IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
https://www.cnet.com/news/heres-what-happened-to-microsofts-xbox-vr-gaming-headset/
Earlier this year, however, Microsoft started telling partners it was putting its Xbox headset plans on hold. Two people familiar with Microsoft's thinking said the company decided to wait until promising new tech like wireless headsets were more feasible. Today, high-end headsets like Sony's $299 PlayStation VR, Facebook's $399 Oculus Rift and and HTC's $499 Vive rely on long and bulky wires plugged into their respective devices in order to work. Wireless adapters meanwhile, add about $300 in cost.
The move wasn't much of a surprise to partners and those briefed on the device, considering Microsoft has largely stuck to a supporting role during VR's recent renaissance, led by Sony, HTC, Steam game store owner Valve and Facebook's Oculus VR. And you could argue it's a smart strategy.
So far, the VR market has struggled to win over a mass market of consumers. Analysts believe Sony has sold the most high-end VR headsets, tallying 3 million PlayStation VRs sold since that product's launch in 2016. In May, Facebook released its $199 Oculus Go, a midlevel standalone VR headset. Though Facebook declined to disclose sales data, SuperData Research estimates it sold 289,000 units in the three months ended in June. That may not seem like much when stacked against the 41.3 million iPhones Apple sold during that same time, but the researcher said it's better than what Facebook's higher-end Oculus Rift did in the second half of 2017.
All told, VR today is a mixed bag. "Virtual reality may yet become a massive mainstream hit, but it's not going to happen with this generation of tech," CNET's Dan Ackerman wrote in April. "It's time to throw in the towel."
Earlier this year, however, Microsoft started telling partners it was putting its Xbox headset plans on hold. Two people familiar with Microsoft's thinking said the company decided to wait until promising new tech like wireless headsets were more feasible. Today, high-end headsets like Sony's $299 PlayStation VR, Facebook's $399 Oculus Rift and and HTC's $499 Vive rely on long and bulky wires plugged into their respective devices in order to work. Wireless adapters meanwhile, add about $300 in cost.
The move wasn't much of a surprise to partners and those briefed on the device, considering Microsoft has largely stuck to a supporting role during VR's recent renaissance, led by Sony, HTC, Steam game store owner Valve and Facebook's Oculus VR. And you could argue it's a smart strategy.
So far, the VR market has struggled to win over a mass market of consumers. Analysts believe Sony has sold the most high-end VR headsets, tallying 3 million PlayStation VRs sold since that product's launch in 2016. In May, Facebook released its $199 Oculus Go, a midlevel standalone VR headset. Though Facebook declined to disclose sales data, SuperData Research estimates it sold 289,000 units in the three months ended in June. That may not seem like much when stacked against the 41.3 million iPhones Apple sold during that same time, but the researcher said it's better than what Facebook's higher-end Oculus Rift did in the second half of 2017.
All told, VR today is a mixed bag. "Virtual reality may yet become a massive mainstream hit, but it's not going to happen with this generation of tech," CNET's Dan Ackerman wrote in April. "It's time to throw in the towel."