Oculus Quest – a VR game-changer

Due to our early relationship with Oculus, through developing and releasing Radial-G : Racing Revolved and Loco Dojo VR gaming titles for Oculus Rift (+ Touch) in 2016 & 2017 respectively, we have been fortunate enough to have had our hands on the Oculus Quest dev kits (or Santa Cruz as they were called then) for a number of months, before the official consumer launch this month.

We have always been big proponents of the possibilities of immersive technologies for learning and development, training and simulation, when applied to valid use cases. We were also always very aware of the early adopter hardware friction points, notably the requirement for a high-end PC tethered to the VR headsets and all the external sensors necessary for the full VR tracked experience. So when we got our hands on the Oculus Quest, which features inside-out tracking and removes the need for a VR-PC to run the applications, we immediately knew it would be a big hit with our enterprise clients and partners, who were keen to have full VR experiences without the health & safety issues of cables and costs of additional hardware beyond their agreed procurement lists.

Putting the device on instantly takes the user to the VR OS without the need to launch applications on a PC, or on a mobile device and insert into a headset housing (like GearVR). The full VR experience without needing a PC or external sensors is a game-changer for immersion and interactions; whilst we still advocate the use of Oculus Go-like devices for simpler interactions and 360° interactive video, now the price difference is much lower between a good experience and a great experience.

Now we can share publicly and provide demos to our clients and partners, current and potential, without breaking any NDA’s, we are excited to be able to develop and deploy at greater scale fully immersive training experiences that are lower cost and much easier to operate for all technological user levels. Now we just wait for the full details and launch of the Oculus for Business enterprise package that will allow greater control and lockdown of devices, to ensure not just stakeholders are happy but the IT departments are too!