Meta bought Oculus VR technology in 2014. The attempt to make Meta Quest a mainstream hit cost $8.3 billion this year alone. Despite the lack of enthusiasm from gamers, Mark Zuckerberg does not plan to give up. Since the end of 2020, Oculus VR rebranded as Reality Labs, has accumulated losses of around $50 billion. These are not final amounts; the latest results are even worse than in the first quarter 2024.
Despite the obvious lack of success, Meta is neither giving up nor even slowing down. Efforts in this technology unrelated to gaming have become the subject of jokes, such as Mark Zuckerberg’s infamous VR selfie. The entire Metaverse concept is currently rarely mentioned, although there is no indication that Meta plans to abandon it.
This article is kind of shitty. It looks like the content was mostly taken from the general media coverage that was going around pre-pandemic, edited to incorporate the latest Meta financials. This happens every time new numbers are published. R&D is not cheap and a vast amount of Meta’s research has not been converted to revenue.
Reality Labs is also where Meta’s AI development is happening, so their costs are not just VR-related research. It’s also LLM and other machine learning domains. There is some crossover, such as computer vision, but a lot of their research does not directly apply to what we currently consider VR/MR/AR.
Quest 2 sold over 20 million units, and nearly as many Quest 2/3 have been sold as X-Box Series X/S consoles. Quest products are frequently in a sold-out state on Amazon. That is not an “obvious lack of success”. The only thing obvious is the clueless premise of the entire article (what is “MAGR” anyway?). Framing VR as a gaming platform is another sign that the article was copy-pasted from something written many years ago.
Quest 3 is awesome. VR is still growing in many ways thanks to faithful innovators and dreamers, and without Meta we would be nowhere close to where we are today. There would be no Apple Vision Pro. Finally, after a decade, we are beginning to see real competition in the industry which is already accelerating progress and further investment from Meta, Apple, Google, etc. “Microsoft has not engaged with this technology at all” – what is Microsoft Mesh, then?
It seems the only way to justify the expenses from Meta’s perspective is the long game that results in them being a dominant platform for VR apps. I think it’s generally accepted that nobody wants this outcome, but meanwhile I am thankful for their investment. At this time, the Quest 3 is a relatively open platform as far as Android-based devices go. You can ADB into it and side load software, and when connected to a PC there are numerous debugging capabilities.
As an avid VR gamer I just wanted to say that’s a great summary.
Well said
I’m a hardcore VR enthusiast.
I’ve got the full body tracking rig and setup, full room dedicated to VR, dedicated lighthouse towers, you name it.
The average person wants to park their ass and have content happen to them. VR is a very physically active experience. It’s not for everyone. The point of certain video games is that you can just sit there on a couch with a controller and make a cat run around cooking burgers or whatever. (You know, people tired from work, sick, physically disabled, etc … accessibility.)
That being said, being one of the few people who got over motion sickness and experiences full body deep dive immersion, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.
I routinely mention this to the Australian wolf girl in bed who I sleep with on the other side of the planet:
"Video games. VR is fucking mental. A shared hallucinogenic experience. Dreaming awake."
When that experience is more accessible to the average person (without 52% of new people experiencing vertigo/motion sickness and social conputerogenic isolation), you can bet the farm it’ll be popular. As popular as smartphones, maybe even more so.
P.S: Have never touched Meta Horizons, don’t plan to, lmao
Hi there, hardcore VR enthusiast! (Not currently) VR dev here!
The average person wants to park their ass and have content happen to them. VR is a very physically active experience.
VR games most definitely don’t have to be physical. One of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in VR is the game Moss - a platformer where you sit down and control a little mouse with your controller, similarly to a traditional non-VR game. You just do it in this amazing world where you can lean in to look at, or around, things.
In fact I do believe more traditional type of games, but in VR, could bring many more people into VR, because of them being more accessible due to the park-your-ass factor and probably less motion sickness. They can also be easier to port to VR. Not that I play sports games, but I could imagine them being extra fun on a 3D court/field/rink in front on you in VR.
Having to get up and be physical just to play a game can often times feel like a chore. But having the option to do so is amazing.
Adding on to your motion sickness part with recent story. I’m no hardcore enthusiast I just think it’s fun lol. But I brought my headset on vacation and was playing hot dogs horse shoes and hand grenades, super hot, and blade and sorcery, and was sharing with my cousins who are around my age.
But I never realized how used to the motion sickness I was with blade and sorcery using mostly in game movement with the thumb sticks, and jumping and using spells to be extremely mobile while my actually body moves very little (except swinging my sword and using my body for very small scale dodges and stepping into my attacks)
I noticed this when my cousin walked forward with the thumb stick and nearly fell over at first
Fortuanlty I had them on super hot which only allows irl movement it ease them all into it
How’d you get over the motion sickness? I love my Index, and play a bunch of games. But only for like… 15-20 min at a time.
Exposure therapy.
I was extremely stubborn and a lifelong gamer. I played DooM basically before I could read, back in 1994. Playing video games is ingrained in my DNA – you know how some people are “born to do a thing”, like the child chess prodigy who spends their entire life doing nothing but playing Chess and moves on to become a global Chessmaster?
That was me with gaming. After a good 20-30 years of walking through a panalopy of digital worlds, “saving the planet” countless times, shooting possibly over one hundred million enemies and other players online.
I found myself like you, wearing a brick on my head, unable to move. I couldn’t even turn around. Touching my right control stick sent me REELING, the room was spinning, it was that bad.
But I sat there, determined, like someone being told me that I’d never walk again.
I said: “No. This is the ONE THING, I am good at – my one place, where I truly exist.”
I launched VRChat - and booted up with ALL of the safety features enabled.
- Teleporting
- Vignetting
- Snap Turning
- Delayed and reduced locomotion
I was so sick, I could only manage, 15-20 minutes a day. I’d walk a little, turn around, sit down and feel like I’d gag – I was surrounded by friends and I was embarrassed, it felt like I was doing physical therapy.
My friends were incredibly supportive and they did the digital equivalent of encouraging me - distracting me from my physical discomfort, taking me to mini golf – I walked a bit by bit, step by step, taking breaks and hunching against digital walls.
They soon began to believe like me, that I’d not hawk it – but as I sat on that digital cobblestone, an incredible sensation occured.
"Karo, I yelled out-- the stones – they’re cold." He looked at me with alarm. “What do you mean, they’re cold?” He asked.
“I can feel them, Karo. I can feel the coldness and texture of the stones, through my plastic controllers” I said, glowing and gliding my digital hands across the non-existent object.
I recognized immediately that my brain was “purchasing” the experience, the reality of the simulation and that is why I was experiencing motion sickness. The asymmetries between not moving in the real physical world, and the reality of “moving” in the digital. In nature, that meant you had consumed poisonous mushrooms and needed to throw up to get them out – if the room was moving while you were still.
With newfound determination, I looked at my friends, knowing how violently ill it would make me, and I said:
"Boot up the fucking fighter jet sim." “We are going dogfighting.”
I strapped myself into a digital jet, not knowing any of the controls, struggling with getting the canopy down, and managing 400 different buttons, but somehow, I managed to get the jet into the air.
I cannot describe to you the sensation of having your brain tell you, that you are flying. No $250,000 flight simulator with 16 point gravity axis could compare to what the brain itself is capable of doing.
With my knuckles turned white, and my body shaking, I took my fighter into a slow spin, reeling and convulsing with fatigue and nausea.
We took our jet back down (I think it was an F-35 or an F-22, I’m not entirely sure), and I failed landing because I couldn’t get the gear down and came in too hot, but it didn’t matter.
Ripped my helmet off, room is spinning, I’m soaked in sweat.
My friends can see this, because my avatar did the signature “lurch” when you take your helmet off and put your controllers down.
I slowly put my helmet back on and hoisted my digital body back up the ladder into the cockpit, one rung at a time, practically crawling back in.
My friends go: “Are you OKAY?? You’re going again?”
I was lurching and I put my hand on the throttle, keeping my head back against my chair to stabilize my head. Karo got into the passenger seat behind me to make sure I was alright.
Karo says: “Listen, it’s okay if you never want to play VR again, you’ve been through a lot and it’s not for everyone. We can take a break and try again. You don’t need to do it all in one day.”
I look back at him delirious and I go: “Video games, Karo”, video… games… while laughing.
I pushed the throttle forward, and we both felt that 3-8Gs of simulated force shove us back into our seats, the sun gleaming on the cockpit as we broke straight through the cloud layer with a shock cone ahead of us
Again, I’d never give up VR for anything now. For ~$3000, there’s basically nothing in life that can come close to that level of entertainment value per dollar.
Index owner here. I never got motion sickness. Idk if it’s a mental thing but I accepted this new world in the headset smoothly.
My main issue is the sweet spot is too small on the index. Need a cheaper nice headset with forgiving lenses for guests.
Australian wolf girl in bed who I sleep with on the other side of the planet
That sounds a bit dystopian honestly, but also super scifi.
Would you mind elaborating? How does that… work? Do you have like, synced devices?
There are things like vrchat where you can interact with other VR user in virtual worlds.
It’s pretty fun but typically full of younger people so if you’re like over the age of 30 you might feel uncomfortable in some of the spaces.
I realize now that I probably misinterpreted their comment and they just meant like taking a nap while playing vrchat. (which is still interesting!)
You can, if you want to, explore the world of teledildonics linked to VR experiences if you really want to go full Demolition Man.
I am very interested in VR. I am utterly uninterested in the “Metaverse”. When I had to make the economical choice between Meta Quest or HP Reverb G2, I chose the Reverb G2.
Any company that tries to co-opt a concept and then make like they invented the damned thing in their quest to corner the market is one of which I will steer well clear.
Stop trying to be the Apple of VR. No one likes Facebook, it will never work.
If they invested in a open standard and ecosystem, more like Android, with easy side-loading they might convince people, but not like this.
Meta Horizon OS is Android. Full of bloat and telemetry, but Android nonetheless. Unlocking ADB and sideloading isn’t trivial, but officially supported.
Technically yes, but in the worst kind of way.
A meta account with attached phone number is needed to use ADB.
In addition to what Emotet said, I‘d add that no matter how closed or open the platform is (and it isn’t even as closed up) no one outside of Lemmy will care as long as it’s a compelling package.
Many people do care about choice and only buy something that isn’t controlled by a single vendor.
But sure, if you can build a positive brand image, some people will overlook this despite the obvious shortcomings, but Facebook is so widely hated that this is a bad strategy for them.
What fer0n probably was hinting at (and I agree with): Yeah, there are some people, especially concentrated in bubbles like Lemmy, who care a lot about privacy, security, ownership (soft and hard) and all that good stuff.
But if, for example, Meta releases a product for price x and a privacy-conscious company releases functionally the same product, but with a truly open system, for 200 bucks more, most people outside our bubble (and even a lot inside) will buy the Meta product.
Why?
Because they don’t care about anything but short-term functionality. And, in a lof of minds, if they’ll get the same functionality for cheaper elsewhere, they’d be pretty stupid to not buy that one.
Folks in general couldn’t give less of a fuck about their privacy and ethics in products and services they buy and use. Usability, Features and Service reign supreme.
That’s an counterfactual argument, because there is a third option: not buy at all, which is what people are doing.
And it’s largely because Facebook, even outside of Lemmy circles. Heck, the sale of the original Quest was even forbidden for quite some time in large parts of Europe because of shady business practiceses of Facebook. This is not a privacy bubble fringe problem, at least not in Europe.
The quest is both awesome and terrible for an entry level headset. Its way way more affordable than anything else but its fairly locked down both in ecosystem and in being unable to tether to your own PC. If the quest was 25% cheaper and was tethering based rather than using underpowered onboard hardware it would be amazing.
Disinterested means impartial. Gamers are uninterested.
