It appears Meta is lastly taking the unique 2019 Quest behind the shed this yr, as the corporate introduced it’s set to deprecate first-party social options on the system, which incorporates entry to Events and Meta Horizon House. Meta additionally introduced it gained’t be delivering new options past vital bug fixes and safety patches till 2024.
The corporate despatched out an e mail to customers of the unique Quest detailing the upcoming adjustments. Right here’s that e mail in full:
We launched Quest 1 over 4 years in the past and we’re grateful to the Quest 1 group for pushing VR forwards. As we glance to the longer term, we stay dedicated to supporting the group of Quest 1 customers and can proceed to assist the headset with a number of adjustments:
- You’ll nonetheless be capable to use your Quest 1 headset and out there apps.
- We gained’t be delivering new options to Quest 1.
- We plan to proceed sustaining the system software program with vital bug fixes and safety patches till 2024.
- Quest 1 customers will now not be capable to create or be a part of a celebration.
- Quest 1 customers who at the moment have entry to Meta Horizon House social options will lose entry to those options on 5 March 2023. You gained’t be capable to invite others to your House or go to another person’s House.
If in case you have any questions on these adjustments or about your Quest 1 headset, we encourage you to contact Meta Retailer assist right here: https://retailer.fb.com/assist/assist/
Thanks to your complete Quest 1 group for serving to us get to the place we’re at the moment.
Launched in Could 2019, the unique Quest wasn’t simply the corporate’s first 6DOF standalone headset—it was a precious new platform that sparked an explosion in content material income, making it the goal platform du jour for VR recreation builders. Most of the hits of at the moment owe their success to having gained foothold on the unique Quest.
Just a little over one yr later, Meta (ex-Fb) launched its successor, Quest 2, which substantively included increased decision shows (1,440 × 1,600 OLED vs 1,920 × 1,832 LCD) and the next refresh charge (72 Hz vs as much as 120 Hz), each of which had been pushed by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2—a big improve over the Quest 1’s Snapdragon 835.
Undoubtedly, Quest 2 has since cemented itself because the go-to residence for VR builders trying to maximize revenue; two years after its launch, Quest 2 content material has managed to generate $1.5 billion in income.
Though you’d suppose social operate deprecation and a transparent finish date to safety patches for Quest 1 ought to come as no actual shock; it’s outdated and also you’d be hard-pressed to search out it new within the field wherever. Nonetheless, seven of the highest 10 best-rated video games on the Quest Retailer assist the unique Quest along with Quest 2. A majority of them had been launched after the launch of Quest 2.
Granted, Quest 1 customers ought to solely actually deal with the safety patch dying date; even then, the headset will nonetheless be capable to entry all retailer content material along with getting used as a PC VR headset with Steam.