Meta Abandons Original Quest VR Headset

With just one iteration forward, Meta has declared that its first Meta Quest VR headset received’t be receiving any extra love or TLC.

In an e mail despatched to Meta Quest 1 customers and later posted to Twitter, the corporate spelled out how will probably be dropping assist for its unique, cheaper digital actuality system. Most importantly, the system will not obtain future content material updates. By 2024, the system will not get any bug fixes or safety patches.

Notably, customers will not have important performance. Though Meta promised you’ll nonetheless have the ability to use the headset and its put in video games and apps, Quest 1 customers will not have the ability to be part of events, and they’re going to additionally lose entry to Meta’s function product Horizon Home on March 5 this yr. Users will not have the ability to invite others to their properties or journey over to a different person’s house.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced what was initially known as the Oculus Quest in 2018 because the premiere wi-fi VR headset. The firm launched the headset in 2019 (so Meta is a bit of off of their letter after they mentioned they launched the system “over four years ago”), and this was all earlier than Meta formally renamed the gadgets and its varied providers in 2021. So the Quest 1 is working off four-year-old tech, and it could make some sense why Meta wouldn’t need to assist getting older {hardware}.

The Meta Quest 2 has been billed as a finances, entry-level VR headset, however that was Meta making an attempt to engender assist for his or her complete idea of the “metaverse” whereas operating at a loss, a method which lastly bit them within the bottom in Q3 final yr. Meta then instituted worth will increase for the Quest 2, elevating prices to $399 for its 128GB model and $499 for its 256GB version.

The unique Quest debuted for $399 for a 64GB model and $499 for its 128GB rendition, however you possibly can simply discover cheaper variations nonetheless being bought for less expensive on-line. It simply means there can be one much less low cost(er) headset in the marketplace, and there don’t appear to be any new releases to switch it.

The finish of assist for the Quest 1 means entry-level VR will change into that rather more costly for the common individual. Pico, which is owned by TikTok father or mother firm ByteDance, introduced its personal $425 and $499 headsets final yr, however the firm was absent at CES 2023, and we nonetheless don’t have any phrase of U.S. launch plans. Beyond that, there’s been little push for extra budget-friendly VR as of late. Meta has its personal $1,499 Quest Pro it launched final yr to decidedly combined critiques. This yr, HTC launched its VIVE XR Elite combined actuality headset for $1,099, which Gizmodo obtained to attempt at CES.

And, in fact, there’s Sony and its PlayStation VR2. The firm had these headsets prepared for demo at CES, however scheduling difficulties meant Gizmodo didn’t get the chance to demo the system. We’ll simply need to see what occurs with Sony’s $549.99 headset when it lastly releases in February.