Meta is planning to cease supporting the unique Quest VR headset with new software program updates, and shortly anybody utilizing the older {hardware} will likely be locked out of some social options.
A number of customers on Reddit and Twitter, together with journalist Janko Roettgers, have posted screenshots of an e-mail saying the corporate will cease delivery new options to the Quest 1 and that some options are going away. The headset will, nonetheless, be getting “crucial bug fixes and safety patches till 2024.”
The e-mail says that unique Quests will hold working, however customers received’t be capable to “create or be part of a celebration” and that customers “who at the moment have entry to Meta Horizon Home social features will lose entry to those options on March 5, 2023.” These options seem to incorporate the power to go to another person’s dwelling or have somebody go to your private home.
The Quest, which was launched underneath the Oculus model in 2019, is a predecessor to the favored Quest 2 headset, which got here out in late 2020. For years, the 2 headsets have largely gotten the same new features, regardless of having considerably completely different {hardware}.
The Quest 2 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, a chip released in 2020 particularly for AR and VR headsets. In the meantime, the unique Quest is powered by the Snapdragon 835 / Kryo 280 platform — a chipset from 2017. It’s potential that Meta is having bother creating new options that work with the platform’s capabilities, doesn’t wish to hold spending cash on previous {hardware} because it tightens its funds and lays people off, or that Qualcomm is ending improvement assist on its aspect.
Notably, earlier than John Carmack’s latest departure from Meta, he had some sharp phrases about how the corporate is underutilizing its hardware.
Whereas the transfer will likely be a disappointment to Quest 1 house owners, there have been indicators. Final 12 months, Meta made it so the battle royal recreation Inhabitants: One would no longer run on the headset.