Meta 'Pauses' Third-Party Headset Program (roadtovr.com) 22
Meta has paused its third-party Horizon OS headset program, effectively canceling planned VR headsets from Asus and Lenovo as it refocuses on "building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market." Road to VR reports: A little over a year and a half ago, Meta made an "industry-altering announcement," as I called the move in my reporting: the company was rebranding the Quest operating system to 'Horizon OS' and announced it was working with select partners to launch third-party VR headsets powered by the operating system. Meta specifically named Asus and Lenovo as the first partners it was working with to build new Horizon OS headsets. Asus was said to be building an "all-new performance gaming headset," while Lenovo was purportedly working on "mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment."
But as we've now learned, neither headset is likely to see the light of day. Meta say it has frozen the third-party Horizon OS headset program. "We have paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market," a Meta spokesperson told Road to VR. "We're committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves."
But as we've now learned, neither headset is likely to see the light of day. Meta say it has frozen the third-party Horizon OS headset program. "We have paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market," a Meta spokesperson told Road to VR. "We're committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves."
Good (Score:1)
The fewer Meta devices, the better. Steam Frame is on the way and will destroy this anyway, and not have the same privacy concerns and nanny-ing.
Meta Quest will force you to produce identification [meta.com] if they suspect you are lying about your age, and that suspicion can be triggered by people in a game reporting you if they are upset about you defeating them. If you don't produce the ID, they ban your account and you lose all purchases on that account.
There are also restrictions based on your age, and as a paren
Re: Good (Score:2)
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Re: Good (Score:2)
I do not think the OP was disputing that. It seems like they were just warning other readers that the Meta servers have unreasonable or undesirable rules.
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Legs (Score:4, Insightful)
Mark was afraid that these third party headsets might render legs. Mark demands no legs.
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Legs are obsolete! We superior humans just float. Non-floaters will be deported to El Salvador.
Metaverse (Score:2)
Is the future of VR 2d? (Score:2)
The speculation I've seen for this decision revolves around Google's vast 2d app/gamestore and/or Valve/Steam's vast 2d game store. Valve has already decided that 2d gaming in VR is the future - with VR essentially just a really big monitor pressed up to your face. Likely Lenovo and Asus agreed, or asked to wait and see if Valve was right. If Valve is right then Google's 2d app/game store far outweighs Meta's 3d app/game store. Which means any third parties are best partnering with whatever Google goes with
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What are you talking about valve is releasing a new headset probably q1 2026
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Valve's headset is designed to play 2d games, that will become clearer when the launch titles are announced (Half Life 3 in 2d is the likely launch title). It's essentially a Steam Deck with a portable monitor as big as you want. The fact that it plays VR games is a secondary feature, nothing wrong with that. It's even been reported that the display isn't as good as a Quest 3 for PCVR.
Considering the Frame’s 4.6MP (2,160 × 2,160) per-eye resolution, I was expecting an image that looked similar to Quest 3’s display, which is 4.5MP (2,064 × 2,208). But I was surprised that the first thing I noticed was a somewhat visible screen-door effect (SDE), which is caused by the unlit space between pixels.
source: https://www.roadtovr.com/steam... [roadtovr.com]
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The fact that it plays VR games is a secondary feature
Lol no. Yes ive read the specs like 20 times and yes i know it's a beefier steam deck but the VR features are not secondary.
Meta (Score:2)
Meta - a group of dumb shits with way too much money.
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To be honest, if I had that much money I too would chase pie-in-sky ideas.
But this VR chase is stupid. Meta should purchase the Second Life or Roblox franchise, get a web-based world working well with FaceBook, and THEN gradually add 3D and reach stuff. He has it backward.
Will Asus and Lenovo sue? (Score:3)
"We're committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for 3rd-party device partnerships as the category evolves."
I imagine the 3rd parties' investment in development to date was not zero. Good luck getting 3rd party developers to trust them down the road.
They trust me (Score:1)
The dumb fucks
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The dumb fucks
Username does not check out.
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This was my first thought as well. I suspect Meta has not shown itself to not be a trusted business partner which may effectively cripple any future plans they have in any industry they may want to play in.
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Steam Frame, Steam OS for ARM? (Score:1)
Next time? (Score:2)
Who will want to partner with Meta if they talk about 3rd party headsets again?
They may get burned if Meta suddenly changes it's plans like now. Unless Meta offers to cover all costs associated with something they cancelled.
Partnering with Meta sucks... (Score:2)
Just ask Asus or Lenovo.
Once bitten, twice shy?