The social strategy of Oculus Quest remains cloudy



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Oculus Quest is in less than three weeks and its release date of May 21 is fast approaching. The $ 400 standalone VR headset provides freedom of movement around the environment with full 6DoF head tracking and position tracking controllers. At launch, it will feature leading virtual reality games such as Beat Saber and Superhot, as well as new releases such as Dance Central, Journey of the Gods, and more.

Like the Oculus Rift platform, Facebook defends the Quest as a first platform, but fans of multimedia applications other than games like Netflix, multi-user social meeting spaces such as Oculus Rooms or social applications of live events like Oculus Venues are left behind. Ask about the status of these experiences.

In an interview with UploadVR last month, Chris Pruett, director of content ecosystem at Oculus, explained the non-gaming offerings currently included in the device as an evaluation unit:

UploadVR: What about non-gaming apps? Rooms, Netflix, Places, etc.?
Chris Pruett: "You will see a browser, you will see multimedia applications, you will see some in Oculus TV on the device you have today, but not the full range. We continue to experiment with other proprietary applications, so for now, no rooms or locations, but that's something we will continue to understand for what we want to do with Quest. "

UploadVR: What about Facebook spaces?
Pruett: "It falls into the same group, we have a large group of people building things like spaces and places and this group continues to build things but we are not yet ready to talk about it."

UploadVR: Will there be a word about these things before launch?
Pruett: "I do not know the answer to that question."

Based on this language, it seems that applications such as Rooms, Venues, Netflix and even Spaces are finally being considered for Quest, and could be included in the near future, but none of them are on the launch list. of the first day published by Oculus this week. Even John Carmack is reluctant to talk about multimedia applications.

Currently, the Quest does not have any kind of default social hub. There is no customizable space like Home on Rift or Rooms on Go and you have no way to use your avatar to spend time with your friends in VR, other than the audio chat in a party or that you play games like Racket Fury and Creed. This sounds like a major missed opportunity. While we are still relying on pre-market material, but the embargo on official exams has been lifted, I therefore hesitate to take action if they deem it comprehensive enough to be examined.

Of course, by the time Quest arrives, there will be more options like Rec Room, Bigscreen and HRchat, but the lack of Aboriginal social experience seems like a notable omission, as is the reluctance to talk about it.

This story originally appeared on Uploadvr.com. Copyright 2019

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