Meta announced that it’s offering new developer tools for Quest headsets to make avatars more realistic. The company also unveiled a Quest 3-exclusive upper body tracking feature that supports a much wider range of body motion.
Announced at Connect 2023 late last week, Meta showed off some new features coming both to Quest 3 and the rest of the Quest platform.
On Quest 3, Meta says it will be able to use inside-out sensor data to optically track wrists, elbows, shoulders, and torso—or something the company is calling ‘Inside Out Body Tracking’ (IOBT). The Quest 3-exclusive feature also tracks where your legs are relative to your torso, making avatars capable of bending forward and peering over a cliff.
Image courtesy Meta
By using this upper body data to extrapolate lower body actions, the company says it can make avatars replicate more natural movements than traditional inverse kinematics (IK)-based methods.
The company also announced a feature called ‘Generative Legs’, which is headed to Quest 2/3/Pro in December. The developer tool is said to create more realistic leg movement using either three-point body tracking or the Quest 3-exclusive IOBT. It’s capable of recreating more natural standing and sitting poses, a more lifelike gait when walking, and also supports jumping, ducking and squatting.
Since it’s essentially guessing where your legs might naturally be in any given situation, Generative Legs won’t account for individual leg movement like a dedicated tracker might, such as a SteamVR tracking puck or Sony’s Mocapi motion capture device—that means your avatar can’t do karate or breakdance.
Still, it’s pretty impressive how much better the whole system is in comparison to standard IK. Granted, Quest users won’t be able to pull of the fancy footwork CEO Mark Zuckerberg did on the virtual stage at Connect 2022 last year, but it’s starting to look pretty close.
Check out Meta’s Generative Legs and the new Quest 3 upper body tracking feature in action in a Meta-built showcase app called Dodge Arcade:
Meta Quest 3 brings with it new ‘Touch Plus’ controllers that do away with the tracking ring that’s been part of the company’s 6DOF consumer VR controllers ever since the original Rift. But that’s not the only change.
Editor’s Note: for some clarity in this article (and comments), let’s give some names to all the different 6DOF VR controllers the company has shipped over the years.
Rift CV1 controller: Touch v1
Rift S controller: Touch v2
Quest 1 controller: Touch v2
Quest 2 controller: Touch v3
Quest Pro controller: Touch Pro
Quest 3 controller: Touch Plus
6DOF consumer VR controllers from Meta have always had a ‘tracking ring’ as part of their design. The ring houses an array of infrared LEDs that cameras can detect, giving the system the ability to track the controllers in 3D space.
Image courtesy Meta
Quest 3 will be the first 6DOF consumer headset from the company to ship with controllers without a tracking ring; the company is calling new controllers ‘Touch Plus’.
Tracking Coverage
In a session at Meta Connect 2023, the company explained it has moved the IR LEDs from the tracking ring into the faceplate of the controller, while also adding a single IR LED at the bottom of the handle. This means the system has less consistently visible markers for tracking, but Meta believes its improved tracking algorithms are up to the challenge of tracking Touch Plus as well as Quest 2’s controllers.
Note that Touch Plus is different than the company’s Touch Pro controllers—which also don’t have a tracking ring—but instead use on-board cameras to track their own position in space. Meta confirmed that Touch Pro controllers are compatible with Quest 3, just like Quest 2.
Meta was clear to point out that the change in camera placements on Quest 3 means the controller tracking volume will be notably different than on Quest 2.
The company said Quest 3 has about the same amount of tracking volume, but it has strategically changed the shape of the tracking volume.
Notably, Quest 3’s cameras don’t capture above the head of the user nearly as well as Quest 2. But the tradeoff is that Quest 3 has more tracking coverage around the user’s torso (especially behind them), and more around the shoulders:
This graphic shows unique areas of tracking coverage that are present on one headset but not the other
Meta believes this is a worthwhile tradeoff because players don’t often hold their hands above their head for long periods of time, and because the headset can effectively estimate the position of the controllers when outside of the tracking area for short periods.
Haptics
Photo by Road to VR
As for haptic feedback, the company said that “haptics on the Touch Plus controller are certainly improved, but not quite to the level of Touch Pro,” and further explained that Touch Plus has a single haptic motor (a voice coil modulator), whereas Touch Pro controllers have additional haptic motors in both the trigger and thumbstick.
The company also reminded developers about its Meta Haptics Studio tool, which aims to make it easy to develop haptic effects that work across all of the company’s controllers, rather than needing to design the effects for the haptic hardware in each controller individually.
Trigger Force
Touch Plus also brings “one more little secret” that no other Touch controller has to date: a two-stage index trigger.
Meta explained that once a user fully pulls the trigger, any additional force can be read as a separate value—essentially a measure of how hard the trigger is being squeezed after being fully depressed.
What’s Missing From Touch Pro
Meta also said that Touch Plus won’t include some of the more niche features of Touch Pro, namely the ‘pinch’ sensor on the thumbpad, and the pressure-sensitive stylus nub that can be attached to the bottom and used to ‘draw’ on real surfaces.
Razer hasn’t exactly been all-in when it comes to making VR accessories, although there have been a few bits of VR kit over the years from the RGB-infused gaming hardware giant. This time around Razer says it’s releasing a Quest-branded model of its noise cancelling Hammerhead HyperSpeed earbuds.
Announced alongside pre-orders for Quest 3, the earbuds for Quest 3 and Quest 2 include a USB-C dongle for a low-latency 2.4GHz wireless connection in addition to Buetooth 5.2 support.
Image courtesy Meta
Initially released in late 2022, the company’s standard noise cancelling Hammerhead HyperSpeed earbuds support a wide range of devices, including PS5, PS4, PC, Mac, smartphones, tablets, and handheld gaming devices with Bluetooth audio capability or USB-C / USB-A port. You can already get them in two flavors, branded either for Xbox or PlayStation.
Razer says the earbuds are slated to release sometime later this year. There’s no pricing yet, although the standard Hammerhead HyperSpeed earbuds cost $150 MSRP. Considering this looks to be more of a brand licensing deal than the “Made for Meta” badging might suggest, you can probably bet on that pricing.
While we haven’t seen a list of supported USB-C headphones for Quest 3, Meta has certified a number of other earbuds, including the very similar wireless Anker Soundcore VR P10 earbuds, and wired USB-C Earbuds for Pixel, Samsung and OnePlus.
Popular YouTube edutainment channel Kurzgesagt is teaming up with VR developers Schell Games (I Expect You To Die, Among Us VR) to make an exploration adventure game for Quest.
Called Out of Scale: A Kurzgesagt Adventure, the fully immersive educational game is said to transform “the iconic look and feel of [Kurzgesagt’s] 2D videos for users to explore and learn about the concept of scale.”
Schell Games says players use drones, scanner rays, and a multitude of other lab tools to wind their way through several missions, while teleporting between five levels of scale to see how the different properties work in each unique dimension.
Beyond the main single-player game, Out of Scale: A Kurzgesagt Adventure will also come with what the studios are calling a ‘multiplayer theater’ which allows you to meet up with friends and other players to watch Kurzgesagt videos together.
There’s also slated to be a mixed reality mode where you can unlock the game’s core life forms and objects creatures so they can interact with in your real-world environment.
The game’s Quest Store listing maintains it’s launching on October 26th, supporting Quest, Quest 2, Quest Pro, and Quest 3. It’s not available for pre-order, priced at $15.
Meta announced at Connect 2023 that Xbox Cloud Gaming is heading to Quest in December, meaning you’ll be able to play all of your favorite flatscreen games on offer through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Meta’s full unveiling of Quest 3 yesterday came with a fair bit of news, including specs, price, pre-orders and shipping dates; long story short, you can get Meta’s $500 consumer mixed reality headset starting October 10th, with pre-orders now live.
Sometime in December, Meta says we’ll also get support for Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest too, which users will be able to use on a virtual screen that can be adjusted and resized.
There’s no specific date yet for when to expect Xbox Cloud Gaming to the Quest platform. On stage, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg only mentioned that it’s “coming to Quest in December,” so it’s possible we’ll see even Quest 2 included in the list of supported hardware in addition to Quest 3 and (presumably) Quest Pro.
As it stands, there are a few standard caveats. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription and a supported controller (sold separately) is required. Meta says in a blogpost that some streaming limitations may apply as well, including variable server availability and wait times, and geographical restrictions.
Want to know if Quest 3 is worth it? We haven’t gone in for our deep dive review yet, although we got a full hands-on with the headset right before Connect 2023 this week that goes into everything from confort to clarity.
Coming alongside the big Quest 3 info dump today at Connect 2023, Meta revealed that Quest Store games and apps have generated over $2 billion in revenue. While the store is still earning for developers, looking at revenue over time shows that things have cooled off over the last year.
Meta’s Head of Developer Relations Melissa Brown announced the figure on stage, further noting that 100+ new and upgraded titles are coming to the Quest Store before the year’s end, more than half of which will be brand new games and apps.
While $2 billion sounds like an impressive number—it certainly is for the XR industry at large—it pales in comparison to what Meta regularly spends on its Reality Labs division.
Quest 2 next to Quest 3 | Image courtesy Meta
Back in July, the company reported a quarterly loss just south of $4 billion in Q2 2023; Reality Labs’ revenue was down by 39% due to lower Quest 2 sales, making for the worst quarterly performance in the past two years.
With today’s announcement, it’s also clear at what rate content sales have cooled off since Quest 2 was launched in 2020. The company announced at Connect 2022 in October last year that it had topped $1.5 billion in Quest Store revenue, accounting for everything since the first Quest’s launch in 2019, meaning it’s only managed to generate $500 million in the past 12 months, putting a clear end to any kind of take-off ramp that might have appeared to be forming.
Moving forward, this will undoubtedly put more weight on Quest 3 to fill in where Quest 2 left off, as stockholders will no doubt expect the $500 headset to meet or beat its forebear’s relatively meteoric success. Quest 3 pack in much of the functionality of the $1,000 Quest Pro headset, including color passthrough sensors for mixed reality, and has a significantly sleeker profile and more powerful chipset than the now $300 Quest 2.
Will that be enough for first-time VR users to jump in? Enough for Quest 2 users to upgrade? Whatever the case, Meta is undoubtedly subsidizing its XR hardware to make software sales more attractive. And if it doesn’t keep pumping out first-party titles like Asgard’s Wrath 2, they’ll need at least keep those multi-million-dollar success stories coming, like Gorilla Tag’s $26 million in revenue high-swinging success story, or the other 40 Quest games that Meta said had posted revenues over $10 million.
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Connect 2023 kicks off today, taking place September 27th and 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. There’s been a ton of news already, so make sure to follow along by heading to our main page for all of the latest in Meta’s XR stuff.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today at Connect, the company’s annual XR developer conference, that it’s going to launch a set of mixed reality mini-apps on Quest 3 that you can stick anywhere in your house.
Relying on Quest 3’s room-mapping capabilities, the so-called ‘augments’ are due to launch sometime next year on Meta’s newly fully unveiled mixed reality headset, bringing what the company calls “interactive, spatially aware digital objects that come to life all around you.”
This includes simple objects, like a piece of art you can stick to your real-world wall, or something more involved like a weather app on your desk that alerts you before rain starts—all of it appearing right in place whenever you put on your headset.
Image courtesy Meta
Zuckerberg also noted that these sorts of ‘frames’ can contain things like Facebook videos, Instagram Reels, and other apps, but also portrait-shaped ‘portals’ that act as immediate links to VR games, like fitness app Supernatural.
Meta says it’s also going to launch branded augments like an iHeartRadio music player and Beat Saber trophies—ostensibly all of the sort of stuff that Meta thinks you’d want to hang on your wall as you’re consuming traditional content through the headset.
We’ve seen some similar stuff from Magic Leap before it pivoted to enterprise, and Apple is sure to push many of the same augmented reality widgets with the launch of Apple Vision Pro. It’s going to be interesting to not only see what sort of brand deals the company can reel in, but how it goes toe-to-toe with Apple as it courts the more purely AR side things.
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Connect 2023 kicks off today, taking place September 27th and 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. There’s been a ton of news already, so make sure to follow along with Connect for all of the latest XR stuff from Meta.
Meta announced at its annual developer conference today that Quest 3 is now available for pre-order starting at $500, shipping October 10th. The company also revealed a host of accessories which ought to help knock a few of those pesky paychecks from your bank account.
Here’s the full list of accessories announced today. You can find them all over at Meta’s website, and likely also through online retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart.
Quest 3 Charging Dock [$130]
Quest 3 Charging Dock | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Be ready to play and stay organized with an all-in-one wireless charging dock for the Meta Quest 3 headset and controllers. Includes rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for your controllers. The charging dock is also compatible with our other accessories including Elite Strap, Elite Strap with Battery, and Active Straps (sold separately).
Quest 3 Elite Strap [$70]
Quest 3 Elite Strap | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Play in comfort with this adjustable, ergonomic head strap that easily adjusts to fit most head sizes with the turn of a dial. This lightweight strap takes pressure off your face and evenly distributes the weight for a more comfortable fit.
Quest 3 Elite Strap with Battery [$130]
Quest 3 Elite Battery Strap | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Play in comfort and get up to 2 hours additional VR game playtimewith this adjustable ergonomic head strap that features a built-in, lithium-ion battery. Easily adjusts to fit most head sizes while distributing the weight for a more comfortable fit. Charge your headset and head strap battery simultaneously with a single charging cable. *Battery life may vary based on headset usage, configurations, and settings.
Quest 3 Carrying Case [$70]
Quest 3 Carrying Case | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Take your headset and accessories on the go with style and complete protection. Designed for your Meta Quest 3 headset, Touch Plus controllers, charging cable, adapter, headstrap (standard or Elite) and Active Straps. This genuine Meta Quest accessory ensures a perfect fit, durability, and convenience anywhere you take your gear.
Quest 3 Silicone Facial Interface [$40]:
Quest 3 Silicon Facial Interface | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Wipe away sweat and dirt easily and get right back to your next workout or gaming session. This soft, silicone facial interface provides a cleaner feel and comfortable fit on your face. Get a perfect fit and block out unwanted light from entering your Meta Quest 3.
Quest Active Straps for Touch Plus Controllers [$40]
Quest 3 Touch Plus Active Straps | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Play with confidence and intensity with these premium, adjustable straps that give extra grip and stability for your Meta Quest Touch Plus Controllers. Designed to comfortably fit most hand sizes, Active Straps provide added stability and effortless grip while you play, navigate and gesture in VR.
Quest 3 Facial Interface & Head Strap [$50]:
Created using images courtesy Meta
Product description: Express yourself in bold color and stay comfortable in Meta Quest 3. The fabric facial interface provides breathable cushioning while blocking out unwanted light. Color-matched, flexible head strap fully adjusts to fit most head sizes for added support. Available in Elemental Blue and Blood Orange.
VR Prescription Lenses for Quest 3 [$50]
Quest 3 Prescription Inserts | Image courtesy Meta
Product description: Experience a seamless viewing experience without the hassle of glasses. Lightweight and easy to install, these lenses are custom made by Zenni for your exact prescription. Designed in collaboration with Meta, these prescription lenses provide a perfect fit and high-quality visual experience in your Meta Quest 3.
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Razer is also making wireless earbuds for Quest 3, named ‘Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed Earbuds for Meta Quest 3’.
Additionally, the company is still hawking its $80 Quest Link Cable, which has been confirmed to work with Quest 3.
Like Quest 2, Quest 3 can also optionally swap out their standard Touch controllers for Quest Touch Pro Controllers, priced at an eye-watering $300. This includes more accurate inside-out tracking that doesn’t require line of sight, as with all other Touch controllers from generations past.
Connect 2023 kicks off today, taking place September 27th and 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. There’s been a ton of news already, so make sure to follow along with Connect for all of the latest XR stuff from Meta.
At Meta Connect 2023 today, among the avalanche of news we learned Quest 3 is shipping October 10th, accessories are raining from the sky, and there will be “another 50+ titles” coming by year’s end.
Meta says over 100 new and upgraded titles are coming to Quest 3 by year’s end, with over half of them brand new.
Many of those 100+ apps and games are getting some form of “MR features” too, Meta says, which ought to help fill out what so far seems to be a fairly shallow pool of mixed reality content currently. Mixed reality games announced today include multiplayer tabletop battle game BAM! from I-Illusions, a mixed reality mode for Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord,Lego Bricktales and Meta’s First Encounters tutorial app for Quest 3 (we’ll be filling out this list as we learn more). Meta also showed MR modes for Stranger Things VR and Less Mills Body Combat.
Demeo Mixed Reality mode | Image courtesy Meta
While full-color passthrough allows for mixed reality games, Quest 3 is thankfully also backwards compatible with Quest 2’s entire library of over 500+ VR games and apps.
Granted, individual developers will need to push Quest 3-specific updates that overhaul things like texture quality and render resolution to get the most out of the Meta’s latest and greatest.
Its higher-resolution, independent displays and second-gen Snapdragon XR2 (see the full specs here) will also boost Quest 2 content out of the gate though, making what’s there a little sharper and clear, and a little less resource intensive too.
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Connect 2023 kicks off today, taking place September 27th and 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. There’s been a ton of news already, so make sure to follow along with Connect for all of the latest XR stuff from Meta.
At Connect 2023 today, Meta released the long-awaited info drop for Quest 3, its first mixed reality headset for consumers, which includes specs, price, online pre-orders, launch date and more. Here’s the main bits:
Quest 3 is officially now available for pre-order, with shipping slated to start on October 10th, 2023. In the US, you’ll be able to find Quest 3 online through Meta as well as its official partners, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.
The mixed reality headset is being offered in two variants, a 128GB version for $500, and a 512GB version for $650. Here are those prices in GBP, EUR, and JPY:
£479.99 GBP (128GB), £619.99 GBP (512GB)
€549.99 EUR (128GB), €699.99 EUR (512GB)
¥74,800 JPY (128GB), ¥96,800 JPY (512GB)
Image courtesy Meta
Meta announced it’s bundling both variants of Quest 3 with Quest-exclusive sequel Asgard’s Wrath 2, valued at $60. On top of Asgard’s Wrath 2, which is due out sometime this winter, the 512GB version includes a six-month subscription to the PS Plus-style game service Meta Quest+, valued at $108.
Following the release of Quest Pro last year, which initially sold for $1,500 but was later reduced to $1,000, Quest 3 is the company’s first mixed reality headset created specifically with consumers in mind. It includes color passthrough sensors which allow the user to see the outside world, which is not only useful for switching between VR mode and checking out your surroundings, but also for playing AR games using your physically environment as a backdrop.
There are a ton more announcement on the way, so make sure to follow along with us for all of the latest XR news to come from Connect 2023.
Quest 3 Specs
Resolution
2,064 × 2,208 (4.5MP) per-eye, LCD (2x)
Refresh Rate
90Hz, 120Hz (experimental)
Optics
Pancake non-Fresnel
Field-of-view (claimed)
110ºH × 96ºV
Optical Adjustments
Continuous IPD, stepped eye-relief (built in)
IPD Adjustment Range
53–75mm
Processor
Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2
RAM
8GB
Storage
128GB, 512GB
Connectors
USB-C, contact pads for optional dock charging
Weight
515g
Battery Life
1.5-3 hours
Headset Tracking
Inside-out (no external beacons)
Controller Tracking
Headset-tracked (headset line-of-sight needed)
Expression Tracking
none
Eye Tracking
none
On-board cameras
6x external (18ppd RGB sensors 2x)
Input
Touch Plus (AA battery 1x), hand-tracking, voice
Audio
In-headstrap speakers, 3.5mm aux output
Microphone
Yes
Pass-through view
Yes (color)
MSRP
$500 (128GB), $650 (512GB)
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Connect 2023 kicks off today, taking place September 27th and 28th at Meta’s Menlo Park headquarters. There’s been a ton of news already, so make sure to follow along with Connect for all of the latest XR stuff from Meta.
Roblox has done very well on Quest. When it launched on the standalone VR platform back in July, it managed to break one million downloads in its first five days, essentially making the online game the hottest social VR platform currently available on Quest. Now Roblox has also showered attendees at its annual developer conference this past weekend with free Quest Pros.
Despite being in direct competition with Meta’s Horizon Worlds social VR platform, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood over the explosive growth of Roblox on Quest.
A message was sent to attendees at RDC23 this past weekend, stating that Meta is footing the bill to provide a heap of free Quest Pros, its $1,000 mixed reality standalone.
“The news is out! We want to give a special thanks to our partner meta. They have offered to provide all RDC23 attendees with Meta Quest Pro headsets to help you create the best Roblox experiences for VR,” the message reads.
Developers didn’t have to wait long, as they collected their free Quest Pros on site at RDC23.
During the RDC 2023 keynote, Baszucki also revealed that Roblox now features “over 50,000 experiences that are ready right now on Meta Quest.”
Roblox is currently available on the Quest platform via App Lab, however the company says it’s set for its “full” release on Quest sometime in September. Baszucki didn’t specify when, although it’s a good bet that the popular social platform will be a launch day title on Quest 3, which could come as early as September 27th during Connect, Meta’s annual developer conference.
The company also announced Roblox is headed to PlayStation in October, however it’s not clear if that will include PSVR or PSVR 2 support as well.
Resolution Games revealed its popular tabletop dungeon-crawling RPG Demeo now features hand-tracking support on Quest 2 and Quest Pro with its latest mixed reality update. It also includes a few new features to its previously released MR mode that are aiming to appeal to both future owners of Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro.
Ahead of Demeo’s confirmed launch-day release on Quest 3 sometime this Fall, Resolution Games announced it’s now pushing out the game’s Mixed Reality 2.0 update, which is available starting today on the Quest 2 and Quest Pro.
Added to Demeo last Fall, the game’s mixed reality mode lets players take the gameboard out of the virtual world and into their living rooms. Now, in the game’s Mixed Reality 2.0 update, players can put down their controllers and use their hands to pick up miniatures, play cards, and roll the die.
The update also adds two new MR features: co-location to optimize local mixed reality multiplayer, and decorations (including candles and posters) that can be placed to set the mood.
Notably, the studio says the original Quest won’t be receiving the Mixed Reality 2.0 update, but instead is getting a separate final update, bringing ongoing support for the game on Quest 1 to a close. Cross-play support for Quest 1 has also been discontinued.
Demeo Battles, the game’s upcoming PvP mode, is set to feature a similar MR mode on Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro when it launches later this year, Resolution Games says.
At the moment, Resolution Games says it’s currently focusing half the studio’s workload on the creation of MR projects. The studio tells Road to VR it has “multiple mixed reality titles actively in development across a number of devices for 2024 and beyond, including several with dedicated controller-free play.”
Additionally, the studio confirmed Demeo is in active development for Apple Vision Pro for “fully virtual as well as mixed reality gameplay,” with a flatscreen version planned for release on Mac.
