A surprise release, Horizon Workrooms promises meetings, productivity and collaboration in VR like you’ve never experienced, but you need a Facebook account
Quick read
➨ The open beta for Horizon Workrooms launched yesterday and is available for free on Oculus Quest 2 in all markets where the headset is sold
➨ Features such as mixed reality desk and keyboard tracking have led to the creation of ‘a different kind of productivity experience’, according to Facebook
➨ Workrooms will require a Facebook account if accessing the app via Oculus Quest 2
The story
Facebook has launched its own virtual reality meeting, productivity and collaboration app as Oculus’s owner looks to disrupt an already competitive field and position Quest 2 as the all-in-one headset of choice for business.
The open beta for Horizon Workrooms launched yesterday and is available for free on Oculus Quest 2 in all markets where the headset is sold.
Watch an intro video for Workrooms below.
The new app is the first public look at Facebook Horizon, which feels like it has been in invite-only beta mode forever, and it is a telling choice for how the company is approaching social virtual reality for consumers.
Choosing definitive, almost-proven use cases in meetings, productivity and collaboration with a business and professional audience in mind indicates that Facebook sees this as a solid launch platform for the Horizon brand.
Facebook can see that these use cases are proving highly popular and the field competitive, with Arthur and MeetinVR among the strong options available on Oculus Quest 2, and Vive Sync launching earlier this year as the flagship app for HTC Vive’s all-in-one headset, Focus 3.
The company is also using Workrooms internally, so it can see a market emerging for a meeting, productivity and collaboration app, at least while social virtual reality remains an unknown as Facebook continues to develop the wider Horizon platform.
Advances in technology offered by Quest 2 also present an opportunity for Facebook to differentiate Workrooms from its competitors.
In a blog post announcing the launch of Workrooms, Oculus says features such as mixed reality desk and keyboard tracking, made possible by Quest 2’s advancing passthrough capabilities, as well as hand tracking, remote desktop streaming, video conferencing integration, spatial audio, and the new Oculus Avatars, have led to the creation of “a different kind of productivity experience”.