Quest 3 Is Finally Here

Good morning folks!

If you’ve been living under a rock, this week was a very important one for VR. The Quest 3 (launch trailer here) was finally unveiled at Meta Connect and it is more amazing than we initially expected!

If you need a one-sentence summary, VR veteran Nima Zeighami put it best: It’s half a Vision Pro for one-seventh the price! (Announcement: Folks, unlike our usual format, today’s newsletter will mostly focus on the Quest 3 release.)

Headlines for people in a hurry:

• 🥽 Quest 3 Starts At $499 & Ships On October 10th

• 📈 Quest Store Revenue Tops $2B In Game & App Sales

• 👍 Quest 3 Reviews Largely Positive But With Some Concerns

• 👓 RayBan Meta Smart Glass Lets Your Livestream To Instagram

Read time: 3 minutes

TOP STORIES

META

Quest 3 Release: Mixed Reality Is Finally Usable

The Meta Quest 3 was unveiled amid great fanfare and scepticism on Wednesday. We’ll try to digest the most exciting features in order:

• Colour Passthrough: Quest 3’s RGB cameras have 10x more pixels than Quest 2 and 3x more than the Pro. You can see your surroundings in amazing clarity and even read text on your phone. Also, you can double-tap on the headset to instantly switch from the virtual world to the real world. All this means that you don’t have to constantly take off & put on your device when you have to talk to someone, answer a call or even drink a glass of water.

• Enhanced Visual Clarity: It has new pancake lenses (borrowed from Quest Pro), a 15% wider field-of-view and a 4K+ display. On paper, that’s a 30% increase in resolution compared to the Quest 2. However, reviewers have said that the visual difference feels way more than that. These side-by-side gameplay video comparisons of Red Matter 2 and Walking Dead clearly show the difference.

• Improved Performance: Powered by the latest Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2, it has twice the graphical prowess of the Quest 2 and helps deliver sharper details and faster loading times for games.

• New Titles: All headsets will come with a free Asgard’s Wrath 2 game and the 512GB version ($649) will also come with 6 months Quest+ subscription. 100 new and upgraded titles are coming to Quest 3 by the end of 2023. More than half will be new titles and the rest will be existing games that’ll make use of Quest 3’s graphical & MR capabilities.

• Comfy Design: It’s 40% slimmer than its predecessor. Although Quest 3 has the same weight as Quest 2, the weight distribution is evenly laid out, resulting in a more comfortable experience. There’s a wheel on the underside to adjust your interpupillary distance. Unlike the previous model, there’s a built-in spacer with 4 different spacing options to accommodate people wearing glasses. Also, it comes with a more comfortable padding fabric as well as vents to prevent fogging.

• Smart Mapping: Meta Quest 3 can map your space automatically and recognize elements like walls, furniture, and objects. Meta CTO said, “You can throw a virtual ball and it’ll bounce off your real wall.” That’s so cool! Plus, this helps you play table-top mixed reality games in your room. Next year, they’ll launch Augments (check the picture above) which are digital objects you can place in your real room.

REVIEWS

Quest 3 Public Opinion: The Good, The Bad & The Fugly

Meta invited top VR influencers to try out the Meta Quest 3 headset ahead of the launch and their reviews are finally in.

The opinions are overwhelmingly positive from initial impressions. Many praised the Quest 3’s price-to-performance ratio and said that Meta nailed the $499 price tag. The Quest 3 also turned many mixed reality sceptics into fanatics. The difference between Quest 3’s improved graphical performance compiled with enhanced visual clarity, compared to its predecessor, was instantly noticeable. Many said that Read Matter 2 was their favourite game from the demo that took full advantage of Quest 3’s graphical capabilities.

However, not everything is sunshine and rainbows. There were some concerns from the reviewers as well — the most important one being the battery life. Many expected battery life to improve but Meta has only managed to keep it similar to the Quest 2. Additionally, some reviewers said that even though Meta claims a 15% increase in field-of-view, it was hardly noticeable. VR Journalist Ben Lang said that Quest 3 still uses the “buggy” UI/UX of Quest 2 and hasn’t seen any improvements on that front.

Check out some of my favourite video reviews of Quest 3 from The Verge, Cas & Chary XR and Beardo Benjo.

FINANCIALS

Quest Store Revenue Crosses $2 Billion: Not As Impressive As You Think

Meta recently announced at Connect 2023 that the Quest Store has generated over $2 billion in revenue from games and apps. Despite this impressive figure, a closer look reveals a slowdown in revenue over the past year.

In October last year, the revenue was at $1.5 billion, meaning only $500 million was generated in the last 12 months. This decline coincides with a reported quarterly loss of nearly $4 billion in Q2 2023 for Meta’s Reality Labs division, marking its worst performance in two years. The Quest 2 sales have also dipped, putting pressure on the upcoming Quest 3 to perform better.

The Quest 3, packed with advanced features, aims to attract both first-time VR users and encourage upgrades from Quest 2 users. Despite the sleek profile and powerful chipset, the question remains: Will it be enough to revive the momentum and meet the stakeholders' expectations?

NEWS FLASH

META

Smart Glasses That Make You Feel Like A Spy

• 🕶️ Meta and Ray-Ban's Smart Glasses: Meta and Ray-Ban's smart glasses were also unveiled at the Meta Connect event. It lets you live-stream to Instagram and take pictures with voice commands.

• 🦵 Quest 3 Body Tracking: Quest 3 is set to receive upper body tracking and AI-estimated legs in a software update in December, offering a more realistic and comfortable VR experience.

• 💃 FitXR Introduces Zumba Classes: FitXR is partnering with Zumba to offer immersive dance fitness classes, starting November 2, 2023. The VR fitness app will also be available in a mixed-reality version with Meta Quest 3 in the future.

• 🎮 Xbox Game Pass on Meta Quest 3: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Cloud Streaming is coming to Meta Quest 3 in December, allowing gamers to stream flat-screen games to their VR headset on a large virtual screen.

• 🏋️ Supernatural VR Fitness App Price Drop: Supernatural, a popular VR fitness app, has slashed its subscription prices by 50%. Now, enjoy immersive workouts for just $9.99 monthly or $99.99 annually.

• 🤖 Zuckerberg in VR Interview with Photoreal Avatars: Mark Zuckerberg was interviewed in VR using Meta's prototype photorealistic Codec Avatars, showcasing the potential for realistic remote communication in the future.

BOOKMARKS

Immersive Articles From The Web

• 5 Ways The Meta Quest 3 Will (let developers) Change The Game.

• How Mercedes & NVIDIA Are Teaming Up To Produce Cars With VR

• 7 Virtual Reality Stocks To Consider In 2023

UNREAL MONEY

FUNDING REPORT

VR Ed-Tech Company GoStudent Raises $95 Million.

Vienna-based edtech firm GoStudent is making significant strides in virtual reality education, backed by a whopping $95 million in funding. The funds are earmarked for expanding their hybrid learning solutions, including a newly launched virtual reality language learning platform, to the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). This VR platform, known as GoVR, allows students to connect with teachers in a fully immersive virtual environment, enhancing the learning experience by making it more interactive and engaging.

The company's move into VR education is supported by a generous donation of Meta Quest 2 VR headsets from tech giant Meta. This partnership underscores the growing trend of integrating advanced technology into educational settings to facilitate innovative learning methods. GoStudent aims to make language learning more accessible and effective by leveraging the power of virtual reality, offering English as the initial language option on the GoVR platform, with plans to add more languages and subjects in the future.

WRAP UP

MEME OF THE DAY

When Time Stands Still

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Have a great weekend folks.

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