New Quest Retailer and App Lab apps will not be allowed to help the unique Oculus Quest after April 30.
Oculus Quest launched in Could 2019, nearly 5 years in the past, that includes the Snapdragon 835 chipset from 2017. Meta stopped promoting it upon launching Quest 2 in October 2020.
Meta first introduced the sluggish deprecation of Quest 1 in January 2023, and the final system software program launch it obtained was v50 in February 2023, although it would proceed to obtain safety updates and bugfixes till August this yr. Quest 2, Professional, and three are actually on v63.
4 Years In the past, Oculus Quest Redefined VR
4 years in the past Oculus Quest launched, redefining the VR trade without end.
From April 30 newly created Quest Retailer and App Lab apps will not present up within the retailer interface in Quest 1, builders will not have the ability to add builds for brand new apps that solely help Quest 1, and builds for brand new apps that help a number of headsets together with Quest 1 may have Quest 1 help blocked.
This solely applies to newly created apps, to be clear. Current apps will technically nonetheless have the ability to launch updates that help Quest 1 if they need.
Nevertheless, the Oculus SDK dropped help for Quest 1 in v51, which launched in April 2023. Which means builders utilizing SDK variations newer than v50, required for options like Dynamic Decision, Tremendous Decision, Digital Keyboard, Multimodal, and Quest 3 options just like the combined actuality Scene Mesh, Depth API, and Inside-Out Physique Monitoring already could not proceed to help Quest 1. That is one of many causes many Quest Retailer and App Lab apps have already dropped help for Quest 1.
Quest 2 arrived simply 18 months after the unique with a $100 cheaper value, larger decision and refresh fee, and double the CPU & GPU efficiency. A number of builders who’ve already dropped help for Quest 1 instructed UploadVR that it made up solely a tiny fraction of their userbase, whereas its anaemic seven yr outdated chipset was burdensome to proceed to help.
This is not but the whole finish of Quest 1 although. Quest 1 house owners can proceed to make use of their headset and proceed set up and use current apps that select to proceed to help it. They are often certain any new app from April 30 will not help it, although few new releases help it already. Arguably the larger downside is that safety updates will finish in August, although this has been recognized since early final yr.
Not like with another shopper electronics firms Meta would not provide a trade-in program, so Quest 1 house owners might want to pay the complete value to improve to a more moderen headset.
Editorial: Meta Strikes Quick, However Leaves Clients Behind
Meta strikes quick with its VR {hardware}, however typically leaves prospects within the mud.
