Technology 5 min read

How the Oculus Quest Will Change the VR Game Forever

The Oculus Quest is certainly the next step in VR development. | Oculus

The Oculus Quest is certainly the next step in VR development. | Oculus

We’ve all been listening intently to the development of VR. But, as numbers show, not many of us are ready to bite the financial bullet and invest in the tech.

For most VR rigs, like the Oculus Rift or PSVR, you need to have either a PC or a gaming console to use the system.

Not only does this restrict the market for VR gamers, but it’s also a massive turnoff for any curious buyers who don’t want to throw out hundreds of dollars for something that might just give them motion sickness.

For those of you who haven’t considered buying a VR headset, let’s just go through the pricing a little.

Let’s take the PSVR system. On average, a PS4 will cost you anywhere between $300-$400. Then, you have to buy the PSVR headset, which will set you back another $200 or so. So before you’ve even bought a game to play, you’ve already sunk at least $500 into a VR headset.

For an Oculus Rift, it’s an even more expensive story. A high-performance gaming PC is going to cost you about $1000, at a low estimate. An Oculus Rift kit will cost you about $450, meaning that, altogether, you’re paying nearly $1,500 for a VR system that you’re not even sure you want yet.

Even other alternatives like the Magic Leap, an integrated AR headset, will cost you over $2,500.

These extortionate prices are one of the main reasons why VR hasn’t quite kicked off yet. It’s the main reason why I haven’t dove headfirst into the world of VR myself.

Now, however, Oculus is working on a portable VR headset that is going to change this entirely – The Oculus Quest.

Oculus Quest — The Future Giant Killer

I like to think of modern VR headsets as I do VHS tapes, or even Betamax. They’re big, clunky, full of faults, and will be obsolete in a decade.

If modern VR headsets are VHS, then the Oculus Quest is the DVD.

Set to be released this spring, the Oculus Quest is a VR kit that is entirely portable and untethered. It doesn’t need a $1,000 PC or games console to work and can be set up practically anywhere.

It’s light, portable, and comes from Oculus, one of the most reputable VR developers in the world.  It also comes with fixes to its VR system that help with motion tracking, sensory feedback, and balance issues.

Sounds like the perfect combination, right?

Following VR pricing precedent, as well as it being the first release of this model, I was expecting the Oculus Quest to cost more than a pretty penny.

But — and here’s why this is a game changer — the Oculus Quest is well within the price range of other VR rigs. In fact, it’s almost half the price of other VR sets.

How much is a brand-new Oculus Quest going to cost?

Well, according to Oculus themselves — $399.

At $399, the Oculus Quest is well within the price range of games consoles like the Xbox One or PS4.

Full Potential for Full Disruption

Importantly, it also has six degrees of movement. This means that as well as being immersed in a visible virtual world, you can move around within it.

At the Oculus Connect Conference in September, developers presented this free movement by showcasing interactive demos of tennis games on full-size courts, large area tracking in model sitting rooms, and even a six-player local multiplayer battle royale game in a 4,000 sq. ft. arena.

With this level of free movement along with the entirely untethered design of the Oculus Quest, it’s easy to see why the device is so attractive.

Some of you may be thinking — what about the Oculus Go? Well, although the Oculus Go is an untethered VR headset at an accessible price of $200, it only has three degrees of movement. This, along with its low-performance capacity, severely restricts it in breaking through to the mainstream gaming market.

Another important question to ask about the Oculus Quest’s release is whether it will have enough material to keep users satisfied and entertained on launch day.

The Oculus Quest, along with having six degrees of movement, already has over 50 fully developed games in its library before release. This includes a high number of big name titles, most notably a Star Wars experience letting users play as Darth Vader.

Oculus has also confirmed that all future Oculus titles will be compatible or backwards compatible with the Quest, making it a sound investment not just for 2019, but for the next few years at a minimum.

Read More: The Edgy Guide to Mastering VR Storytelling

This brings us to one of the most exciting aspects of the Oculus Quest: local and online multiplayer.

Although local multiplayer is not yet a full feature, Oculus has confirmed that it will be in the future with up to six players connected together in the one room.

This, along with its online capabilities, gives the Oculus Quest a huge advantage. It means that users experiencing an Oculus Quest will no longer be within a private VR immersion.

Instead, they will share a virtual gaming space with their friends or other players, either in the same sitting room or on opposite sides of the world.

This opens up the Oculus Quest to be in the same position as Microsoft was in a decade ago with Xbox Live.

With all of these features, it’s clear that the Oculus Quest is sitting on a time bomb and waiting to explode into the gaming world, causing as much disruption as possible.

VR has been with us for a long time, but the Oculus Quest is a new chapter in the VR experience.

As an untethered, high-performing, fairly-priced console competitor with plenty of games waiting to be played, it’s almost assured that this will be the flagship by which competitors will measure their future releases.

Do you think the Oculus Quest will be a true giant killer? 

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Lewis Mc Cahill

Lead Editor of Edgy.app, Lewis is a long time lover of all things written. He covers the biggest stories on AI, SEO, and how our world is changing for the better.

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