Meta – Page 10

Mil-Sim Shooter ‘Onward’ to Drop Quest 1 Support Later This Year

downpour interactive, Meta, mil sim, News, onward, shooter, VR Game, vr mil sim, vr shooter / Mike M. / February 1, 2023

Meta-owned developer Downpour Interactive announced it’s pulling Quest 1 support for Onward, the hit team-based mil-sim shooter.

First launched on PC VR headsets in Early Access back in 2016, Onward managed to garner a hardcore following over the years thanks to its realistic squad-based gameplay and unrelentingly faithful reproduction of real-world weaponry.

In mid-2020, Downpour decidedly slimmed down Onward across the board with its Early Access launch on Quest—just a few months before Meta launched the more powerful Quest 2. Its launch on the original Quest was met with some pretty intense backlash from the PC VR-playing community at the time, as Downpour significantly reduced the Onward’s graphics in addition to limiting community-generated content.

Now the developer, which was acquired by Meta in 2021, says it’s slated to drop support for Quest 1 on July 31st, 2023. In the studio’s FAQ, Downpour says Onward will no longer be playable on Quest 1 in any capacity after the July cut-off date.

The studio isn’t offering any special refund scheme outside of Meta’s standard policy, which allows you to return a game with less than two hours of gameplay time, and within 14 days after purchase.

Onward however benefits from cross-buy, so owners can continue playing on Quest 1 through the Meta Store version, which requires a VR-ready PC to play, or on the still natively supported Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets.

In comes as no real surprise that some developers are pulling the plug on Quest 1 support only three years after the headset’s launch. Meta announced earlier this month it was set to deprecate first-party social features on the original 2019 Quest in March, which includes access to Parties and Meta Horizon Home. From now until 2024, Meta will only push critical bug fixes and security patches.

Mil-Sim Shooter ‘Onward’ to Drop Quest 1 Support Later This Year Read More »

Meta’s Social VR App is Coming to Web & Mobile Soon, Alpha Begins for Members-only Rooms

horizon worlds, Meta, meta horizon, meta horizon worlds, Meta Quest 2, meta social vr, News, Quest 2, rec room, roblox, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / Shannon Garcia / January 31, 2023

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s social VR platform for Quest users, is expanding with alpha tests of new members-only spaces, allowing creators to manage up to 150 card-carrying members in their private worlds. Meta says it’s also gearing up to release Horizon Worlds on non-Quest devices for the first time.

Meta is now rolling out alpha access to its new members-only worlds, which aims to let creators build and cultivate a space in Horizon Worlds. Each members-only world can have up to 150 members, although only 25 concurrent visitors can gather at any given time.

“Every community develops its own norms, etiquette, and social rules over time as it fosters a unique culture,” the company says in a blogpost. “To enable that, we’ll provide the tools that allow the creators of members-only worlds to set the rules for their communities and maintain those rules for their closed spaces.”

Meta says moderation responsibilities can be shared among trusted members, so creators can better control who gets in and who’s kicked out, however the company says its Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences is still in effect in privately owned spaces.

What’s more, the Quest-only social platform is also going to be available on the Web and mobile devices “soon”, the company says, adding that rules will be made and enforced “similarly to how mobile operating systems manage experiences on their platforms.”

As it is today, Horizon Worlds plays host to a growing number of user-generated content in addition to first-party worlds. The release of Horizon Worlds outside of Quest would represent a massive potential influx of users and user-generated content, putting it in direct competition with cross-platform social gaming titans such as Roblox and Rec Room.

As a similar free-to-play app, Horizon Worlds offers an Avatar Store featuring premium digital outfits—very likely only a first step in the company’s monetization strategy. For now, the company says it allows creators to earn revenue from purchases people make in their worlds, which includes hardware platform fees and a Horizon Worlds fee, which Meta says is 25 percent.

In late October, Meta showed off a tempting preview of its next-gen avatars, although it’s clear there’s still a ton of work to be done to satisfy its existing userbase. Floating torsos are still very much a thing in Horizon Worlds, and that’s despite Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s insistence that full body tracking was in the works. It was too good to be true.

For now, Horizon Worlds is only available on Quest 2 headsets in the US, Canada, UK, France, Iceland, Ireland and Spain—something we hope they change well before it ushers in flatscreen users.

Meta’s Social VR App is Coming to Web & Mobile Soon, Alpha Begins for Members-only Rooms Read More »

Meta Drops Quest Pro Price to $1,100 for Limited Time, Challenging Vive XR Elite’s Major Selling Point

HTC, htc vive xr elite, Meta, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro, Mixed Reality, News, Quest 2, Quest Pro, quest pro price, Vive XR Elite, VR Hardware, VR Headset / DJ Henderson / January 30, 2023

It’s only been three months since Meta launched Quest Pro, pitching its next-gen mixed reality standalone to enterprise and prosumers with the hefty price tag of $1,500. In an unusual move by the company, Meta has quietly slashed the price of Quest Pro for a limited time, putting it more directly in competition with HTC’s recently revealed Vive XR Elite standalone headset.

Update (11AM ET): Sale timing has been revealed; the price drop is in effect for one week only in the US, and two weeks in the UK (dropping to £1,300). We’ve included this in the body of the article below.

Released in late October, Quest Pro essentially set the tone of the next generation of standalone VR hardware. Typically, Meta is consumer-forward, pricing its headsets below (or close to) $500, but Quest Pro represents a pivotal shift in Meta’s strategy.

Starting with Quest Pro, the company is using mixed reality as “a key part of the journey toward full augmented reality devices,” Chief Technology Officer and Reality Labs Chief Andrew Bosworth described in a year-end blogpost.

With the sale, it seems the company is quietly gunning to retain its share of the budding MR headset marketplace by knocking the price of Quest Pro to match its largest competitor, Vive XR Elite, which HTC revealed earlier this month, couching it as its long-awaited return to the consumer VR space.

Now, Meta’s Quest Pro is priced at $1,100, or $400 below its previous MSRP, challenging Vive XR Elite’s unique selling points in the process. According to CNET, the sale is happening for one week only in the US, and two weeks in the UK (dropping to £1,300).

Notably, these aren’t entirely analogous devices; some hardware quirks might act as key differentiators, although the undeniable overlap now puts them squarely in direct competition. Still, it’s pretty close.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the headset specs side-by-side:

Feature	Vive XR Elite	Quest Pro
Inside-out tracking	wide FOV cameras (4), depth sensor (1)	wide FOV cameras (4), no depth sensor
Passthrough	single 16 MP RGB camera	single RGB (MP?) camera
Resolution	1,920 × 1,920 per eye (LCD)	1,800 × 1,920 per eye (LCD)
Display Refresh	90 Hz	90 Hz
Eye-tracking	Additional module required	Onboard eye-tracking
Face-tracking	Additional module required	Onboard face-tracking
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2	Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+
Storage & Memory	128 GB / 12 GB	256 GB / 12 GB
FOV	up to 110-degrees diagonal	up to 96-degrees diagonal
Optics	Pancake lens	Pancake lens
IPD Adjustment	manual, 54–73 mm range	manual, 55-75 mm
Audio	built-in open-ear audio	built-in open-ear audio, 3.5mm audio port
Weight	625g (including battery), 273g in ‘glasses’ mode	722 g (including battery)
Controllers	6DOF motion controllers (2), hand-tracking	6DOF motion controllers (2), hand-tracking
Playtime on battery	~2 hours	~2 hours
Retail Price	$1,099	$1,099 (MSRP $1,499)

A raw spec sheet doesn’t exactly tell the full story, although it’s clear HTC will need to play catchup if it intends on remaining competitive with Meta now that both headsets have achieved price parity, albeit temporarily. Vive XR Elite is still in pre-order, with a late February shipping window, while Quest Pro is available today, direct from Meta.

In Vive XR Elite’s favor is its convertibility: the traditional battery headstrap can be replaced with a glasses arm piece, which allows it to be used with an external powerbank for more casual content viewing, like watching a film in your own private theater whilst on a plane or train.

It’s a unique selling point, although the lack of 3.5mm sours this somewhat, as you’ll need to use Bluetooth headphones to watch anything if you want complete privacy in a public space. Still, the focus on every day, on-the-go use sets it apart from Quest Pro. On the flipside, Quest Pro however features both eye and face-tracking out of the box, something Vive XR Elite will gain in the future with the release of separate modules.

Hardware aside, Meta undoubtedly has a leg up with its content ecosystem, as all games designed for Quest 2 automatically support Quest Pro—that’s a lot of content out of the box in addition to the admittedly smallish drip of mixed reality experiences already on the Quest Store.

Meanwhile, HTC is still amassing games for its growing content library, which currently doesn’t boast any truly notable exclusives that might make you choose one headset over the other. Notably, HTC also openly refutes it will sell personal user data since it’s not a social media company—a clear shot across the bow at Meta’s spotty track record in user privacy and security.

“What’s the cost of your personal data? We’re not a social media company. Our business model doesn’t rely on advertising revenue, so it’s not something we’re doing. We want to build good hardware.” – @shen

Learn more: https://t.co/IC7JOWmfzE #VIVEXRElite https://t.co/GXJWQo0lrH

— HTC VIVE (@htcvive) January 19, 2023

The list of differences doesn’t end there. If you want to learn more about Quest Pro and Vive XR Elite, check out our in-depth hands-on articles with both headsets.

Meta Drops Quest Pro Price to $1,100 for Limited Time, Challenging Vive XR Elite’s Major Selling Point Read More »

2022 Was a Plateau Year for VR, Here’s What to Expect in 2023

2023 vr, 2023 xr, apple mr, Apple VR, apple xr, Feature, Meta, meta quest, News, quest, VR Industry / DJ Henderson / January 16, 2023

The end of 2022 marks more than a decade since the Oculus Kickstarter sparked the modern era of VR. While the space has undoubtedly grown tremendously since then, 2022 felt largely like a plateau year, with Meta standing unchallenged as the dominant player in the space—while progressing disjointedly in too many directions at once. But with new headsets, promising new content, and a looming heavyweight positioned to challenge Meta all on the horizon, 2023 could big a much bigger year for the VR space.

The 2022 Plateau

2022 wasn’t a bad year for VR by any means, but for the most part the status quo remained unchanged.

There’s no doubt that Meta has been the central pillar of the VR space in 2022, having pivoted its attention in a very public way by renaming the entire company to Meta just before the year began. The company’s Quest 2 headset has retained its position as the most popular headset on the market, even becoming the most-used headset among PC VR players, despite Meta having all but abandoned PC VR as a platform.

Despite its dominance (or perhaps because of it), Meta has continued to make very good hardware while struggling deeply with its software. Though Quest 2 is certainly more capable than similar products, the user experience is disjointed and unrefined. The Quest Pro only continued this trend; the high-end headset brings a range of impressive improvements to the hardware along with new sensing capabilities, but its new features are significantly hampered by an undercooked software offering.

Regardless of various missteps, Meta is undoubtedly doing the most to keep VR afloat right now. Quest 2 is an affordable headset that’s created a large enough market of users that developers are finding growing success on the platform. In 2022 that’s meant that many developers have begun or continued to treat Quest 2 as their highest priority platform. To that end, we saw many ports of existing VR games coming to Quest 2, and most new releases being either Quest 2 exclusive, or on Quest 2 and some other platforms.

Unfortunately Meta’s dominance has meant that much of the air in the room as been sucked away from other parts of the VR space that were once key pillars.

Despite the release of new and updated enthusiast PC VR headsets, the platform has stagnated due to the content focus shifting away from PC VR. Many of the games released this year on PC VR were designed first and foremost for Quest 2, which means many lacked the scale and polish that resonates with enthusiast PC VR users.

Valve’s seeming disinterest in VR ever since the release of Half-Life: Alyx back in 2020 hasn’t helped either. The company continues to sell its 2019 headset for the same price that it was charging on day one, with no official confirmation that it has plans to do anything major in the VR space (hardware or software) in the near future. Sony’s PSVR1, meanwhile, has largely lost any remaining relevance since the announcement of the upcoming PSVR 2.

On the Horizon for 2023

But there’s lots of interesting things on the horizon for VR in 2023. Crucially we may see some real competition for Meta from several different angles, which is sorely needed to keep the company (and the industry at large) on a steady course toward making VR a more valuable platform in order to increase mainstream viability.

First Up

The biggest near-term event for the VR industry in 2023 will be the launch of PSVR 2 in February. Although Sony has technically continued selling its original PSVR headset over the years, it’s been on the market for more than six years now—and gained ‘last-gen’ status well before that.

Given all that time between—and that the company isn’t bringing its exclusive VR content forward to the new headset—the upcoming launch of PSVR 2 feels like a re-entrance into the VR market for Sony rather than a continuation. But now that the company has made the commitment, they’ll likely put strong support behind the headset for at least a few years.

Importantly, as a console maker, Sony knows well that ‘content is king’, and we can expect to see a new slate of quality VR content funded by the company, some of which could make it onto other headsets. Sony’s original PSVR is still home to some of the best exclusive VR games in the industry, made by its own first-party studios; at a minimum it would be nice to see those top titles updated and improved for PSVR 2, and better yet it would be great to see Sony setting its first-party studios to the task of creating high quality VR content once again.

But PSVR 2 only represents pseudo-competition for Meta, since the headset only appeals to those that already own a PS5 (or who are willing to buy a PS5 just to get the headset).

Real Competition for Meta?

On the other hand, some real competition from the likes of Pico and HTC may be on the way.

On the high-end, HTC’s newly announced Vive XR Elite is clearly positioned to compete with Meta’s Quest Pro. With most of the same essential features, but a lower price point ($1,100 vs. $1,500), the Vive XR Elite at least looks at face value like an alternative choice for those looking for a more compact VR headset with improved passthrough AR capabilities.

And on the low-end, Pico’s recently launched Neo 4 is the first such headset that is truly competing on price with Quest 2. Priced at €20 or €50 less than Quest 2 (depending upon storage capacity), looks like a real alternative. Granted, the company has yet to formally bring its headset to the United States—Meta’s home turf.

But… both Vive XR Elite and Pico Neo 4 share a common problem, and that’s content.

A Big Moment for Content Momentum

Regardless of specs and price, unless the content that users want is available on these headsets, they are difficult to consider real options (and thus real competition). As of now, both headsets lack many of the best-selling and most-played killer apps that are available on Meta’s Quest headsets.

But that could finally be changing. Compared to prior alternative standalone headsets, XR Elite and Neo 4 have a much more significant and recognizable body of content than we’ve seen in the past. If more developers recognize the benefit that both they and consumers alike would see from having a more competitive standalone market… perhaps this could be the start of an important sea change in the industry.

The Elephant in the Room

Of course the single biggest elephant in the room has been and will continue to be Apple. It seems that every month we get a new rumor about when the company will enter the market, with the only certainty being that the company is definitely hard at work on something—though no one knows precisely when they will announced it, let alone launch it.

Apple, more than any other company in the world, has the potential to disrupt Meta at its own game by releasing an XR headset with a highly polished user experience… something the social-media-turned-metaverse company (and frankly the VR industry at large) has struggled with.

Make no mistake, Apple’s entrance into the XR space will have wide reaching implications practically overnight—both within the XR space and outside of it.

Look for UX Innovation, Not a Hardware Breakthrough

But nobody should be expecting hardware breakthroughs from Apple. The company is stuck with the same (largely physical) constraints as the rest of the major players in the industry. Whatever device they launch is likely to have similar specs and form-factor to what the latest headsets we see on the market today. More importantly however, Apple is likely to contribute key software design, device interoperability, and overall UX learnings that other companies in XR have consistently struggled with.

While Apple is certainly a threat to the likes of Meta, the company’s entrance into the market is also likely to be a boon for Meta overall; not only will it be a validation of Meta’s early and ambitious bet on the space, but the best XR design concepts revealed from within Apple will be adopted for the betterment of the industry at large. For Meta, Apple’s entrance into the space can’t come soon enough.

Meta Faces the Same Old Struggles

While Quest 2 has been more widely adopted than any other standalone headset, user retention continues to be an issue. Not only due to substandard UX, but also the headset being stuck in an arcade phase where years-old games like Beat Saber, Superhot VR, and Job Simulator continue to be among the most popular games on the platform—seemingly signaling that only a small amount of compelling new content has reached the headset in the years since Quest 2 has launched. Meanwhile, the headset most enthusiastic userbase—core gamers—is underserved, waiting for the sort of large-scale and highly polished content that they expect from the traditional gaming space.

As for Meta’s 2023… outside of the Apple wildcard, the company has confirmed that it’s working on a next-gen consumer headset due out this year, which is very likely to be Quest 3. And while the company has some pretty wild R&D projects in the oven, more likely than not, Quest 3 will adopt core parts of the Quest Pro headset rather than offering some kind of major leap in features or form-factor.

Last But Not Least

As for PC VR, the only thing keeping the platform alive is an enthusiast player base that’s hungry for greater immersion and starved for next-gen VR content. Unfortunately with so much attention focused on standalone VR by platform holders and developers, PC VR in 2023 will be largely stuck with content built for other platforms that happens to spill over.

Between that content, the VR modding scene, smaller-scope projects from enthusiast indie developers, and the occasional release of VR-optional flight or racing sims—PC VR will feel like it’s on life support through 2023.

PC VR is and continues to be the place where users can push immersion to the next level with niche accessories like full-body trackers, racing & cockpit peripherals, haptic vests, and gun stocks. And while some unannounced PC VR headsets may make an appearance in 2023, the drought of next-gen PC VR content means dwindling reasons to upgrade.

– – — – –

What’s your 2023 VR outlook? Let us know in the comments below.

2022 Was a Plateau Year for VR, Here’s What to Expect in 2023 Read More »

Intel Partners with Meta to Optimize Flagship Wi-Fi Card for Low Latency PC VR Gaming on Quest 2

air link, ces 2023, intel, intel vr, Meta, meta air link, Meta Quest 2, News, pc vr gaming, vr wifi card, wireless pc vr, Wireless VR / DJ Henderson / January 9, 2023

Quest 2 users have a few choices when it comes to cutting the cable and playing PC VR games over Wi-Fi. You can opt for something like a dedicated dongle, or simply configure your network for the most optimal Wi-Fi setup, which usually means having your PC connected directly to the 2.4/5Ghz router with an Ethernet cable and maintaining line of sight with the router. If your PC has Intel’s latest Wi-Fi 6e AX1690 card though, that’s about to change.

Intel announced at CES 2023 that they’ve partnered with Meta to make better use of its flagship Wi-Fi card by optimizing it for use with Quest 2, which means reduced latency and no need for Ethernet cables connecting to your PC.

As reported by Wi-Fi Now, Intel says its Killer Wi-Fi 6e AX1690 card is now capable of using its Double Connect Technology (DCT) for VR headsets like Quest 2. Although the product of an Intel/Meta partnership, Intel’s it’s likely other standalone headsets will benefit too, including Pico 4 and the newly unveiled Vive XR Elite too.

Intel says AX1690, which is compatible with the Intel’s 13th-gen Core HX platform, is capable of reducing overall wireless PC VR gaming latency from 30ms to just 5ms, essentially making it indistinguishable from conventional wired connections, such as Link. We haven’t seen it in action yet, so we’re reserving judgment for now, but it basically seems like having all the functionality of that slick $99 dongle from D-Link, albeit built into your PC gaming rig.

“I’m a firm believer that pushing the boundaries of wireless in VR and AR will only be possible if the whole industry work together,” said Meta Reality Labs Wireless Technology chief Bruno Cendon Martin. “I’m extremely happy to see the announce today by Intel Corporation Wireless CTO Carlos Cordeiro of the work we’ve been doing together to get Wireless PC VR to the next level with Meta Quest and Intel Killer.”

Intel also released a video to demonstrate the benefits of using two simultaneous Wi-Fi connections which enable VR headsets to wirelessly access data directly from a PC (1-hop) vs. through an access point (2-hops) for reduced latency and better PC VR gaming experiences throughout the home.

Intel Partners with Meta to Optimize Flagship Wi-Fi Card for Low Latency PC VR Gaming on Quest 2 Read More »

Meta is Bringing One of Its Most Popular VR Games to PSVR 2

beat games, beat saber, beat saber psvr 2, Meta, News, PlayStation VR 2, psvr 2, VR Game / Shannon Garcia / January 5, 2023

Who would have thought one VR’s most popular games was coming to Sony’s next-gen VR headset? Probably everyone, but now the company has confirmed it is indeed bringing Beat Saber to PSVR 2.

Announced during Sony’s CES 2023 keynote, Beat Saber is said to be “in development” for PSVR 2, a game created by the Meta-owned studio Beat Games.

There’s a few more questions still in need of answering between now and PSVR 2’s February 22nd launch though—one in particular: is Meta going to offer PSVR 2 support as a free upgrade to owners of the game on PSVR? Sony is mum on the subject for now, with more information promised sometime in “the near future.”

There’s a growing list of games getting free PSVR 2 upgrades, and we’d love to see the block-slashing rhythm game among them. After all, backwards compatibility isn’t a thing with PSVR 2…

Launched in 2018 on Rift, SteamVR, and PSVR, Beat Saber almost immediately became the medium’s most recognizable title, and it’s still chugging years later. It regularly tops PSVR’s most downloaded charts, and was even in the most recent list of top-selling VR games on Steam—a testament to its continued strength across all VR platforms.

It would make a good deal of sense that it will indeed come as a free upgrade, as Beat Saber’s revenue model is very much tied to its continuous paid DLC releases, which regularly offer up music packs from some of the world’s leading pop artists. Asking a PSVR owner to buy a base game and hundreds of dollars of DLC they already own would be a pretty dicey maneuver to say the least.

In any case, it appears Meta is sticking with its promise to make sure Beat Saber persists as VR’s premier cross-platform title, though there’s no telling whether they charged Sony a pretty penny to make it happen.

Meta is Bringing One of Its Most Popular VR Games to PSVR 2 Read More »

Meta Acquires 3D Lens Printing Firm Luxexcel to Bolster Future AR Glasses

AR News, AR Optics, facebook, luxexcel, Meta, meta ar, meta ar glasses, meta ar headset, News / DJ Henderson / December 30, 2022

Meta has acquired the Belgian-Dutch company Luxexcel, a 3D printing firm creating complex glass lenses for use in AR optics.

As first reported by Belgian newspaper De Tijd (Dutch), the Turnhout, Belgium-based company was quietly acquired by Facebook parent Meta in an ostensible bid to bolster the development of its in-development AR glasses.

Details of the acquisition are still under wraps, however confirmation by Meta was obtained by English language publication The Brussels Times.

“We are delighted that the Luxexcel team has joined Meta. This extends the partnership between the two companies,” Meta says.

Founded in 2009, Luxexcel first focused on 3D printing lenses for automotive, industrial optics, and the aerospace industry. Over the years Luxexcel shifted to using its 3D printing tech to create prescription lenses for the eyewear market.

In 2020, the company made its first entry into the smart eyewear market by combining 3D printed prescription lenses with the integration of technology. One year later, Luxexcel partnered with UK-based waveguide company WaveOptics, which has since been acquired by Snapchat parent Snap.

Meta’s interest in Luxexcel undoubtedly stems from its ability to print complex optics for both smart glasses and AR headsets; Meta’s Project Aria is rumored to house Luxexcel-built lenses. Project Aria is a sensor-rich pair of glasses which the company created to train its AR perception systems, as well as asses public perception of the technology.

Meta Acquires 3D Lens Printing Firm Luxexcel to Bolster Future AR Glasses Read More »

VR Industry Luminary John Carmack Quits Meta, Calling it “the end of my decade in VR”

carmack, john carmack, john carmack meta, Meta, News / Mike M. / December 21, 2022

John Carmack, legendary programmer and key player in the Oculus gensis story, announced he’s left Meta, writing in a memo to employees that he “wearied of the fight” of trying to push for change at the highest levels of the company.

Carmack has never been one to mince words. Outside of bringing industry expertise to Oculus in 2013—notably a year before Meta (ex-Facebook) acquired the VR headset startup for $2 billion—Carmack has been a rare window into the world of consumer VR and one of the most important companies behind it. And even now, it appears we’re getting a peek into how things work in Meta, or rather, how they don’t work.

Last Friday, Carmack sent out a memo to employees saying he was effectively leaving Meta, mentioning the company’s VR efforts were developing at “half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”

Carmack demos an early Oculus Rift prototype at E3 2012

Parts of the memo were previously leaked in a Business Insider piece, however Carmack went one step further by releasing the memo in a Facebook update. We’ve included the text in full at the bottom of the article.

Having spearheaded Oculus’ mobile efforts throughout his tenure, in 2019 Carmack stepped down as Oculus CTO to a “consulting CTO” position, something he said would reduce his time spent at the company to a “modest slice” so he could pursue new ventures outside of VR.

Still, Carmack says the last few years at Meta has been a struggle:

“I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I’m evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I think my influence at the margins has been positive, but it has never been a prime mover.”

He contends the waning sway within Meta was “admittedly self-inflicted,” owing to the fact that he wasn’t really up to engaging with C-level battles for influence:

“I could have moved to Menlo Park after the Oculus acquisition and tried to wage battles with generations of leadership, but I was busy programming, and I assumed I would hate it, be bad at it, and probably lose anyway.”

Carmack says in a follow-up Twitter thread that there was “a notable gap between Mark Zuckerberg and I on various strategic issues, so I knew it would be extra frustrating to keep pushing my viewpoint internally.”

Before making the move to Meta vis-à-vis Oculus, John Carmack was co-founder and Technical Director of the famous id Software. He also founded Armadillo Aerospace, a private aerospace company. Carmack says he is now “all in” working on artificial general intelligence (AGI) at his startup Keen Technologies.

The full text of his internal memo follows below:

This is the end of my decade in VR.

I have mixed feelings.

Quest 2 is almost exactly what I wanted to see from the beginning – mobile hardware, inside out tracking, optional PC streaming, 4k (ish) screen, cost effective. Despite all the complaints I have about our software, millions of people are still getting value out of it. We have a good product. It is successful, and successful products make the world a better place. It all could have happened a bit faster and been going better if different decisions had been made, but we built something pretty close to The Right Thing.

The issue is our efficiency.

Some will ask why I care how the progress is happening, as long as it is happening?

If I am trying to sway others, I would say that an org that has only known inefficiency is ill prepared for the inevitable competition and/or belt tightening, but really, it is the more personal pain of seeing a 5% GPU utilization number in production. I am offended by it.

[edit: I was being overly poetic here, as several people have missed the intention. As a systems optimization person, I care deeply about efficiency. When you work hard at optimization for most of your life, seeing something that is grossly inefficient hurts your soul. I was likening observing our organization’s performance to seeing a tragically low number on a profiling tool.]

We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort. There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy. Some may scoff and contend we are doing just fine, but others will laugh and say “Half? Ha! I’m at quarter efficiency!”

It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I’m evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I think my influence at the margins has been positive, but it has never been a prime mover.

This was admittedly self-inflicted – I could have moved to Menlo Park after the Oculus acquisition and tried to wage battles with generations of leadership, but I was busy programming, and I assumed I would hate it, be bad at it, and probably lose anyway.

Enough complaining. I wearied of the fight and have my own startup to run, but the fight is still winnable! VR can bring value to most of the people in the world, and no company is better positioned to do it than Meta. Maybe it actually is possible to get there by just plowing ahead with current practices, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

Make better decisions and fill your products with “Give a Damn”

VR Industry Luminary John Carmack Quits Meta, Calling it “the end of my decade in VR” Read More »

Meta Will Pay You up to $45,000 to Hack Its VR Headsets

Meta, meta bug bounty, meta vr bug bounty / DJ Henderson / December 16, 2022

In an effort to harden the security of its hardware products, Meta today announced new guidelines for its Bug Bounty program, specifying the inclusion of both the Quest Pro headset and Touch Pro controllers, and what the company will pay out for specific bugs uncovered by security researchers.

Like some other tech companies, Meta runs a Bug Bounty program which encourages ~~hackers~~ security researchers to probe its products for vulnerabilities in exchange for a payout.

Meta has been running this program for some time across various products, but today the company added new payout guidelines specific to its VR products, including Quest Pro and the Touch Pro controllers, as well as Quest 2, Quest 1, and many of the company’s recent non-VR hardware products.

According to the guidelines, Meta is offering up to $45,000 for major exploits on its hardware products (like remote code execution on a headset), and between $500–$3,000 for smaller exploits (like sneaking an app around the user’s permission settings).

The guidelines detail how Meta will assess the various classes of exploits and how their severity will determine the payout. The company says it will take a range of factors into consideration, including findings that could “potentially result in physical health and safety and privacy risks.”

One of the most interesting additions of included devices in the program is surely the Touch Pro controllers. As far as Meta’s VR headsets go, this is a whole new class of device—essentially a little computer capable of tracking its own position thanks to three on-board cameras. None of the company’s prior VR headsets have had such sophisticated controllers, and it will be interesting to see if they open the door to any new security vulnerabilities.

In a blog post recounting the last year of the company’s Bug Bounty program, Meta says it paid out some $2 million to security researchers this year. The company says it got around 10,000 reports in 2022, 750 (7.5%) of which it determined qualified for a payout. That makes the average bounty payment for 2022 around $2,700 per qualifying bug.

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How WhatsApp significantly improved its call experience in 2022

Applications, Highlights, Meta, News, whatsapp / DJ Henderson / December 16, 2022

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‘Beat Saber’ Rock Mixtape Brings Nirvana, The White Stripes, KISS & More

beat games, beat saber, beat saber rock, beat saber rock mixtape, Meta, News, VR Game / DJ Henderson / December 15, 2022

If you were waiting for Beat Saber to finally get the classic and alternative rock DLC it’s deserved since it first launched with an EDM-heavy music catalogue in 2018, the wait is over with the block-slashing rhythm game’s first Rock Mixtape.

The Rock Mixtape is now available across all supported headsets, which includes Quest 2, SteamVR headsets, and PSVR, priced at $11 for the full eight-song music pack.

The tracklist hits some of the most influential classic and alternative rock music, including:

Steppenwolf — Born To Be Wild
Survivor — Eye of the Tiger
KISS — I Was Made For Lovin’ You
Lynyrd Skynyrd — Free Bird
The White Stripes — Seven Nation Army
Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit
Guns N’ Roses — Sweet Child O’ Mine
Foo Fighters — The Pretender

Meta-owned developer Beat Games also included custom environments for several of the trackins, including lighting effects and color schemes in Seven Nation Army inspired by its iconic 2003 music video.

Eye of the Tiger’s environment was designed in the style of a FitBeat-style obstacle level, which ought to get your heartrate up. Speaking of heartrates, Free Bird is now the game’s longest song at nine minutes, throwing over 3,000 notes at you for some heavy slicing action.

The Rock Mixtape follows a steady stream of high-profile music, such as packs from Lizzo, Skrillex, BTS, Green Day, Timbaland, Linkin Park, Imagine Dragons, and a host of others in the Interscope Music Pack, which features tracks from Kendrick Lamar, OneRepublic, Limp Bizkit, and Maroon 5.

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Meta Shows How Quest Pro Uses Shared Point Clouds for Local Multiplayer

local multiplayer, Meta, meta quest, Meta Quest Pro, News, quest multiplayer, Quest Pro, quest pro multiplayer / Shannon Garcia / December 7, 2022

Meta hasn’t rolled out colocation services for the entire Quest platform yet—meaning a pair of Quest 2 headsets can’t automatically ‘see’ each other in the same physical playspace—although that’s not entirely true for its latest headset, Quest Pro.

Meta published a quick explainer video recently showing off how local multiplayer works between two Quest Pros. Here’s the gist, although you can catch the explanation in the video below as well:

To track the room and superimpose virtual imagery over your physical environment in mixed reality, Quest Pro generates point clouds which can be shared with other Quest Pros. Users can decide whether they share point cloud data, Meta says in the informational clip, although it’s notably done by using Meta’s servers as a middleman.

This is a fairly substantial change from how local multiplayer works on Quest 2—or doesn’t work—as games typically require some shared room marker that is used to calibrate the relative positions of players within a pre-defined space. This sort of ad hoc local multiplayer can provide variable results in terms of overall ‘avatar-to-person’ tracking fidelity, but by being able to sync up point clouds, you should (in practice) have the highest level of positional accuracy between two players.

Meta (vis-a-vis Facebook) has been talking about colocation on Quest for a while now. Starting in 2018, the company showed off an arena-scale multiplayer prototype based on VR shooter Dead & Buried, which we hoped would eventually lead to the company opening up colocation services for the Quest platform. Around one year later, the company published code in the Oculus Unity Integration pointing to a colocation API for Quest, although we still seem no closer to colocation on Quest 2.

It’s interesting to see the company is only allowing colocation on Quest Pro for now, its $1,500 mixed reality headset launched in late October. Meta still seems to be refining its value proposition of Quest Pro, and it seems colocation services are very much a ‘pro’ feature.

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