VR Download: Meta Accounts, Quest Pro & The Path To Hundreds Of Millions Of VR Users

How long until VR headsets number in the hundreds of millions?

The original founder of Oculus, Palmer Luckey, just called “this coming hardware refresh cycle” the biggest jump since Rift DK1 to DK2 while Meta’s top executives in charge of VR, building on the success of Quest 2 and readying to ship Quest Pro, said “we have millions and millions of people in VR” while discussing how they’ll work to “increase the rate of adoption over time.”

The latest steps from Meta take effect in August with the launch of Meta accounts and simultaneous abandonment of the Facebook account requirement for Quest 2 as well as future VR headsets from the company. Next, with PSVR 2 and Quest Pro both poised to use eye tracking in VR headsets sold to consumers, the next generation of headset is poised to introduce new kinds of VR capabilities for both developers and consumers that simply haven’t been experienced at this scale before.

We also know Apple is prepping a super high-end VR headset too that we expect comes armed with AR  superpowers as well, but reports suggest heat management issues pushed the first generation of the high-priced headset to launch deep into 2023 with a “more affordable” follow on supposedly slated now for 2025. For long-time watchers, Apple launching eyewear next year is almost as old a meme as “this year is the year of VR”, but with computer vision advancing to the stage of quick and accurate space-mapping and Facebook reborn as Meta while “laser-focused” on realizing a hardware platform that might one day displace iPhone and all other computers — the pressure to finally deliver sooner rather than later may be greater than many realize.

That’s some of the context for our discussion this week on VR Download embedded below. In addition, we’ll also be discussing a Kickstarter project to make Valve Index wireless and the price of Magic Leap 2. In case you’re unfamiliar, every Tuesday at 10 am Pacific our resident VR developer and hardware expert David Heaney and I meet live in virtual reality to discuss the latest moves shaping the next generation of personal computing. We can see comments on YouTube and incorporate them into our discussion if you tune in during our recording, and afterward we syndicate to all major podcast platforms as well if you want to catch up.

Check it out: