Virtual reality is so old now that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory worked on it back in 1977. Despite these surprisingly historic origins, tech’s perennial “next big thing” never quite made its moment in the sun for the next five decades. After 2016 came and went – when the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR all came to subdued fanfare – one had to wonder if VR would ever deliver on its enticing promise. A bit like Tottenham Hotspur winning a big trophy or a vegan cheese that doesn’t taste gross.
Then, last Christmas, when we least expected it, virtual reality finally reached its tipping point. The culprit? Facebook’s Oculus Quest 2 headset, which has sold more than 1.1 million units since its launch in October 2020 and is actually legitimately good. It works without the need to connect to a console or computer, is refreshingly comfortable to wear, and has a strong catalog of content to immerse yourself in, provided that the most popular titles have permeated pop culture themselves. “I got my hair cut and was asked what I did and the barber raised Beat Saber without prompting,” said Mike Verdu, vice president of content at Facebook Reality Labs.
Verdu is an avowed “VR skeptic” who has become a believer. Since 2019, he’s been the man responsible for making Oculus a success – not an easy task considering historical precedent. Since Facebook acquired the technology’s best-known brand for $ 2.3 billion in 2014, it’s often caught between an audience of early adopter loyalists and the average Joe who needs a headset that works right out of the box. Exclusive titles from Respawn Entertainment (Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order) and Insomniac Games (Spider-Man, Ratchet & Clank) came and went with little fanfare, while technology was limited to even those with super-powered, super-expensive ones PC setups. All of that changed with the introduction of the fully wireless Quest in 2018.
“When I first tried Quest, it really felt like I saw the first iPhone,” says Verdu. “It was like a revelation, like you had those transcendent moments where you said, ‘Oh, the world has changed you in pretty profound ways.'”
Granted, that’s exactly what you’d expect from someone whose job it is to sell the world on VR, but both the critical reception of the updated Quest 2 and its sales numbers go a long way towards confirming Verdu’s passion. Every third paid app in the Oculus Store generated sales of more than $ 1 million, while The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners reached a whopping $ 29 million in its first year of sales. In other words, these headsets will be bought and used beyond the holiday season. Therefore, Mark Zuckerberg has already confirmed that a successor to Quest 2 is in the works as part of a recent call for profits.
“In the time it takes you to switch from one generation of consoles to the next, there can be seven or eight generations of phones,” explains Verdu. “I think this will be more of a model for this business than an Xbox or a PlayStation.”
This annual new product launch enabled Oculus to move from PC-dependent headsets to the wireless Oculus Go in 2018, paving the way for its larger successor in the Quest a year later. Crucially, VR’s underlying technology was able to support this vision with more powerful mobile chipsets and increasingly detailed displays that justify such a fast cadence. The big challenge? Enough new content to keep Quest owners busy with their headsets. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series and a revival of the long-dormant Splinter Cell franchise have already been confirmed for the platform, while several unannounced titles of similar stature have been teased.
In the meantime, it’s really up to smaller teams to fill the gap between the major releases. As Verdu’s hairdresser found out for himself, the arcade rhythm game Beat Saber quickly became synonymous with virtual reality, despite being developed by a team of three from Prague. Similar is the case with the Call Of Duty-like online shooter Onward, which was created almost single-handedly for the Oculus Rift by Dante Buckley, founder and CEO of Downpour Interactive, before being ported to Quest last year, where it was more than $ 10 million in sales in six months.
“I grew up playing games like Call Of Duty, Battlefield and Halo, and I looked at the market and asked, ‘What do I want to play? What is not there right now? I’ll build this, ”says Buckley. “I know this is crazy, but you have a life to live.”
Elsewhere, emerging publishers are trusted to bring huge franchises to a new life in VR, as Coatsink Software did with Jurassic World Aftermath last year. Aftermath, a cel-shaded Velociraptor freakout festival, sees players stumble through the rubble of Isla Nublar as they are chased by the least-friendly Cretaceous residents. This idea was launched in just over a year by a team that has been immersed in virtual reality since Kickstarter funded DK1 (Development Kit) in 2013.
“My brother and I were huge Jurassic Park fans as kids. I saw it when I was six years old three times in a row, ”said Tom Beardsmore, CEO of Coatsink. “So it was totally surreal to play the Universal Lot Pitching until September 2019. You can never imagine that it will bear fruit until it does. “
With the hardware in place and the Oculus Store proving to be an increasingly viable platform for developers, the main obstacle for Verdu right now is time. Just last month, Apple’s former head of hardware development, Dan Riccio, moved to an unspecified new role that Bloomberg reported is developing VR and AR (augmented reality) headsets. Likewise, in an interview with the Washington Post late last year, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan teased a later sequel to the moderately successful PlayStation VR headset.
The result? Facebook pretty much has a free hand to work out the VR market for itself and the Quest for the next year or so. To take advantage of this opportunity, Verdu needs to convince even more consumers to try VR. This is easier in a pandemic, when half the world is stuck at home and desperately in need of entertainment, but is still notoriously difficult.
“The biggest barrier to adopting VR is communicating an experience that you won’t really get until you try it,” says Verdu. “So we’ve made great strides in mixed reality streaming, where we’re actually showing a player in the environment they’re seeing.”
While it’s no surprise Facebook thinks the future of virtual reality is social, it’s hard to imagine that some of the defining cultural moments of Animal Crossing’s past year were Twitter-devouring escapism and Among Us’s ability to tear friendships with one mere mention of the word “sus”. Until virtual reality converts can better share their experiences, word of mouth is the order of the day. Even after half a century, this technology is still in the works. Thanks to a combination of foresight and perseverance, the Oculus Quest is at the forefront of its revolution in a moment when it has never been easier and funnier to jump in.
£ 299. At amazon.de
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