What We Learned From Facebook Connect
The two-hour keynote at Facebook Connect was jam-packed with news — a new headset, the shelving of an old headset, and new games and app releases. Here’s all the important information from yesterday’s event, or you can catch the full event here.
Quest 2 ships 13th October for $299
The highly anticipated Quest 2 has officially been revealed after a week of Twitter leaks. The announcement at Facebook Connect led to many flocking to eBay to sell their now outdated original Quest, and it’s easy to see why. Quest 2 offers a significant upgrade from its predecessor — it’s smaller, lighter, more powerful, easier to use, and cheaper.
The original Quest is being officially retired. For now, all new and existing Quest games will work on both generations of the headset, with no Quest 2-exclusive content. A handful of new content was also announced, including Assassin’s Creed & Splinter Cell VR games coming exclusively to Oculus, as well as The Climb 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister.
Quest 2 will ship with a soft strap, in addition, it was announced that two rigid straps will be sold as official accessories: the Elite Strap and the Elite Battery Strap. Both are designed to act as a counter-weight for Quest 2. Other accessories, including a case and a ‘Fit Pack’ with face pads of varying sizes, will also be available.
The Quest 2 is the first headset that will require a Facebook sign-in, rather than allowing users to keep totally separate Oculus accounts. According to Facebook, this controversial move is all about enabling its VR headsets to be more social — a linked account lets Oculus users find Facebook friends in VR.
You can pre-order Quest 2 now, and it will ship on 13th October 2020.
Features
- $299 (64GB) or $399 (256GB)
- Snapdragon XR2 Platform, more powerful than the original that had a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
- 6GB RAM (compared to 4GB for the original)
- 503g headset weight, 10% lighter than the previous generation
- Product Dimensions: 191.5 mm x 102 mm x 142.5 mm (strap folded in)
- 72hz 1832×1920 (per eye) Fast-switch LCD
- Integrated speakers and microphone
- 2–3 hours battery life (on par with the original and still AA batteries rather than rechargeable ones)
- Adjustable IPD with three settings for 58, 63 and 68mm
- Redesigned controllers with improved battery life and ergonomics
- New two-tone design, mainly white instead of black
Quest is getting more features to move it beyond gaming
Facebook wants us to get fit while in VR! The new fitness experience, “Oculus Move”, aims to keep you more active and will be rolled out later this year. The system software is supposed to help you track calories burnt and reach fitness goals.
A new version of Facebook Messenger will also be coming to Quest 2. This will let friends talk in VR, and play in the same game whilst still wearing the headset.
Facebook is also positioning the Quest as a productivity tool with its ‘Infinite Office’ which was demoed at the event. With a focus on personal productivity, rather than collaboration with colleagues, the new features will allow users to work across multiple screens built on top of the Oculus browser. Via the onboard cameras, users will be able to see live feeds so that they can integrate the VR world with their own homes.
Facebook will no longer build PC-only VR headsets
Facebook is retiring the Rift S next year. PC-exclusive VR games can still be played on Quests via the Oculus Link feature, which lets users plug their standalone headsets into a PC via USB-C.
Following an experimental launch last year, Link is coming out of beta later this year and it’s getting an upgrade. It will support a 90Hz refresh rate (instead of 72Hz) and will be able to take advantage of the Quest 2’s higher resolution.
Facebook is making ‘Smart Glasses’ with Ray-Ban
This Ray-Ban partnership is another step forward for Facebook’s augmented reality glasses mission. According to Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, the new smart Ray-Bans will mirror the display of a connected smartphone. They’ll combine innovative technology with fashion-forward style and help people better connect with friends and family.
Not much else was revealed at the event, instead, we learned that the product name, specifications, software capabilities, pricing, and other details will be shared closer to launch in 2021.
Project Aria
The Ray-Ban partnership will build on Facebook’s Project Aira, a research device, worn like regular glasses that will help researchers figure out how AR can work in the real world. It will help Facebook Reality Labs build the software and hardware necessary for future AR devices.
The company says, “Sensors on the Project Aria research device will capture the wearer’s video and audio, as well as their eye-tracking and location information. The glasses’ on-device computing power will then be used to encrypt and store information that, when uploaded to separate, designated back-end storage space.”
The goal of Project Aria is to learn in a safe and secure environment and will initially be made available to a limited group of Facebook employees.
VR games announced
We learned that over 35 games on Oculus Quest have generated revenue in the millions from Quest content alone. According to Facebook, 20 Quest titles brought in over $1 million, 11 Quest titles have made over $2 million, four games had seen over $3 million in revenue, and three had made over $5 million. It was also revealed that more than $150M has been spent on Quest content to date.
A long list of new games was announced for the Oculus Quest 2, including revivals of two AAA Ubisoft franchises: Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed. Both games have been built from the ground up for VR and will be exclusive to Oculus. There’s no information on their release date at the moment, so stay tuned.
If you have the original Quest and aren’t planning to upgrade to Quest 2, don’t worry, you won’t miss out on these incredible new games. All the new titles will work with the original Oculus Quest thanks to backward compatibility. You can see the full list of new releases over on Oculus’ blog here.
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