Today, at our sixth annual Oculus Connect conference, we shared our vision for VR and our plans to build the future of computing with people at the center. VR helps give people the freedom to be wherever they want and still have the power to connect to the people, places and opportunities that matter most. During today’s keynote, we revealed innovations that will change the way we interact in VR, and ultimately AR.
Visit the Oculus blog for a full recap of today’s announcements. Here’s a look at the highlights.
Building a Sustainable VR Ecosystem
In order for VR to truly transform the way we live, work and connect with each other, we need to build a sustainable ecosystem — from action-packed games and artistic experiences, to cutting-edge training apps and beyond. Today, we announced that people have spent $100 million USD on the Oculus Store and 20% of that is from Quest alone, which is a testament to the health of the ecosystem, as well as the passion and commitment of the developers and content creators designing and building for VR today.
Oculus Quest Just Got Better
Oculus Link is a new way for people who own Quest and a gaming PC to access content from the Rift Platform. We’ll release the software in beta this November, and it will work with most high-quality USB-C cables. Later this year, we’ll also release a premium cable with maximum throughput to run Rift content and a longer cord so you can move easily in VR. Click here to learn more.
Hand Tracking on Oculus Quest
When Oculus Touch controllers launched in 2016, they ushered in a new era of VR by introducing hand presence: the sensation that your own hands are actually there with you in a virtual environment. Today, we’re marking another important milestone with the announcement of hand tracking on Oculus Quest, enabling natural interaction in VR using your own hands on an all-in-one device — no extra hardware required.
This is an important step, not just for VR, but for AR as well. Hand tracking on Quest will be released as an experimental feature for Quest owners and a developer SDK in early 2020. Click here to learn more.
Introducing Facebook Horizon: An Ever-Expanding VR World
Our goal is to put people at the center of computing, not just with great hardware, but with amazing software experiences as well. Today, we announced Facebook Horizon, a new social experience in VR where you can build your own worlds with easy-to-use tools (no coding skills required). Click here to learn more or sign up for the beta scheduled to begin early next year at oculus.com/facebookhorizon.
These innovations help us continue the journey toward putting people at the center of AR and VR, giving them the power to create and connect with each other.