If you’ve ever thought that music videos were a cool thing in VR, then it seems like Oculus heard you. With this latest update to Oculus Quest 2, users can immerse themselves in a wide variety of music videos through the Oculus TV service.
Announced on the Oculus official blog (currently only available in the US), the service allows Oculus Quest 2 users to browse music videos from a variety of genres from new and classic acts. Oculus has even partnered with big names in the music industry like Sony Music Group, BMG, Merlin, and others to ensure a wide variety of music videos are available.
The blog post also states that music videos can be shared with other Oculus users on your friends list as well as directly on your Facebook feed. Regarding the service itself, Oculus mentions that it “will continue to work with our music partners to create unique social experiences,” suggesting that this might just be the beginning of an ongoing project for the companies involved.
Analysis: just another VR gimmick?
While the ability to watch your favorite music videos in a VR environment will surely be an enticing prospect for many, we have to argue that this is nowhere near the most useful Oculus update the company could have worked on.
For one thing, it is unclear how many of these music videos can be viewed in a full 360 degree experience and how many can only be viewed on a virtual screen. One of the great attractions of virtual reality is that you are immersed in the experience right away. Due to the nature of VR, it’s easy to feel part of an experience you’re having. Something that is lost when all you essentially see is a virtual screen.
Oculus TV supports both VR180 and VR360 playback, so we hope the latter will be a big focus in the future if Oculus wants to commit to making music videos available through the service. Custom 360 degree music videos have been around for years and we’d love to see more of them on Oculus TV and it would definitely be something worth sharing with your friends.
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