from Meta.
You can see the full email from Meta to Quest 1 owners below:
Hi [User],
We’d like to let you know that starting August 31, 2024, we will no longer provide bug fixes or security updates for Meta Quest 1 headsets. You will still be able to download new apps and continue using your existing apps as long as they are supported by the developer. However, if any security vulnerabilities are discovered in the future, private data that is directly stored on the device or accessible from it would be at risk of compromise.
This update follows our announcement in January 2023, when we stopped releasing new features and new Meta Quest apps for Quest 1 on the Quest Store.
We’re excited about the future of Meta Quest and look forward to providing you with more groundbreaking MR experiences.
In the meantime, Meta Store Support is available to assist you with general inquiries.
Beat Saber was the defining game on Quest when it came to the company’s first standalone at launch back in 2019, making the infectious block-slashing rhythm game a real system-seller. Now, Meta says it’s cutting Beat Saber’s online services for Quest 1 later this year.
The Meta-owned studio Beat Games revealed the news via a post on X, maintaining that all multiplayer functionality will be pulled come November 2nd, 2024:
Dear players, to focus our development efforts on our next projects within Beat Saber, we will no longer support Meta Quest 1 as of November 2, 2024. The game will continue to be playable, but Multiplayer functionality will stop and Leaderboards might be phased out in the future. pic.twitter.com/h7Jefa3g75
In an FAQ detailing the move, the studio clarifies it will also stop releasing Beat Saber updates or customer support for the Quest 1 devices.
“If you want to access the PC version of Beat Saber on your Meta Quest 1, you can do so via the Meta Quest Link,” the studio concludes.
Granted, since Beat Saber and all purchased DLC is tied to your Meta account, it is transferable and playable across the company’s family of devices, including Quest 2/3/Pro and and Rift/Rift S—Meta cross-buy included.
This shouldn’t come as any big surprise though, as Meta announced last year it was sunsetting Quest 1, noting that no new apps will be able to offer support for Quest 1 starting on April 30th, 2024.
This comes as the company seems to be winding down support for seemingly everything but Quest 3, as a few notable developers have decided against supporting the 2020-era Quest 2 or 2022-era Quest Pro, including Alien: Rogue Incursion and Batman: Arkham Shadow, both of which are slated to release later this year.
Meta announced last year it was sunsetting the original Quest, which was first released in 2019. While many developers of new apps have since stopped including the nearly five year-old headset as a supported device, now the company says it’s taking choice out of the equation, as no new apps will be able to offer support for Quest 1 starting on April 30th.
The company announced the news in an email to developers, seen below:
Notice to Quest 1 Developers
As we announced last year, we are implementing important changes to Quest 1. Beginning on April 30, 2024, we will discontinue support for new Quest 1 apps. This means that new apps created after this date cannot list Quest 1 as supported hardware:
– You will not be able to upload builds for new apps that only support Quest 1 – Builds for new apps that support other Quest devices along with Quest 1 will be able to be uploaded, but Quest 1 support will be blocked – New apps will not be listed in the catalog of Quest 1 apps in the Meta Store – Quest 1 users will not be able to search or purchase new apps created after April 30, 2024
As a reminder, we will continue to maintain the system software with critical bug fixes and security patches through August 2024.
We thank you and the entire Quest 1 community for your efforts in growing this ecosystem.
Meta announced in January 2023 that first-party social apps Parties and Meta Horizon Home would no longer support Quest 1, marking the company’s initial steps in sunsetting its first 6DOF standalone VR headset.
A little over one year after the launch of Quest 1, Meta released its successor, Quest 2, which featured higher resolution displays (1,440 × 1,600 OLED vs 1,920 × 1,832 LCD) and a higher refresh rate (72 Hz vs up to 120 Hz) driven by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2—a significant upgrade over the Quest 1’s Snapdragon 835.
Quest (left) comapred to Quest 2 (right) | Photo by Road to VR
Now, already in the third generation with the release of Quest Pro in late 2022 and Quest 3 in late 2023, the company has moved on to include mixed reality passthrough as a headlining feature for its headsets moving forward.
Given the five-year life span of Quest 1, it’s possible we may see a similar path forward for Quest 2, giving developers and consumers just another year with the admittedly still very functional VR headset. Considering however the company is still selling Quest 2 alongside Quest 3 and Quest Pro, it remains to be seen whether its second-gen standalone will give up the ghost so quickly.
The latest software update for Meta Quest, version v54, is now rolling out, bringing with it a few new quality-of-life features, such as new customization options for Home environments, in-headset app notifications, and better tracking for Quest Pro’s controller.
Customizable skyboxes let you change the sky above your head in your Home space, so you can choose from a number of presets, or even upload your own skybox to get the perfect atmosphere. Meta says its goal is to make Home Environments more personalized and customizable in the future.
The update also introduces in-headset notifications for 2D apps, such as Messenger, letting users interact with these apps without leaving their current game or app.
Meta says you’ll also be able to consolidate messages from the same source to streamline your notification feed, toggle a ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode, or disable notifications entirely for specific 2D apps. App notification are an opt-in feature that should prompt the first time you open a compatible app, so you won’t just start randomly receiving stuff, which is reassuring.
Additionally, Meta says v54 has improved Quest Touch Pro controller to enhance positional accuracy. Meta says these updates are gradually rolling out to all headsets.
Meta today announced it’s lowering the price of the 256GB version of Quest 2 as well as its more recent enthusiast-grade standalone, Meta Quest Pro.
Meta initially launched a 64GB and 256GB variants of Quest 2 in late 2020 for $300 and $400 respectively. A 128GB version was introduced in 2021, which replaced the 64GB version. To stave off rising costs, the company announced in July 2022 that it was raising the price of Quest 2 128GB and 256GB variants to $400 and $500 respectively.
Starting March 5th, Meta is now again restructuring its Quest 2 pricing by bringing the 256GB Meta Quest 2 from its current price of $500 to $430. Notably, the 128GB version of Quest 2 is staying at the same $400 price point.
Quest 2 (left), Quest Pro (right) | Photo by Road to VR
Meta Quest Pro is also seeing a price reduction on March 5th, bringing it from its $1,500 launch price to $1,000.
Meta says in a blogpost that pricing changes to Meta Quest 2 (256GB) will also update across Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK.
Quest Pro’s price will take effect US and Canada on March 5th, and March 15th in all of the other countries mentioned above.
The news of the Quest 2 and Quest Pro price change comes days after a report dropped from The Verge citing an internal memo on the company’s future roadmap.
A Quest Pro successor is also planned, but may come “way out in the future” after Ventura is released in 2024, the report maintained. Meanwhile, the company has sold 20 million Quest 2 headsets, however user retention has been a battle.
Provided the report is true, it seems the company is shaking up its pricing tiers to better entice Quest 2-owning enthusiasts into Quest Pro before it drops the more powerful Quest 3 later this year. Making the Quest 2 more accessible now will also make the “slightly more expensive” Quest 3 appear more attractive to users looking to upgrade then, and not now to the Quest Pro.
What are your thoughts on the new pricing strategy? Let us know in the comments below!
After some discussions internally and a few requests from fans, Purple Yonder decided hand tracking support would be the game’s first big piece of post-launch content.
“We really wanted to jump in at the deep end and see what we could do and if we could make it playable with hands and that’s what we’ve managed to do,” he told me. “It was a lot of work to get to that stage, a lot of challenges, but we’re there and it’s working really well.”
To place objects and build roads, you’ll point at an area of the map and use the familiar pinch gesture, found in many other hand tracking apps. However, movement with your hands is a bit unique in Little Cities — you close and drag your hands in a fist to move laterally, while moving fists closer or further apart will let you zoom. Moving fists in a steering wheel motion will rotate the map.
Apart from that, a lot of the remaining buttons and actions transferred from controllers to hands without much modification. The wristwatch mechanic, for example, works almost exactly the same as it does with controllers. “That just works really well with hand tracking because you just naturally look at your hand and that all still works the same way.”
“When you’re selecting things, if you haven’t played Little Cities, the way it works is you have like a build bubble and you pop that with your finger. And then you get a section of other bubbles which shows different options you can build. And that just works really well,” he explains. “We didn’t really have to change much to get that working with hand tracking and it just feels really good, this kind of tactile feeling. Cause it’s not only you kind of popping these bubbles to select things, but it feels like your real hands when you’re doing it.”
The Big Hands in Little Cities update is out now on the Quest platform. Both Quest 2 and the original Quest will support hand tracking, with players on the newer headset being able to take advantage of Hand Tracking 2.0.
SideQuest’s new in-headset app for Quest 2 and Quest streamlines the installation of custom home environments and popular community-made VR ports of classics like the original Doom, Quake, and Half-Life games.
The new app even makes it easier to find experimental App Lab projects that are also listed on SideQuest. You still need a PC to install SideQuest onto a Quest headset and sign up as a developer to get that access in the first place, but the SideQuest app now walks Quest owners through that process directly.
SideQuest has been available as a PC and Mac app almost as long as the first Quest headset, giving users a way to connect their Quest to a computer and sideload content that isn’t officially approved for the Quest Store. SideQuest is taking this a step further today by launching a new app that installs the platform directly onto Quest 2 and gives users an easier way to browse and install content entirely in-headset.
Previously, it was possible to install the Android mobile version of SideQuest onto a Quest headset for similar results. However, the interface wasn’t designed for VR and things didn’t always work. With this new version specifically designed for VR, SideQuest can be used in-headset with much less friction.
A computer is still required for first-time installation via USB and to install the core files for classic PC games, like the doom.wad file for the original Doom game from 1993. Once the SideQuest app is installed on Quest it can be launched from the Unknown Sources tab and used to browse and download content like QuestZDoom directly to the headset’s internal storage without using the SideQuest PC app.
There’s also a section in the app for custom home environments. Users can browse from a selection of community-made home environments, download them and swap them out for the default Meta options. SideQuest is also launching new guides and presets for creating custom homes, which should streamline the process of creating and exporting custom environments.
SideQuest can even run with multitasking in Quest 2 if you move it to the side. In the below screenshot I’ve got it running alongside the official Oculus Store after using it to install the Star Trek: The Next Generation bridge as my custom home.
It’s been a pretty decent year for VR so far, but there’s still a huge number of games releasing for Quest, PC VR and PSVR in the second half of 2022.
We’ve compiled a list of every confirmed title below — while some have confirmed release dates or months, there’s quite a few games without a specific date yet. Some just have a season or vague release window, but many others are just scheduled for 2022 without any other specifics.
At the very end, there’s a few games we know are in development, but without any indication of release window. Even if unlikely, a lot of these titles could hypothetically be a surprise release before the end of the year — fingers crossed.
2022 VR Games
Kayak VR: Mirage (June 28) – PC VR
A visually arresting take on kayaking in VR, this physics-driven experience lets you take part in single-player exploration and races across several stunning environments.
Wands Alliances (June 30) – Quest 2
Cortopia Studios follows up on its multiplayer spell-battling game with a new title that features 3v3 matches. Pick your spells and jump into arenas to magical combat with a tactical twist.
Vail VR (Beta, July 1) – PC VR
Competitive VR shooter Vail will be going into beta in July after an extensive alpha testing period.
Moss: Book II (July 21) – Quest 2
While already available on PSVR, this follow-up platformer starring adventurous mouse Quill will come to Quest 2 towards the end of July.
The Twilight Zone VR (July 14) – Quest 2
The Twilight Zone VR will launch with three different tales (or ‘episodes’), each essentially a mini story, that span different genres and are handled by different writers, much like a serialized TV show. A PSVR version will release at a later date — no word on potential PC VR or PSVR 2 releases just yet thought.
Nerf: Ultimate Championship (August 25) – Quest 2
Nerf: Ultimate Championship brings foam bullet action into VR as a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter. You’ll be able to choose between different blasters and play across control point and arena modes, with some parkour mechanics thrown in for good measure.
The Chewllers (Summer, Early Access) – Quest
This four-player co-op game will see you stand atop a tower, covering all angles as the horde or Chewllers approaches. Upgrade your weapons and repair your tower between waves to hold out as long as possible. The game will launch in early access for Quest this summer, with PC VR and PSVR releases planned later down the line.
Requisition VR (Early Access in September) – PC VR
When it launches this fall, NFL Pro Era will be the first officially-licensed NFL VR game, available for Quest 2 and PSVR. It will include all 32 professional NFL teams and will let you embody the quarterback during gameplay.
Espire 2 (November) – Quest 2
This sequel will offer more sandbox stealth with some new features and mechanics, alongside a brand new second campaign designed for co-op multiplayer. It will release in November for Quest 2, but no confirmation for other platforms yet.
Among Us VR (Holiday) – Quest 2, PC VR
Among Us VR brings the viral multiplayer game into VR, where one player embodies the impostor and must murder the other members without arousing suspicion or being discovered. It’s coming to Quest 2 and PC VR during the 2022 holiday period, but there’s no specific date just yet. A PSVR 2 release has also been confirmed for when the headset launches — whenever that may be.
2022 VR Releases – Date TBC
Bonelab – Quest 2, PC VR
This highly anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Boneworks is the next title from Stress Level Zero, launching this year for Quest 2 and PC VR. Bonelab is an action-adventure physics game with a brand new story and “two years of innovation and interaction engine progress” from Boneworks.
Red Matter 2 – Quest 2
Red Matter 2 will pick up right after the first game ended, taking you back to the mysterious planet plagued by horrific anomalies. You’re now on a rescue mission, searching for an old friend, with more environmental storytelling and puzzle solving. While it’s coming to Quest 2 this year, there’s no word on PSVR or PC VR releases just yet.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution – Quest 2, PC VR, PSVR
This Walking Dead follow-up game is set to release on all major headset platforms late this year, giving players a chance to step back into the world with a new map and weapons — including a gore-inducing chainsaw. A PSVR 2 release is also confirmed, but not until next year.
Gambit – Quest 2, PC VR
This co-op VR shooter will see you complete heist-style missions, shooting and looting with your friends through a 20+ hour campaign. It’s coming to Quest 2 and PC VR this year, but no confirmation of other platforms yet.
Killer Frequency – Quest 2
This will be the first VR title developed by Team 17, the acclaimed studio known for the Worms franchise. However, don’t expect a Worms-like game here– instead, this horror-comedy is set in the mid-US in the 1980’s, and casts players as a local radio host that must help the citizens of a small town avoid a mysterious masked killer.
Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom – Quest 2, PC VR
Based around the titular characters of Netflix fame, Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom is being developed by Doctor Who: Edge of Time studio Maze Theory and set for release later this year on Quest 2 and PC VR. It looks like a PSVR 2 release could be in the works too, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer for full confirmation it seems.
What the Bat
What the Bat is a VR follow-up to the flatscreen title What the Golf from Denmark-based studio Triband. You’ll have a bat in either hand, but you won’t be playing baseball — instead, you’ll do just about anything else. The game is coming to Quest 2 and PC VR later this year.
Ziggy’s Cosmic Adventure – Quest 2, PC VR
Ziggy’s Cosmic Adventure is an immersive pilot sim, where you’ll need to balance between ship combat and management while rocketing through space, coming late this year to Quest 2 and PC VR.
Propagation: Paradise Hotel – Quest 2
A sequel to Propagation VR, this single player horror sequel will see you fight in new encounters with all new mechanics. The game will release on “all major VR platforms” but Quest 2 is specifically confirmed for later this year.
Broken Edge – Quest 2, PC VR
This stylish multiplayer game will see two players go head-to-head in swordfighting combat. Developed by Trebuchet and published by Fast Travel Games, it’s coming to Quest 2 and PC VR later this year.
Hubris – PC VR
This stunning VR shooter is coming to PC VR later this year, with Quest and PSVR versions in the works as well.
Dyschronia: Chronos Alternate – Quest 2
The latest game from Tokyo-based MyDearest will see you play as Hal Scion, who will use his ability to access people’s memories to investigate the murder of a futuristic city’s founder. It’s coming to Quest 2 this year, with no confirmation of other headsets yet. It will be an episodic release split in three parts, but the studio aims to have all episodes release by the end of the year.
Paranormal Hunter
You’ll team up with up to four players in this ghost-hunting multiplayer title, set to release in early access for PC VR sometime this year.
Tea for God
After a long time available as a work in progress on Itch.io, Tea for God will properly launch for PC VR on Steam later this year. No news on whether the Quest version will see a similar full release anytime soon though, but keep an out.
Trial by Teng – PC VR
Solve puzzles and work off your ‘Karmic debt’ as you try to work your way out of hell in this satirical VR title, coming to PC VR headsets sometime this year.
Ultimechs – PC VR
Ultimechs is a pretty simple concept: it’s soccer, but instead of kicking the ball, you’re firing rockets at it from a giant mech. While the game is coming to “major VR platforms”, it’s only confirmed for release on PC VR later this year.
Ruinsmagus VR – PC VR, Quest 2
Play as a novice wizard to become a spell-wielding Magus through 26 narrative-drive quests with full Japanese voice acting. Originally set for a spring release, Ruinsmagus is coming to Quest and PC VR sometime this year.
These games are ones we know about, but have absolutely no release date — not even a rough year window.
It’s hard to say whether most (if any) of these will launch this year, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility, hence why we’ve included them.
Assassin’s Creed VR – Quest
Rumored to be titled Assassin’s Creed Nexus, we’ve not heard much about Ubisoft’s upcoming Quest title that will bring the famed franchise to VR for the first time. It could surprise launch later in the year, but we wouldn’t count on it.
At the earliest, that means a launch sometime this year, but at the latest, it means a launch by April 2023 . However, it’s still possible the game gets delayed past that — we’ll just have to wait and see.
Horizon: Call of the Mountain – PSVR 2
While not a confirmed PSVR 2 launch title, Call of the Mountain’s release date obviously hinges on when PSVR 2 itself will release. And yes, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that PSVR 2 will launch in 2022 — 2023 seems much more likely now.
But hypothetically, Call of the Mountain could be a PSVR 2 launch title if the headset released this year. Don’t hold your breath though.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Quest 2
Since it was announced last October, we’ve heard nothing about GTA: San Andreas on Quest. There’s a slim chance it launches later this year. Fingers crossed?
HeliSquad: Covert Operations – PC VR, Quest 2, Pico Neo Link 3
Only recently revealed, there’s no release window for this helicopter game coming from Warplanes studio Home Next Games.
Onward 2
While Mark Zuckerberg seemingly confirmed Onward 2 is in development, we’ve heard nothing since and there’s been no official announcement yet either. There’s a chance it could be announced and launched later this year, perhaps at Connect, but it’s hard to gauge how far development is.
Splinter Cell VR – Quest
All we know about this game is that it’s part of the Splinter Cell series and it’s coming to Quest — nothing else. It’s hard to see this releasing in 2022, given Assassin’s Creed seems likely to come first, but with so little information, it’s hard to know either way.
Resident Evil 8 VR & Other PSVR 2 Titles
As we covered above, it’s unclear when the PSVR 2 headset is launching. While a 2022 window is increasingly unlikely, Sony has yet to comment properly on the exact release.
The Meta Quest Summer Sale has begun, offering discounted bundles of games and sale prices for popular individual titles as well.
As usual, there are a couple of bundled packs that give you a discount off multiple games (and will usually adjust the discount to exclude any games you might already own too).
The Sports Starter Park offers a 33% discount three games — Golf+, The Thrill of the Fight and Eleven Table Tennis, bringing the total price down to $36 from $54. Then there’s the Battle It Out pack, offer 28% off Superhot, Gorn and The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners, them down to $56 from $78.
The Multiplayer Favorites pack gives you 9% off A Township Tale, Demeo and Walkabout Mini Golf, down to $35 from $38.50. As is tradition now, there’s also a Vader Immortal pack that gives you all three episodes for $21 — down 29% from $30.
There are also discounts on individual games, ranging from 20% off up to 40%. Here are some of the highlights:
– Unplugged for $14.99, down 40% from $24.99
– Myst for $17.99, down 40% from $29.99
– Ragnarock for $14.99, down 40% from $24.99
– Virtuoso for $14.99, down 25% from $19.99
– Ultrawings 2 for $17.99, down 28% from $24.99
– Jurassic World Aftermath Part One for $17.99, down 28% from $24.99
– Jurassic World Aftermath Part Two for $10.99, down 26% from $14.99
– Stride for $10.99, down 26% from $14.99
– A Township Tale for $6.99, down 30% from $9.99
– After the Fall for $27.99, down 30% from $27.99
– Demeo for $20.99, down 30% from $29.99
– Walkabout Mini Golf for $10.49, down 30% from 14.99
– Eleven Table Tennis for $13.99, down 30% from $19.99
You can view the full list of discounts here, with the sale running for a week, until June 26. There’s also a new daily deal every day, available for just 24 hours, which you’ll have to check back for each day.
It’s not the only VR sale coming up this week either, the Steam Summer Sale begins in just two days. We hope to see some decent deals there as well — stay tuned.
All we know about this game is that it’s part of the Splinter Cell series and it’s coming to Quest — nothing else. It’s hard to see this releasing in 2022, given Assassin’s Creed seems likely to come first, but with so little information, it’s hard to know either way.