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[Eddie-Griffin]

Back when Xbox "Scorpio" was announced marketed almost entirely as a new console to restore the Xbox One Brand and relaunch it like new, there was a spec sheet that included all the features that Scorpio would support, including high-fidelity VR.

Then they removed it before the Xbox One X (the real name) launched.

Since VR returned in 2014 it had been slow to really gain ground after early excitement, Poorly implemented Mobile VR headsets, let by Samsung where the only one making ground, and then once that died it grew slowly then stagnated until the Quest. The Quest was achieving interest that wasn't though possible for VR, and with the Quest 2 Facebook broke through and were able to sell almost 15 million headsets by now. but software is still not where it needs to be, and the experience is still lukewarm.

The PSVR, the only console VR that was relevant, as Labo flopped and I'm sure everyone here forgot that existed, only managed to sell 5 million units in 6 years and most of that was earlier in its lifespan. The PSVR2 is better but is cutting off PSVR1 users, and will split Sony's resources, which is already being stretched with a new PC and mobile department.

Give where VR is now (excluding the Quest 2) do you think Microsoft was right to drop VR from Xbox to focus more on console gaming, BC, and various software services and updates? Or do you think that they should still try their hand at VR for Xbox Series consoles?

 

[AJUMP23]

They did it with foresight which is harder, and they were right.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Microsoft has much bigger problems to address with their first party. I am doubtful they'd be able to adequately support a VR platform. So from their perspective, it probably makes sense. You only have so many resources, and when you go years without major exclusives despite huge buying sprees you can't really manage to effectively support that platform.

I am just glad that we have someone like Sony that can step in and provide a superb platform with a multitude of support by some of their smaller devs and partners.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Yes. VR is a gimmick and I say this as someone who has owned two VR headsets.

 

[Justin9mm]

It's not an interest for them right now. VR tech is constantly evolving and they have other priorities, it's obviously been a discussed topic within Xbox and they don't see it being right for them.

I can see them maybe jumping in future if and when the time is right and VR has a more solid foundation and consumer base. VR is still in its infancy, its still a gimmicky product.

 

[baphomet]

They couldn't even release an adequate number of standard games, let alone VR games at that (and this) point in time.

 

[nominedomine]

They were 100% wrong. Walking back on a promise like this is pretty lazy and they actually would have a big advantage if they simply offered support for PC headsets.

The entire Xbox One generation was a big embarrassment.

 

[johnjohn]

Absolutely. They're still rebuilding their first party infrastructure and with Game Pass as their focus it's important to get as many traditional games on their as possible. Just not enough people care about VR yet.

 

[jorgejjvr]

Yes, not the right move right now. Focus on gp, on 1st party, acquisitions. It's hard to manufacture things as it is, and vr is expensive. Focus on getting series s out there

 

[nocsi]

Yes because no they can save money not innovating and focus more on roping people in to the feeding trough that is gamepass

 

[HoodWinked]

it's essentially the equivalent to "first world problem" for a gaming platform. they're far more concerned with the basics, xbox didn't even iterate on their controller.

 

[Iced Arcade]

Well wasn't droves of developers on board soo

Don't get me wrong I like Quest 2 VR but I'd rather them focusing on console games instead of mini vr games.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Or maybe they're working on it and they feel as of now, we're no where near where they feel VR is where it needs to be. Maybe they want a holodeck-like experience and not even a PC farm with 1000 4090s could do it.

 

[poppabk]

There are multiple PC gamepass games out there which have VR support (no man's sky, subnautica, hitman trilogy) but you wouldn't even know it, it's like they are actively trying to hide it.
I think it was a mistake to not at least try and get support for the current headsets even if they didn't make their own.

 

[lukilladog]

Sure, look at how many headsets are there now but they never achieved industry wide support... sony must be thinking of some metacrap stuff or something like that, they didn´t spend too much on their launch lineup did they?.

 

[Three]

They were mostly bullshitting people, same with the hololens presentations at E3. It made no sense because they weren't being clear how compatibility would even work. They didn't want to seem like an inferior console without VR support and now in hindsight it doesn't really matter to their multiplatform sub/xcloud streaming future.

 

[adamsapple]

Yes.

 

[MarkMe2525]

The entire Xbox One generation was a big embarrassment.

I don't know man, they could have done better of course, but I owned an XB1 since launch and it was a perfectly fun console. Seems a little hard-core to have such strong negative feelings about a game console that offered the ability to adequately play over a 1000 games.

I would have preferred the ability to play VR, but all these decisions are not made in a vacuum. Those resources, to their best estimations, were better served elsewhere. "100% wrong" seems like a significant exaggeration. I own a the psvr and I absolutely had fun with it, but it's easily the least important part of the PlayStation gaming experience. I can't imagine that would be any different on Xbox.

 

[SenjutsuSage]

Very wise. Focus on core gaming.

 

[Magic Carpet]

With the recent announcement that PSVR is not backwards compatible then Yes it was the right call to not focus on VR.
That soured my taste for console VR.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

The fact is MS is a software company, so selling VR headsets just wasn't their preference.

Sony is happy to make and sell VR headsets, because they had to give their TV hardware division something to do. it's just about doing what you are good at.

 

[Three]

Well wasn't droves of developers on board soo

Don't get me wrong I like Quest 2 VR but I'd rather them focusing on console games instead of mini vr games.

It wasn't the developers. The developers would have been on board if the audience was there. it was xboxs small install base making MS not care and therefore no dev support for something that didn’t exist. They made that half promise in the hope that Xbox One X will improve sales to the point it becomes viable and they didn't want to come up short by simply saying no we have no viable market at the moment for VR support. So they bullshitted people with a $3000 hololens at E3 and said XB1X will have VR support. Penello said we aren't doing VR "this year" when asked about Xbox One X, he talked about audience size for a viable product. I just look forward to whenever they do and we can all pretend VR wasn't ready but now is. Back then they were pushing VR support as streaming pancake games on Oculus, that was somehow mainstream enough I guess.

 

[Crayon]

There was no vr plan. They were bullshitting.the Scorpio was announced way ahead of release and they threw up high end vr as a new feature, but we all know that there are no x1x-only games.

 

[Three]

Microsoft has much bigger problems to address with their first party. I am doubtful they'd be able to adequately support a VR platform. So from their perspective, it probably makes sense. You only have so many resources, and when you go years without major exclusives despite huge buying sprees you can't really manage to effectively support that platform.

I am just glad that we have someone like Sony that can step in and provide a superb platform with a multitude of support by some of their smaller devs and partners.

Although I agree MS have more pressing matters when it comes to first party releases for their system, MS first party studios ironically have supported VR without a problem with resources. Minecraft has official VR support on PSVR, Doom VR, Skyrim VR, Fallout 4 VR, Wolfenstien VR, Prey VR, Flight Sim VR. So it's not really a matter of needing to dedicate resources for it. The studios aren't really struggling with VR support. If anything they are struggling more with raytracing support which multiple studios have promised and never released.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Yes. It’s far from a mature product. Let others spend on improving the tech, then buy someone small like Pimax.

 

[MacReady13]

Microsoft have that much money so I cannot fathom why they didn’t go all in for VR? They could’ve aligned themselves in with PC gaming and said that if anyone has an Oculus they could use in on the Xbox.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Yes. It’s far from a mature product. Let others spend on improving the tech, then buy someone small like Pimax.

Then you get the situation when iPods took over the market and Zune couldn't get a foothold.

 

[Corndog]

Yes. VR is a gimmick and I say this as someone who has owned two VR headsets.

I think supporting third party vr headsets would be the right move.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

YES. VR gaming is extremely niche and I think the experience would be better suited for sporting events and concerts to make you feel like you're actually there when you're not but for gaming, nah. Vast majority of gamers simply don't want to play games that way. And for others, the cost is high as well. Just not worth the investment.

For Microsoft, im very happy that they don't appear to be doing a VR headset. Hope it stays that way. However, if they can make Oculus Rift compatible, that's fine but in no way, shape or form do I want to see Microsoft get into VR for Xbox. Just no thanks.

 

[Jaybe]

MS will look at VR again at some point with all this metaverse talk: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/01/19...tya-nadella-has-said-about-the-metaverse.html
They will hopefully just leverage third-party hardware. I do think that if Gabe was ever selling, MS would pull up the Brinks truck and solve their PC storefront, VR, and portable gaps in one go.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

For Xbox? Yes, it was the correct decision, what they have instead produced or focused on in recent years across most things Xbox is pretty brilliant. Especially when you compare it against further investment into VR after say Kinect or Hololens. Microsoft has plenty of fingers in VR pies globally and differing industries while they also innovate IP, hardware and tech. If something revolutionary or evolutionary worthwhile pops up they're poised to move fairly rapidly and with experience.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

At any point in time MS can partner with Valve or Meta to provide a sales platform if they want to get into the VR game.

Honestly I think stand-alone VR will always be the baseline of where the industry is. Tethered options are too much of a buy-in for mass market adoption. Assuming PSVR2 retails at $500 that's a grand at the end of the day, way too much to reach p ople outside of the enthusiast market.

 

[Three]

Microsoft have that much money so I cannot fathom why they didn’t go all in for VR? They could’ve aligned themselves in with PC gaming and said that if anyone has an Oculus they could use in on the Xbox.

Because there would have been very little for them in return. Especially if they were not selling hardware either. Imagine not selling a VR headset to a fraction of a fraction of an install base. Let's say a fraction of the XB1 install base is XB1X (5M generous enough?) out there at the time. A fraction of that fraction buy a VR headset. Then a fraction of that fraction buys a game where you get 30%. They just didn't want to cater to a small audience with little return but they knew saying "no VR support" at the time where VR had the buzz and the competitor was showcasing it would not have gone down well. So they bullshitted people with XB1X and hololens.

 

[Iced Arcade]

It wasn't the developers. The developers would have been on board if the audience was there. it was xboxs small install base making MS not care and therefore no dev support for something that didn’t exist. They made that half promise in the hope that Xbox One X will improve sales to the point it becomes viable and they didn't want to come up short by simply saying no we have no viable market at the moment for VR support. So they bullshitted people with a $3000 hololens at E3 and said XB1X will have VR support. Penello said we aren't doing VR "this year" when asked about Xbox One X, he talked about audience size for a viable product. I just look forward to whenever they do and we can all pretend VR wasn't ready but now is. Back then they were pushing VR support as streaming pancake games on Oculus, that was somehow mainstream enough I guess.

..... guess they missed out on the droves of blockbusters then.

 

[clarky]

Owned a head set or 2. Once the novelty wears off it gets relegated to parties and showing it off to friends. Waste of time. Pretty cool when you first get to use one though, can't see it as a serious gaming platform, not yet anyway.

 

[jaysius]

By the time console VR sets arrive they're mere months away from being dwarfed by all the competition in terms of technology they contain. It's never a battle the speed of consoles will beat because they're limited by the base power of the based SKU of said console.

The VR also doesn't age well, as it's only one release per generation, and other VR competitors just get better and better.

It's a novelty and big AAA still hasn't gotten behind it, there are one or two exceptions, but the libraries are mostly shovelware.

VR might evolve at some point, but it's still a few years out.

 

[Three]

..... guess they missed out on the droves of blockbusters then.

Sarcasm about MS? Nah the money for them would not have been huge. its more that xbox users missed out on being able to play games like Flight Sim, Beat Saber, No Mans Sky etc in VR. MS didn't miss out on huge revenue, its users missed out on features/games while suggesting it's somehow a good thing. Devs were there for them though with the games and support.

 

[TheUndeadGamer]

I don’t understand why they couldn’t support other VR devices and maybe had software in place to make the VR ports easy to put on Xbox.

Though overall I feel it was the right choice.

 

[DR3AM]

Yes and if they really wanted to have VR, they can partner up with a 3rd party VR vendor

 

[TheDreadLord]

They were right. As is today, VR is still a gimmick.

 

[pqueue]

yes.

 

[sendit]

Microsoft isn’t interested in VR because they’re focused on AR with Holo Lens. However, this could possibly be a failed venture on their part.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Microsoft isn’t interested in VR because they’re focused on AR with Holo Lens. However, this could possibly be a failed venture on their part.

Thanks metaverse, we'll all be inside you shortly.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Very wise. Focus on core gaming.

Definitely need all the focus and help they can get after posting a donut in 2022

Shame they are stuck playing catch up or buying things outright instead of meaningfully progressing the industry forward with where it’s future will be

 

[01011001]

I still think it would be a pretty good idea to make a deal with Meta and bring the Quest 2 and maybe 3 down the line to the system.

it could work both wirelessly through Wifi and by using a USB cable.

the hardware is already on the market, it already has millions of customers and it's plug and play

 

[Cyberpunkd]

They did it with foresight which is harder, and they were right.

Yes, when people speak VR they want something like Ready Player One, and the tech is not there yet and won’t be for many years. Just look at the ridiculous Metaverse Facebook is trying to sell you.

I am much more excited for VR in a professional context from a productivity standpoint - reunions, conferences, etc.

 

[SLB1904]

Yes, when people speak VR they want something like Ready Player One,.

What? Lol
Maybe 5 years old people

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Yes 100% correct call to drop VR. While people love to mock xbox for literally anything, MS is in a good spot currently. They have a healthy number of titles in development. Once those titles start to release next year it will be a nice steady feed of games. VR would have been an unneeded distraction in my opinion.

 

[remember_spinal]

all the people saying they were right to drop it would be bouncing up and down if they announced a VR set tommorrow. I’d almost say they have more suitable games for VR than playstation does.

Flight Simulator, Starfield, Forza, all the shooters, etc. Its a shame really becuase bethesda was making a lot of headway in VR. This is what happens when a platform holder buys a big publisher though

 

[LordBlodgett]

I've messed around with both VR and AR headsets and neither is ready for prime time even today. At the time in 2017 it was especially niche. I think in 2017 Xbox was needing to focus on Gamepass and building up their number of studios, and that is exactly what they did