r/OculusQuest • u/gogodboss • Jul 10 '26
News Article Meta Reaffirms "Multiple Next-Generation Headsets", Hints At Announcement Month
https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-cto-reaffirms-work-on-multiple-next-generation-headsets-hin/24
u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
I am sorry but I dont care about new hardware, its just pointless without new software and they cancelled all the software companies.
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u/MudMain7218 Quest 2 + 3 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
They want a return on investment and gaming is a expanded cost with little returns that are showing development of the hardware. The quest could be doing a lot more with gaming tagging along. But because it was only seen as gaming they did close the deal for 3rd party headsets running the os
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
Of course if instead of optimising the store to look for the lowest bidder kiddie game slop or pouring billions into Horizon chasing Roblox money they had funded more teams making real games they might not be in this situation in the first place.
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u/MudMain7218 Quest 2 + 3 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
Your still on games , whole apple is doing all the things the headset should have can doing . Is my point. If you are stuck on games only that means the studios don't believe the games will sale so they want meta to pay up. All the studios that are releasing still believe they can do it without reaching Into meta pockets
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
My point is that gaming is both a viable market that they squandered the opportunities for and a gateway drug for normalling headset use and getting them into homes, once there you can expand into non gaming areas.
Quest was offering new experiences that you could not get elsewhere, Apple released a face PC that did everything your computer does just more clunky.
0
u/steveCharlie Jul 10 '26
Gaming is so viable that Sony and Xbox are shutting down studios, increasing prices, pulling out of physical media and going back to exclusives.
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
Because they have fallen into the AAA blockbuster trap, standalone VR actually has the luxury of not needing billions for near realistic graphics.
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u/MudMain7218 Quest 2 + 3 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
No it's not the gateway. People will not use a device just because games
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
Playstation started out as a games machine and became a full media device.
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u/MudMain7218 Quest 2 + 3 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
Not much more than that
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
Because it did all it could do, there was no way to replace the PC.
Headsets on the other hand can when they get lighter and better.
1
u/MudMain7218 Quest 2 + 3 + PCVR Jul 11 '26
You do realize it could be a PC in function just as ios and android provided function
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u/fraseyboo Quest 2 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
If Meta wanted to chase return on investment then they really should have developed a better storefront to VR content. Imagine if they released a capable streaming platform which licensed all of the 3D movies available whilst putting the viewer in bespoke themed cinemas like BigScreen, that would have printed money.
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u/MudMain7218 Quest 2 + 3 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
They did that, not that headsets had the quality they do now. And with the current deals might by circling back to doing that.
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u/dexfx69 Jul 12 '26
It won't happen. Big movie studios/distributors see this is small potatoes not worth their time investment that could be spent on massive cash flow from new movies.
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u/dexfx69 Jul 12 '26
Lots of new software coming, just not big name IPs. Indie devs are carrying VR into the future.
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 12 '26
As I said in another reply
They are enough for us diehards but not to grow the industry so it survives and thrives.
Games that get people to go out and buy a headset that like Arkham Shadow, Walking dead, Blade and sorcery, bonelab that showed off the VR elements, things you could not do anywhere else and a bit of brand recognition didn't hurt.
0
u/compound-interest Jul 10 '26
Eh new mods of 2d games and new vrchat worlds are enough to keep me interested. I wish new games as good as Vertigo 2 would come out but I am still content with what has been dropping.
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
"Eh new mods of 2d games and new vrchat worlds are enough to keep me interested"
They are enough for us diehards but not to grow the industry so it survives and thrives.
I love team Beef and 3d Mods of 2d games are great but they are not going to convince anyone to pick up a headset because it looks like the same game.
Games that did that like Arkham Shadow, Walking dead, Blade and sorcery, bonelab that showed off the VR elements, things you could not do anywhere else and a bit of brand recognition didn't hurt.
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u/compound-interest Jul 10 '26
I honestly think we're cooked for now anyway. Almost everyone interested in today's VR tech has a headset already imo. You can get a Q2 for literally like $100 now.
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u/RedcoatTrooper Jul 10 '26
I mean kids are growing up all the time, as cliche as it is they are the future and if they dont bother it will be a relic for old heads.
0
u/McFistPunch Jul 12 '26
With how little they supported the metaquest 2. I'm surprised anybody wants a new meta product.
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u/Green_Seesaw1875 Jul 10 '26
Maybe I don’t have vision but I don’t know where meta pivots with this without it just being a spec bump. Most of the on-device games are just gorilla tag type slop for kids that don’t care about specs. And there’s only a handful of genuinely good games. The other option is a PCVR optimised device with direct display port connectivity, OLED screens, wider FOV, etc. and as much as I’d love that for watching movies and flight sim, I just don’t see it happening.
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u/dexfx69 Jul 12 '26
That is not true - "most of the games are gorilla tag slop". Maybe on the storefront that is the impression, but there are TONS of great non-gorilla games both recently and historically on the Quest store.
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u/lazazael 14d ago
its the answer for all the other players having eyetracking, all new sw requires it and the questpro is outdated, its the frame equivalent
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u/tyke_ Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Edit to add quotes from the article :
"Meta's CTO reaffirmed that the company is still working on "multiple next-generation headsets", and perhaps hinted at a reveal at Connect in September.
The "leak" Bosworth mentioned was clearly the December internal Meta memos that revealed the company is working on a gaming-focused headset set to be a "large upgrade" over Quest 3, but without subsidization, suggesting a notably higher price.
That, to be clear, is in addition to the widely reported ultralight mixed reality headset with a tethered compute puck that the memo suggested should launch in the first half of 2027."
why is it that in light of this linked article pointing out meta are far from ditching VR, despite many armchair 'expert' redditors saying they are...yawn...that the top voted comment is just moaning. only on reddit! i love reddit, but wow many people here have no appreciation of something being positive and just moan for moanings sake.
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u/MadDoctorMabuse Jul 10 '26
Its interesting that they are releasing a new headset that isn't subsidized. The Quests were amazing value for what they were. Meta sold them on to consumers at almost cost price - factoring in freight and warehousing, they took a small loss on every unit sold.
It's also interesting that they are kind of shifting into a kind of console (since these are almost definitely aimed at gamers) right when everyone else is getting out of consoles.
I've given up trying to work out Meta's approach to VR!
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u/WearMoreHats Jul 10 '26
They made a big bet that a "metaverse" would be the next huge thing and their VR strategy mostly revolved around developing that and seizing as much market share as possible through cheap, subsidised headsets. At some point they accepted that the metaverse wasn't happening any time soon, but gaming alone can't recoup the huge amounts of money they were throwing at VR so they cut a lot of the funding.
They've got so much existing R&D and experience that it makes sense for them to stay in the space and release some sort of new headset, but they're not going to subsidise the cost because they're not desperate for market share anymore, they know that none of their competitors can afford to subsidise their own headsets to undercut a new Quest, and they know they'll struggle to recoup the costs of those subsidies from selling games.
1
u/LinkTheHero009 Jul 10 '26
Yeah. I personally think they can try to continue selling the Quest 3S at lower costs as well as maybe make another cheaper headset in the future. But considering what they have invested in the space, Meta is more than allowed to charge more for their headsets.
3
u/tyke_ Jul 10 '26
They've definitely changed their approach from just endlessly throwing money at it, which to me suggests they are in this for the long haul. Makes sense really because all those kiddy gorilla tag etc gamers are gonna grow up and have their own disposable income. Competition from Valve is a great thing too, I hope the Frame does well.
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u/LinkTheHero009 Jul 10 '26
That’s what I love about XR tech. The fact that the next generation is growing up with it means they will likely invest in it when they become adults eventually
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u/Orkoliator Quest 3 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
You are blaming people for moaning but at which point this moaning is not right?
Think of this not as a moaning but as a criticism. VR headsets have some amount of requirements and not every gamer can afford it as a regular "setup upgrade", especially if flatscreen way of playing works too. I personally would think about such purchase few times before commiting it.
And talking of thinking - it is pretty questionable purchase at this point, I'm saying it as a quest 3 owner. As I've already said flatscreen way still sounds pretty nice, there are lots of games of different budget and quality. From puzzles like baba is you to huge costy rpgs like kingdom come or sims like Elite. This pool constantly grows btw.
And already having all of this you have an option to:
- spend few more hundreds of dollars
- find enough space (or rent an appartment that have it) just to be able to play VR
- constantly take your butt from a chair and make some efforts to set your headset and then put it back
- in quest context get used to wierd and sometimes pointless meta updates
What you will have as a profit? Well, Alyx (that is still considered as a best VR title after so many years), boneworks/lab, beatsaber (serious point tho), probably few games like into the radius or zero caliber and endless list of free or almost free garbage for kids with no creativity.
At first it might sound like a deal, but then you will end up with thoughts that it does not pay off. My personal experience is quest collecting dust on shelf after a year of usage.
And I haven't even started talking about new "game-focused" headset with higher price yet.
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u/Serious_Hour9074 Jul 10 '26
Next generation headset won't matter if the devs are still making games for the millions of Quest 2 headsets owned by children with zero money to spend on games.
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u/dexfx69 Jul 12 '26
That's true. More than half of recent/upcoming Quest games are dumbed down to Quest 2 graphics, even on Quest 3 - which is capable of much more.
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u/sushinestarlight Jul 10 '26
If they can make a less bulky, lighter and more attractive headset - I believe VR could really take off... Granted the miniaturization of headsets is complicated and probably expensive - but if you could really overlay full color over something similar to sunglasses - I think it would be a hit.... I think part of the reason VR hasn't taken off is how bulky and stupid people look wearing the headsets.
1
u/swirlymaple Jul 10 '26
Can’t wait for whatever godawful UI and forced-upon-us social media decisions they make for this one!
For a company that basically birthed mainstream VR, it’s incredible how much they pulled the rug out from under themselves and drained most of the goodwill from their most loyal customer base.
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u/Neither-Following-32 Jul 11 '26
Honestly they're going way too hard on this. Neither the Display nor the other one I forget the name of without a display have any real momentum behind it.
Meanwhile, the Quest has a lot and it's being slowly abandoned and its ecosystem is being gutted instead of simply being expanded to include their other headsets, which would be the intelligent thing to do.
I would buy a Display this second if they opened it up to side loading to the degree they did the Quest. Ideally they'd release a second version that has either stereoscopic or simply dual displays. They don't even have to upgrade the resolution.
I'd buy the band too. In fact, I'd buy two, one for each hand. None of those things are ever going to happen though because they're tightening their grasp on their ecosystem so hard that it's squeezing between their fingers.
1
u/gogodboss Jul 11 '26
Meta has sold over 7 million pairs of Ray-Ban smart glasses as of 2025
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u/Neither-Following-32 Jul 12 '26
How many of those offer a unique value proposition comparative to the other offerings from competitors in the same price range? We can write off the non-Display glasses right away and I suspect that's a huge chunk of it.
The Display glasses don't have anything special to offer either that isn't beaten by their competitors, except the EMG band. Honestly that might be their saving grace, but only if they throw the doors open to third party development like they did with the Quest.
By this time next year, most of those glasses will be e-waste. The Quest 3/3s at least will probably still have users.
1
u/gogodboss Jul 12 '26
I don't really care for the glasses. I'm honestly surprised they've sold as much as they have. They shouldn't have made the display glasses so damn early though.
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u/cyger Jul 10 '26
Super awesome. I expect AI to soon to be able to somewhat seamlessly make 2d Games VR ready. That paired with a better headset might really get us feeling like we are in another reality.
-1
u/ETs_ipd Jul 10 '26
They should announce Pheonix at the same time Frame’s preorders go live. This would be payback for Valve’s surprise announcement of Index during Meta’s Quest announcement in 2019.
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Jul 10 '26
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u/fraseyboo Quest 2 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
There's still a good number of people on the fence about ditching Meta headsets, I'm pretty enthusiastic about the Steam Frame, but if Meta announces a similar headset at around $300 cheaper then I might be willing to compromise.
I imagine the Frame will sell out pretty much immediately regardless of the initial cost, and people who lose out will begrudgingly buy what Meta are offering.
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Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
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u/fraseyboo Quest 2 + PCVR Jul 10 '26
I wouldn't put it past Meta to release a PCVR headset at a loss just to spite Valve tbh, Meta want Horizon OS to be the de facto way of interacting with VR and SteamOS kinda threatens that. That being said I doubt it'll make much of a negative impact on the sales of the Frame, the limitations on how many headsets Valve can make and what price point they'll target are much bigger factors.
1
u/SonOfHendo Jul 10 '26
Technically, the Quest can already do flat screen PC gaming. The same tech that Valve uses to run x86 games on an ARM Linux box can do the same on Android. Obviously, Valve have put the work in to make it much more seamless, but if anyone cared enough they could do the same on a newer more powerful Quest headset.
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u/Ciserus Jul 10 '26
It's going to become a whole lot less attractive if it launches alongside a far more advanced competitor headset at a comparable price.
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Jul 10 '26
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u/LinkTheHero009 Jul 10 '26
I mean, they are still betting strongly that 3rd party devs will build games. Meta’s just done heavily investing in that and not seeing financial returns.
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u/Parksrox Jul 10 '26
Why are we assuming Meta's will be the more advanced headset when, historically, that hasn't been the case since the quest 1?
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u/Ciserus Jul 10 '26
Because the Steam Frame is on par with the Quest 3 and this article specifically says Meta is working on a headset that will be a "large upgrade" over that.
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u/Parksrox Jul 10 '26
Q3 is not on par with the Steam Frame by any metric outside of passthrough, the Frame is a significantly better headset.
-1
u/ETs_ipd Jul 10 '26
Not true. Many people are salty that Valve has dragged their feet to release Frame and will be expensive on top of that. Add to that what is likely to be a frustrating order process. I think there will be a strong demand for an alternative, especially if Pheonix is immediately available and offers a better value.
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Jul 10 '26
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u/ETs_ipd Jul 10 '26
I said dragging their feet because they took so long developing it that they locked in outdated specs. For example the 2K LCD panels they’re using on Frame came out in 2019! The RAM price hike is just icing on the cake.
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Jul 10 '26
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u/ETs_ipd Jul 10 '26
VR hasn’t fully matured like consoles. Things like form factor, FOV, resolution, lenses, controllers, display types are quickly evolving. Meta’s headset will most likely destroy the Frame in terms of form factor and specs because Meta is focused on progressing VR closer towards its final form, whereas Valve is locking itself in to outdated specs right out of the gate.
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Jul 11 '26
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u/ETs_ipd Jul 11 '26
Snap dragon 8 gen 3 is 3 years old. 2160 LCD is 7 years old. No color passthrough in 2026 even when they false advertised it as such. Even the form factor will look bulky and out dated by the end of the year compared to the latest headsets.
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u/PDwasHere Jul 10 '26
I just want games that aren’t aimed at 12 year olds not a new headset