PlutoSphere is a new cloud streaming platform in beta that lets Quest users play PC VR games without requiring a gaming rig—a big investment if you’re looking to play SteamVR titles like Half-Life: Alyx. Developers Pluto VR have been teasing it for the past few months, however now Quest owners will be able to finally see if it’s up to snuff via SideQuest.
PlutoSphere essentially lets you play your own games from Steam, the Epic Games Store, or the Oculus PC app—basically any app store you can install—all without needing a gaming computer capable of playing those graphically-intense titles.
The process is this: download PlutoSphere via SideQuest, have either a Quest or Quest 2, a 50 Mbps Internet connection, and a WiFi 6 router capable of 5 GHz. If you’ve never used SideQuest before, the unofficial Quest app store requires a few hoops to jump through. Check out our how-to guide to get started.
The download is free, however time allotment with the virtual gaming rig is measured in tokens. During its Early Access period each user starts with a limited supply of tokens automatically each day, however if you want to keep connected you’ll have to buy tokens via the PlutoSphere token store to continue.
All info is wiped from the virtual rig once you’re finished with a session, which means you’ll have to download all of your games there again when you start back up. The virtual computer boasts PC specs (and likely network specs) that would put any home rig to shame though, packing a Intel Xeon Platinum 8259CL CPU@ 2.50 GHz, NVIDIA Tesla T4, and 32GB RAM.
“Getting to Early Access on SideQuest has been a significant milestone for us and our community. We couldn’t have done it without our Plutoneers: our dedicated early adopters and testers,” said Forest Gibson, Co-founder of Pluto.
We haven’t had a chance to try out PlutoSphere ourselves, however it’s currently sitting at a [3.8/5] rating on SideQuest. Many users have reported acceptable latency levels, something that can make or break any cloud gaming service.
This is especially true for VR since it requires input latency measured around 10-20 milliseconds to be unnoticeable by the user. We’ll be trying out PlutoSphere is the coming days to see just what it’s made of, so check back soon.
PlutoSphere is launching today in early access on SideQuest offering a path to play PC VR content like Half-Life: Alyx and Boneworks on Meta Quest and future standalones without the requirement of owning a PC.
The service is available starting today from Pluto VR on SideQuest: “PlutoSphere supports Oculus Quest and Quest 2 during our limited launch, but will eventually support additional hardware,” the SideQuest listing says. “Steam comes pre-installed with PlutoSphere, but any PC games or apps you already own on other platforms will also be accessible to you. Install any other Windows apps you want.”
A press release from Pluto VR adds that “users can access their Steam and Epic Games Store libraries.”
We did a short demo of the service last year and said “it essentially felt identical to using Virtual Desktop on a local network with a PC. If you’re fine with that kind of latency you’ll probably be fine with services like PlutoSphere.” We have yet to take the newest version of PlutoSphere for a trip into some our favorite PC VR titles just yet, but we plan to soon and will report back our findings.
We also sat down in our virtual recording studio with Pluto VR co-founder Forest Gibson:
Gibson notes that VRChat seems to be popular among early PlutoSphere users alongside the aforementioned physics-based powerhouses.
“It’s really a different experience to be on the VRChat version of the Quest client versus the PC client,” he told us. “You kind of feel like you’re a second class citizen because you get lower quality avatars. You don’t have access to the same worlds. And so surprisingly, we’ve actually seen a lot of people really like that.”
For best results, you’ll need “a 50 Mbps Internet connection, 5 GHz WiFi 6 Router” and “Early Access users can use the service for free for a limited time each day with the option to purchase more time via Pluto tokens,” according to Pluto.
Prices might fluctuate, but Gibson told us they are taking an “arcade model” approach to pricing with tokens that “boils down to around $1-$3 USD per hour depending on how many tokens are purchased at a time.” Prices are listed here.
You can find our guide to sideloading and SideQuest here.
Pluto VR originally began as a social startup releasing its communications service Pluto for SteamVR users back in 2018. Today, the company has announced its latest product, moving away from social and into high-end streaming for Oculus Quest with Plutosphere.
Unlike apps such as Virtual Desktop where you can stream your SteamVR library to Oculus Quest if you have a compatible PC, PlutoSphere utilises cloud streaming technology so no PC is required. The platform will allow users to access their Steam and Epic Games Store libraries to play on Oculus Quest/Quest 2 as well as being able to install and run any OpenVR or OpenXR videogame or application.
To enable this your setup will need to meet some basic requirements. PlutoSphere needs a minimum of 50 Mbps internet and a 5 GHz WiFi 6 Router, plus the Oculus Quest of course. Pluto VR does plan to add support for smartphones, Microsoft Hololens, and Nreal’s mixed reality glasses in the future.
“PlutoSphere represents a major milestone in the spatial computing industry. It opens the doors of closed platforms, allowing consumers to experience content regardless of their device,” said Forest Gibson, Co-founder of Pluto in a statement. “Now you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on gaming rigs, graphics cards, and premium VR headsets to play popular PC VR titles.”
“This is just the beginning for what we have planned for PlutoSphere. Multi app, a persistent social layer across applications, and AR support are just a few features we are rolling out later this year,” Forest adds.
It’s taken Pluto VR five years of development to reach this point, participating in the 5G Open Innovation Lab during that time. The initial launch will be a phased rollout with Oculus Quest users able to reserve their place on the official website.
As the rollout continues VRFocus will bring you further updates.
Pluto is a virtual reality (VR) product that aims to bring people together by contecting them together in virtual space, to provide the same feeling as face-to-face conversation.
The problem with none visual communication, as Pluto VR describes it, is the loss of presence and shared understanding that comes from being able to read each other’s reactions and body language in real time. Subtle movements and facial expressions are key to successfully communication with each other and provide key information such as knowing when to speak. The solution to this problem was to be found in VR and from that idea, Pluto VR was formed and the application Pluto began development.
Following a round of investment seeking last year the company – co-founded by John Vechey, one of the foundering members of PopCap – was able to secure an impressive $13.9 million USD of funding. Led by venture capitalist firm Maveron, the injecting of cash has allowed Pluto VR to continue its work on Pluto and fulfil the goal of bringing communication to VR. Now, with the release of Pluto onto Steam Early Access, it has managed to achieve that goal.
Pluto will allow users to connect with friends while in any SteamVR application, be it an individual or multi-person application. Users will be able to call and chat with friends around the world and bring that sense of presence that comes from face-to-face conversation in the virtual space. Bring a friend or two into a multiplayer videogame and explore the world together. Create artwork while connecting with other people and share your work with ease. All of your contacts are easily accessible at anytime as well thanks to the Pluto Dashboard Overlay, meaning there is no need to exit out of applications and remove yourself from the experience.
Now available on Steam in Early Access, Pluto is available for free and is said to work with any SteamVR application. With support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets, Pluto aims to create new ways for users to connect, regardless of physical or vertical location and hardware choice.
VRFocus will bring you all the updates on Pluto as it continues to develop over the coming months.
Pluto, a Seattle based VR startup which reeled in a $14 million Series A investment last year, today launched their unique Pluto application in Early Access via Steam. Instead of functioning as a standalone VR chatroom like many social VR apps, Pluto brings the fabric of social VR to any SteamVR application, allowing friends’ avatars to join you for a chat inside of whatever virtual world your inhabiting.
I had a chance to check out the latest build of Pluto, and used it to join the company’s co-founder, John Vechey, and communications manager, Serah Delaini, for a virtual chat.
Pluto’s desktop interface | Image captured by Road to VR
After installing Pluto through Steam, I launched it and, using a desktop interface, was able to quickly make a new account, configure a handful of avatar options, and then add Vechey and Delaini to my contact list via their usernames. Once we were connected, a call dialogue popped up on my screen; I clicked the Answer button and then put on my headset. Though I found myself standing in SteamVR’s usual ‘void’ space, suddenly the avatars of Vechey and Delaini, represented by their floating head and hands, appeared in front of me. We greeted each other and began talking, similar to a number of other social VR applications out there.
The beauty of Pluto though, is that Vechey and Delaini’s avatars stayed with me no matter which application I was in, instead of requiring that I stay in the same virtual space as them. I was able to paint in Tilt Brush and vault across obstacle courses in Climbey, all while continuing to see and talk to the pair.
For now, I can’t see their environments, nor can they see mine, save for the ability to use a keybinding to send a screenshot of my view, but the Pluto team says they’ve got a few different ideas for how users can let others participants see inside of their current VR application.
Image courtesy Pluto
Pluto is neatly managed from its own menu found inside the SteamVR dashboard, with options to hide the avatars of those you’re talking to (while allowing you to continue to hear and speak), invite new people to the conversation, and more.
Vechey told me that the company is taking a narrow focus; they want to solve VR cross-app communication and do it well, without being tempted to create yet another social VR app which is isolated from other VR apps. Part of that focus has been on optimizing for latency, Vechey said, in order to make the person to person communication feel as natural as possible. The voice chat portion of Pluto is of decent quality, and also positional, and through I don’t have any hard numbers, the back and forth nature of conversation did feel very tight.
With Pluto, you can have virtual chats with people no matter where you are inside of SteamVR, regardless of the application you’re using. Whileit’s not terribly hard to do the same sort of thing with existing voice-chat only solutions, being able to look at the avatars of the people you’re speaking with, and hear their voices actually placed in space rather than coming from inside your head, makes the communication feel a lot more immersive and natural.
Image courtesy Pluto
While most social VR apps, like Facebook Spaces, are trying to bring people into their application and then let people have experiences inside, Pluto is taking the inverse approach. By effectively creating a platform-wide foundation for VR communication, Pluto is filling an important need that the various VR platforms haven’t solved yet. If the company succeeds, it could make VR as a whole feel a lot more interconnected.
But that’s just the start. Pluto’s long term roadmap is even more ambitious and takes an impressively long view. While today, Pluto runs essentially unbeknownst to other VR applications, Vechey says that, in the future, there’s benefits to be had by making applications aware that users are chatting together in Pluto, like allowing the application to communicate with Pluto to use it’s own avatars and voice system, or vice-versa, making the whole ‘VR inside of VR’ communication that much more seamless.
While today Pluto offers little in the way of user to user interaction beyond voice and body language, the company has been experimenting with the first inklings of Pluto-to-app interactions. Serah Delaini, the company’s communications manager, demonstrated how she could send me a Tilt Brush painting through Pluto, which I could open and view inside of my own instance of the game. While many VR applications aren’t designed to handle this kind of sharing, Vechey told me, the company is working with standards groups with the hopes of advancing that discussion, such that objects and information can move more freely from one VR app to another, with Pluto as one possible bridge.
Vechey pointed out that what Pluto does—projects arbitrary information into another reality—is conceptually similar to doing AR inside of VR. Indeed, the company fully expects its solution to expand to AR in the future, and bridge AR and VR together, such that you could have users in a given Pluto chat projected into whatever reality you’re currently in, whether that be your actual reality or virtual reality.
In the long run, Vechey says, the company is building Pluto for a future where virtual people, objects, and environments are fluid, rather than intrinsically linked and quarantined within individual applications. Much like I can take a picture on my smartphone’s camera app and then share it to Facebook—where it can then be downloaded, modified, and then shared again elsewhere—Pluto’s vision of the future of AR and VR is one where we I might be able to join a friend in VR, and then choose to share a 3D model I built in Google Blocks by simply opening the application, picking up the model, and handing it to my friend, who could then take and use that object in whatever reality they are currently inhabiting. Pluto, Vechey hopes, would serve as the underlying fabric making that possible.
The world is more connected than it has ever been. We are used to being able to contact friends, family and business partners all over the world without needing to leave our PC chairs. Conversely, one of the criticisms of virtual reality (VR) is that it is inherently isolating as an experience.
Pluto VR is one company that is seeking to overcome this problem by implementing social media aspects into the VR experience. Based in Seattle and founded by one of the co-founders of casual videogaming giant PopCap, John Vechey. Pluto VR was initially exploring several avenues of development, but one that seems to have stuck is a social overlay for helping VR users connect with each other. The system allows VR users who may be involved in totally different experiences to still communicate without needing to access a specific social space.
“The purpose of Pluto is to help humanity transcend physical location,” Vechey said in a statement. “While digital technologies today allow us to connect instantly from anywhere in the world with text, voice or video, they aren’t necessarily bringing us closer together. With Pluto, you’ll be able to connect with anyone anywhere, as if you were together in person.”
The company just announced the closing of a Series A funding round, which resulted in Pluto VR receiving $13.9 million (USD) of funding, lead by venture capitalist firm Maveron, who told Geekwire: “We see this as a way in which people interact with the world around them; with each other; with entertainment; with work.”
The funding will allow Pluto VR to continue to hire more staff and rolling the social VR app to more users for testing. The social app is currently in its Alpha phase, and VR developers can try the current build for themselves through the Pluto VR website.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Pluto VR and other VR start-ups when it comes in.
At GDC this year, SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) showed a couple of new eye tracking demos at Valve’s booth. They added eye tracking to avatars in the social VR experiences of Pluto VR and Rec Room, which provided an amazing boost to the social presence within these experience.
There are so many subtle body language cues that are communicated non-verbally through the someone else’s eye contact, gaze position, or even blinking. Since it’s difficult to see your own eye movement due to saccades, it’s best to experience eye tracking in a social VR context. Without having a recording of your eyes in social VR, you have to rely upon looking at a virtual mirror as you look to the extremes of your periphery, observing your vestibulo–ocular reflex as your eyes lock gaze while you turn your head, or winking at yourself.
I had a chance to catch up with SMI’s Head of the OEM business Christian Villwock at GDC to talk about the social presence multiplier of eye tracking, the anatomy of the eye, and some of the 2x performance boosts they’re seeing with foveated rendering on NVIDIA GPUs. Continue reading "Deepening Social Presence with SMI Eye Tracking"
Pluto is a new social app currently in alpha from the Seattle-based startup Pluto VR. Instead of taking its cues from multi-user spaces like AltspaceVR or VR Chat however, which provide users with various shared virtual environments and must be run to the exclusion of other apps, Pluto is focused on delivering the convenience of an always-on video messaging apps like Skype or Google Hangouts. This means you can use any VR game or app you want and still be able to take a sort of ‘VR call’ from friends. To learn more about VR’s newest social tool, I popped into the app with Pluto VR co-founder Forest Gibson and Mad Scientist (real job title) Shawn Whiting, co-founder of early social VR space ConVRge.
Once started, Pluto runs quietly in the background of any app you choose to run, hiding itself in a SteamVR menu tab. Clicking on the tab, you can see your Steam friend’s list, settings, and configure your avatar.
Pluto offers standard choices of face shape, skin tone, facial hair, eyes, nose…etc. I subscribe to the Monster Factory school of avatar making: The more horrible I can make my avatar, the better the avatar maker. Unfortunately I was only able to create a perfectly presentable Mii-style avatar.
Through the connections tab you can see who’s online, and start both voice and ‘Visual Calls’ directly. The emphasis on a ‘Visual Call’ over ‘VR Call’ likely comes from the fact that Pluto is setting itself up also serve AR devices in the near future.
Pluto VR’s Mad Scientist Shawn Whiting initiated a call, and founder Forest Gibson popped in shortly after. Floating heads and hands greeted me. I was seated at the moment, but got up to talk to both of them face to face (seeing as home I was now hosting two others in my tiny office at home).
Having haunted social VR applications since the Oculus Rift DK1 days, the first things I automatically asked was “So, where do we go?”
Gibson explained that Pluto wouldn’t actually take us anywhere like other social VR apps, and that the chats take place parallel to whatever it is you’re doing at that moment. To demonstrate, we all opened our own apps which were invisible to eachother, and went along our merry ways.
playing a little ‘Space Pirate Trainer’ while in a serious business meeting
Opening Google Earth VR, a notoriously bandwidth-hungry app that loads world geometry in real-time, I didn’t notice any significant disruptions in the chat as we kept on our discussion about Pluto’s vision of the future.
Gibson explained that Pluto VR hasn’t focused on building any bespoke in-game items or environments, instead opting to leave the system open for whatever standard arises.
Life is fast, but our virtual reality lives are still slow. We plug in and play one or two games and take off the headset. However Pluto VR sees a future of always-on AR/VR headsets, where quickly popping into someone’s virtual space doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing your own in the process.
Pluto VR is currently taking applications for its alpha. Follow the link below for more information.
At GDC this year, 
