The Oculus Quest 2 is only five months old, but Facebook may already be thinking of a souped up version: the Oculus Quest Pro.
The company’s Vice President of Augmented and Virtual Reality, Andrew Bosworth, hinted at the existence during an Instagram AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on all things Oculus. Responding to a comment from a user asking for a $600 headset with enhanced specs, Bosworth replied “Quest Pro, huh? Interesting,” before winking at the camera, UploadVR reports.
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It’s a long way short of an official announcement, let alone a full list of Oculus Quest Pro specs, but at the very least it suggests that this is something that Facebook is thinking about.
While the Oculus Quest 2 is by far the most convenient way to play brilliant VR titles like Beat Saber and Superhot — thanks to its all-in-one design with no need for a PC or standalone cameras — in terms of power it’s still on the weak side. The Snapdragon XR2 chip that powers it is a significant improvement on the original Quest, but Qualcomm says that its Snapdragon 888 (as found in the Samsung Galaxy S21) has a GPU that’s 35% more powerful.
Of course, part of the appeal of the Oculus Quest family is the headset’s ability to play more demanding titles via the Oculus Link cable and a gaming PC, so its limited specs haven’t hobbled everyone. Still, the prospect of a Pro version is exciting all the same, assuming developers feel compelled to upgrade their existing Oculus titles to take advantage of any theoretical advantages.
This wasn’t the only interesting revelation of the AMA. When asked about the possibility of eye tracking on Quest, Bosworth said that the technology is “something we will fit into some future headset,” adding that it can “dramatically improve performance by only rendering things that are in the field of view of the fovea.”
Perhaps inevitably, Bosworth was also asked about the recently announced PSVR 2. “I’m certainly glad they’re making one,” he said. “PSVR was such a tremendous hit and was a huge place for our developers to make cash, and I hope PSVR 2 is too.”
Indeed, the fact that two companies the size of Facebook and Sony seem committed to the future of VR is a great insurance policy for developers, and the best VR games have already appeared on both PS4 and Oculus Quest. VR experiences such as Beat Saber, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, Pistol Whip, Arizona Sunshine, Job Simulator, Rec Room and Superhot have been hits on both platforms.
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