Over the weekend we and others reported that the Meta Quest Professional 2 has been canned – or, extra particularly, the in-development undertaking that was ‘doubtless set to be the Meta Quest Professional 2 however not but formally referred to as that’ to make use of semantics Meta’s personal CTO has deployed prior to now (and once more lately) – and whereas I’d nonetheless like to see a Meta Quest Professional 2 that is in all probability the precise resolution for now.
The explanation for the cancellation? The Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional – however that is not, reportedly, as a result of Meta is scared to face off towards its rival tech titan’s VR headset. Somewhat, Meta has apparently struggled to supply high-end specs – mainly micro-OLED shows to match what’s provided by the Imaginative and prescient Professional – at a comparatively inexpensive worth someplace round or beneath the unique Quest Professional’s $999.99 / £999.99 / AU$1,729.99 (by way of The Data – the article is behind a paywall).
This dedication to maintain issues inexpensive is all however definitely fueled by the primary Meta Quest Professional.
Whereas I believed the Quest Professional was a stable headset at launch it has been severely overshadowed by Meta’s personal Quest 3 – a tool which Meta referred to as its “strongest headset but” barely six months after the Professional launched, and which might later promote for a 3rd of the Professional’s unique $1,500 / £1,500 / AU$2,450 price (and half of the value the Professional dropped to after just a few months on sale).
Meta hasn’t revealed actual Quest Professional gross sales figures, however the indicators recommend they aren’t nice – so it is unlikely that making the follow-up dearer than the Professional’s present worth would enhance issues.
In the meantime, whereas we lack official figures, leaks and Apple’s angle in the direction of the Imaginative and prescient Professional recommend that its personal headset has additionally missed the mark by way of the success it was anticipated to realize. However, the daring shoot-for-the-moon technique Apple took has irreparably altered our notion of ‘Professional’ shopper headsets.
A Quest Professional – even one offered at a 3rd of the Imaginative and prescient Professional’s $3,499 / £3,499 / AU$5,999 worth – could be immediately in comparison with the Apple mannequin, and any shortcomings (even legitimate ones) wouldn’t be seen as acceptable. However as I discussed above, high-end tech results in unavoidably excessive costs that individuals merely aren’t prepared to pay.
Check out the Steam {hardware} charts for July 2024 – the high-end however growing older Valve Index takes the number-two spot, with 16.10% of customers counting on it for VR video games final month. In the meantime, the Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and Oculus Rift S – inexpensive fashions within the first, third, and fourth reputation spots respectively – make up 39.66%, 15.65% and seven.46% of the utilization share every for a collective 62.77%. And more moderen high-end gadgets aren’t hitting greater than round 0.50% reputation (some even much less).
An enormous a part of this lack of recognition is that there simply isn’t a compelling cause to splash out.
VR’s rooster and egg
It turns into a self-perpetuating cycle. As a result of lower-end fashions are vastly extra common it’s typically not definitely worth the danger for builders to create a high-end-only VR sport or app, and consequently virtually each VR app that is presently accessible can run on lower-end {hardware}, save for just a few costly and area of interest industry-focused companies. This in flip means there’s no incentive for headset patrons to go huge, as they will choose up a low- or mid-range headset and get many of the identical expertise they’d get from a higher-end mannequin, which implies these cheaper headsets proceed to dominate the market, taking us again to the start, and the reluctance of builders to spend money on high-end apps.
Shopping for a high-end VR headset can really feel a bit like spending a number of thousand {dollars} (or kilos) on a high-end gaming PC kitted out with an 14th gen Intel CPU, 32GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 when the one sport you possibly can play on it’s Minesweeper. Sure, it’d do {that a} bit higher than a less expensive PC, but it surely hardly justifies the outlay.
For this cycle to be damaged anytime quickly we have to see one thing daring. I believed Apple would possibly obtain this with the Imaginative and prescient Professional by making it a ‘wearable Mac’, but it surely as a substitute opted for extra of a ‘wearable iPad’ that may solely provide most Mac options when you’ve got an Apple pc already – which considerably defeats the purpose.
Alternatively, we might see extra platforms incentivizing improvement by way of monetary funding – maybe for exclusivity offers like Meta’s newest method on that entrance, with Batman: Arkham Shadow touchdown solely on its Quest 3. This method of making software program completely for high-end headsets might backfire nevertheless; if the high-end mannequin nonetheless would not take off the producer can have doubled down on a {hardware} and software program flop – a horrible enterprise resolution, particularly on condition that the producer might have as a substitute targeted on selling the low- and mid-range fashions which are confirmed successes.
As a substitute, we’re left with the truth that we merely don’t want, and only a few folks need, a Professional-level VR headset proper now.
I believe we’ll get there ultimately. As VR turns into extra common the need for high-end {hardware} will develop with it. Plus, with Meta opening up its HorizonOS to third-parties we might see different {hardware} makers take a tilt at a Professional machine – and with these working on Quest software program they’d successfully be a Meta Quest Professional 2 in all however identify.
It’s value reminding ourselves that the latest stories don’t say the Quest Professional 2 is useless and buried, with a few of its deliberate specs – corresponding to eye-tracking – set to seem on different future gadgets (perhaps a Meta Quest 4 or Meta Quest 5). Plus, as Meta’s CTO has made abundantly clear, it is a prototype that is been culled, fairly than the whole idea.
Even with ‘La Jolla’ (the codename given to the cancelled Meta Quest Professional 2) having been shelved, a unique Meta Quest Professional 2 might land in 2027, or solely barely behind the leaked schedule in 2028, by which era we could have seen shifts within the kinds of headset and software program being produced by Meta and the {industry} at massive; and irrespective of when the Quest Professional 2 lands these shifts must occur.
We’ll have to attend and see what occurs, however we doubtless don’t have lengthy to attend for an all-new Quest headset, with Meta’s subsequent piece of VR {hardware} anticipated to see the corporate take the exact opposite method, within the form of the budget-friendly Meta Quest 3S.
