4 ms·

Facebook/Meta is dead on arrival. No-one trusts them.

filoleg 5y ago
While this could end up true, what's also true is that Meta has the best selling full blown VR headset on the market right now. Not even talking about the entire history of Oculus, just their flagship Quest 2 device. And not just that, but one that can be used in standalone mode (with Oculus Store and all), as well as connected to desktop in PCVR mode to play all those steam VR games like Half-Life: Alyx. Not even mentioning that you can do it pretty well wirelessly (otherwise, you gotta use a single compatible USB-C cable), with a rumored dedicated wireless dongle coming soon that should make it work smoothly for everyone and not just the ones with good routers. No facebook account requirement anymore either (got removed shortly after negative feedback from the public). No need for setting up lightboxes around the room either. And that's before we even get to their stupid cheap price point. I fully share your skepticism about Meta as a company, but I absolutely do not share your skepticism about their future AR product play being dead on arrival, given how extremely well their current VR product is doing. Both in terms of sales and the user experience. Price point wasn't a concern for me here, and I still went with Quest 2 instead of Valve Index. The ergonomics and the frictionless experience of actually using it sold it for me, and I've been happy and using it on regular since the release. Note: I have zero affiliation with Meta, and neither have I had any in the past. In fact, i am working for a competitor. Saying that their upcoming AR offering is dead in the water (given what is publicly known and their relevant track record) is about as out of touch as one can get.
- GenerocUsername 5y ago
  False. Meta bought the best selling headset at the peak of VR fever. They didn't create anything
  - filoleg 5y ago
    > False. Meta bought the best selling headset at the peak of VR fever. You might want to double-check your claims before making such definitive statements. As far as I am aware, the acquisition happened in early 2014, and Oculus Quest was released in 2019, 5 years later. Oculus Quest outsold all earlier headsets, and then Oculus Quest 2 (released a year later) outsold that. And by a giant margin. What Oculus had at the time of the acquisition (Rift headset) was imo inferior to HTC Vive. It was the first consumer-available legit VR headset that gained some good adoption, but Vive outsold it 2-to-1.
  - bni 5y ago
    Oculus was acquired by Facebook in March 2014. Oculus Rift CV1 was released March 28, 2016.
- boojums 5y ago
  >No facebook account requirement anymore either When I logged into oculus.com on Monday it said they were disconuing Oculus account support Jan 2023. Sounds like they just delayed it.
  - filoleg 5y ago
    You are correct about discontinuing Oculus account creation eventually, but you are incorrect about the FB requirement simply being delayed. They are working on some replacement solution that isn't personal FB accounts. I bet it will be some dedicated "Meta Gaming" account (or maybe some "Meta Reality" account, if they try to bring their upcoming AR glasses/headset into one united AR/VR ecosystem), but that's just a speculation on my part. But, they stressed it won't be tied to FB personal profiles in any way, without any requirement to have one in the first place) They addressed that point in one of the interviews on the matter, shortly after announcing removal of FB account requirements in late October of 2021 [0]: > “As we’ve heard feedback from the VR community more broadly, we’re working on new ways to log into Quest that won’t require a Facebook account, landing sometime next year. This is one of our highest priority areas of work internally.” Judging by that quote, we are going to hear more details about their replacement solution at some point in 2022. 0. https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751297/meta-oculus-quest-need-facebook-account-login-password https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751297/meta-oculus-que...
quantified 5y ago
Just like “no one uses them anymore”. Yogi Berra said it best: “No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.”
icedchai 5y ago
Right. They only have about 30% of the planet as monthly active users.

While this could end up true, what's also true is that Meta has the best selling full blown VR headset on the market right now. Not even talking about the entire history of Oculus, just their flagship Quest 2 device. And not just that, but one that can be used in standalone mode (with Oculus Store and all), as well as connected to desktop in PCVR mode to play all those steam VR games like Half-Life: Alyx. Not even mentioning that you can do it pretty well wirelessly (otherwise, you gotta use a single compatible USB-C cable), with a rumored dedicated wireless dongle coming soon that should make it work smoothly for everyone and not just the ones with good routers. No facebook account requirement anymore either (got removed shortly after negative feedback from the public). No need for setting up lightboxes around the room either. And that's before we even get to their stupid cheap price point. I fully share your skepticism about Meta as a company, but I absolutely do not share your skepticism about their future AR product play being dead on arrival, given how extremely well their current VR product is doing. Both in terms of sales and the user experience. Price point wasn't a concern for me here, and I still went with Quest 2 instead of Valve Index. The ergonomics and the frictionless experience of actually using it sold it for me, and I've been happy and using it on regular since the release. Note: I have zero affiliation with Meta, and neither have I had any in the past. In fact, i am working for a competitor. Saying that their upcoming AR offering is dead in the water (given what is publicly known and their relevant track record) is about as out of touch as one can get.

GenerocUsername 5y ago
False. Meta bought the best selling headset at the peak of VR fever. They didn't create anything
- filoleg 5y ago
  > False. Meta bought the best selling headset at the peak of VR fever. You might want to double-check your claims before making such definitive statements. As far as I am aware, the acquisition happened in early 2014, and Oculus Quest was released in 2019, 5 years later. Oculus Quest outsold all earlier headsets, and then Oculus Quest 2 (released a year later) outsold that. And by a giant margin. What Oculus had at the time of the acquisition (Rift headset) was imo inferior to HTC Vive. It was the first consumer-available legit VR headset that gained some good adoption, but Vive outsold it 2-to-1.
- bni 5y ago
  Oculus was acquired by Facebook in March 2014. Oculus Rift CV1 was released March 28, 2016.
boojums 5y ago
>No facebook account requirement anymore either When I logged into oculus.com on Monday it said they were disconuing Oculus account support Jan 2023. Sounds like they just delayed it.
- filoleg 5y ago
  You are correct about discontinuing Oculus account creation eventually, but you are incorrect about the FB requirement simply being delayed. They are working on some replacement solution that isn't personal FB accounts. I bet it will be some dedicated "Meta Gaming" account (or maybe some "Meta Reality" account, if they try to bring their upcoming AR glasses/headset into one united AR/VR ecosystem), but that's just a speculation on my part. But, they stressed it won't be tied to FB personal profiles in any way, without any requirement to have one in the first place) They addressed that point in one of the interviews on the matter, shortly after announcing removal of FB account requirements in late October of 2021 [0]: > “As we’ve heard feedback from the VR community more broadly, we’re working on new ways to log into Quest that won’t require a Facebook account, landing sometime next year. This is one of our highest priority areas of work internally.” Judging by that quote, we are going to hear more details about their replacement solution at some point in 2022. 0. https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751297/meta-oculus-quest-need-facebook-account-login-password https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751297/meta-oculus-que...

quantified 5y ago

Just like “no one uses them anymore”. Yogi Berra said it best: “No one goes there nowadays, it’s too crowded.”

icedchai 5y ago

Right. They only have about 30% of the planet as monthly active users.