Oculus have introduced they’re ending gross sales of the Oculus Go this yr, simply two years after it first launched. The all-in-one Oculus Go was the precursor to the now wildly in style Oculus Quest, providing an untethered VR expertise that didn’t depend on you on having a selected form of telephone or a robust PC. It additionally price a fraction of the worth, with 32GB fashions ranging from £139 within the UK. Alas, Oculus have determined that the Go’s three levels of freedom monitoring (3DOF) isn’t adequate any extra, and so they received’t be transport any extra 3DOF merchandise going ahead, which means the Oculus Go will very quickly be the Oculus Gone.
Oculus didn’t identify a precise date for after they’ll be stopping gross sales of the headset of their current blog post, however they mentioned they received’t be transport any new options for the headset shifting ahead, and so they received’t be accepting any new Oculus Go apps or app updates into the Go Store after December 4th 2020. They’ll additionally received’t add any new apps to the shop after December 18th 2020.
Existing Oculus Go house owners will, in fact, nonetheless have the ability to use their headsets after this date, and Oculus have mentioned that they’ll proceed to take care of the system software program with bug fixes and safety patches till 2022. The headset may also proceed to work after that date as effectively, however any lingering issues will go unfixed. If you’re in any respect anxious about what this implies to your headset, then Oculus have inspired customers to contact Oculus Support.
The principal purpose behind the Oculus Go’s imminent departure appears to be its restricted three DOF monitoring capabilities. “Just past the one-year anniversary of Quest, we’re humbled by its continued success,” Oculus wrote of their weblog publish. “The community response has been overwhelmingly positive, and you’ve told us loud and clear that 6 DOF feels like the future of VR. That’s why we’re going all-in, and we won’t be shipping any more 3 DOF VR products. We’ll end sales of Oculus Go headsets this year as we double down on improving our offerings for Quest and Rift.”
Oculus didn’t give a lot away as to what these “doubling down” efforts would possibly entail, however they did reveal that beginning in early 2021, builders will have the ability to share and distribute apps for the Oculus Quest with out having to undergo the Oculus Store. Again, fairly what type this new distribution technique will take is presently unknown, however one factor we do know is that it received’t require customers to manually sideload apps onto their Quest. Oculus additionally mentioned they hope this new technique will make it simpler for builders to check early-stage functions and distribute them to particular headset house owners, which feels like one thing akin to Apple’s present TestFlight system in case you ask me, however we received’t know for positive till Oculus unveils it full later this yr.
In the imply time, RPS in peace Oculus Go.
