This article at Grab It explores the reasons why Apple can succeed in the microconsole space where others have failed.
Shaz from GL: "Where Sony is ramping down support for PSVR2, and Apple are reconsidering their future with the Vision Pro, Meta and the Quest 3 continue to shine."
I'll admit that Facebook is doing more for VR than others. But they also have blown over 50 billion dollars so far and growing in R&D, building the meta verse, buying up exclusives and underpricing their products below build price, to kill competition in the stand alone space. Sony and Valve aren't willing to go into the red at an unheard level to capture the market. We know Sony could build a stand alone device that beats Quest just by the features in PS VR 2 and the new stand alone headset they built. But the new Sony would rather build a device they can profit from day one.
But, Sony so far has profited on hardware and on software. They just don't seem willing to spend the money on marketing, selling under build price or spending millions on making in-house VR exclusives for PS VR 2. Which sucks big time. They're just letting 3rd parties and indies run the show.
Article also doesn't mention that Apple's headset is more a developers product than a mass market item. To say they are looking into making a cheaper one for the next iteration is speaking the obvious. Duh. That was always the case. Build something the public sees as quality not can't afford, then make another that the masses can afford. TVs, cars, cellphones etc all were once expensive. Now, they're cheap to buy with many options to choose from. And Apple isn't even selling VP as a VR headset. I'm well aware that Apple's true intentions is to build a device that pushes AR with VR as an option. Not build a VR device. Because they know eventually that they want to replace the cellphone with AR glasses or an AR headset. If they cared about games, they would have launched as a gaming device.
Lastly, Facebook launched Quest 3 last year. But has not mentioned how many they sold up to this point. Why is that? Besides Quest 2 selling more by being cheap, the market can't move forward until they start selling more Quest 3 headsets than 2. Maybe the new exclusive Batman and Hitman games will help. But we'll see.
Not dead, but definitely on life support from the third party devs and PC crowd who may just purchase the headset.
Although I saw someone say that the module adapter will no allow haptics and adaptive triggers to work, but I don’t know if any of that is true.
Nope. Not yet.
It’s tough to say what its future will bring. There is still decent support. It seems to have sold decently too. Sony seems absent in a direct way though.
The issues Meta have is they are Meta. I'll never buy a Meta product, Every Quest headset they release is always a case of it's not quite there from a hardware perspective and the game content is mostly from indie devs. Selling what should be a AAA experience with C tier games is a non starter.
Meta is also Billions and billions in the hole in regards to VR. If Sony were to do what Meta has done, they'd be bankrupt
Meta is losing billions on a business that theh will probably walk away from like they did the Facebook phone. Temper your expectations of your investments in Meta’s hardware.
I do wish Sony would release more for PSVR. It’s a neat product, but they don’t support it much. It may have the same fate as the Vita.
I know it’s two completely separate products as Vita was stand alone, and PSVR is a companion to PS consoles. More 1st party support would really boost it though.
They are done supporting it. They're relying on pc to do it for them. Sony even paused production because it's not selling
They paused production to get rid of inventory, doesn’t mean the headset isn’t selling, it’s just not selling as fast as Sony thought it would. But with their half assed approach to the headset and lack of first party games, it’s not surprising, saddening, but not surprising.
Meta out here buying up all the exclusives, this is the only part of the gaming market where I feel exclusives should not be a thing since the market is “still in its infancy”.
That's exactly what it means... you think people are buying a headset with min support for the price of the console? It's done man. Sadly because like the vita the tech is good and deserved better
I own PS VR 1, and it is packed with tons of games to pick from in nearly every genre you could think of. While the technology may be rudimentary compared to newer headsets, it still works, and is fun to play, which is what matters most.
Its a shame that PS VR 2 is having such a slow start, because the tech behind it is brilliant. Its currently on sale for $100 USD off, that needs to be a permanent price drop.
We need more first party games on PS VR 2, the fact that Jim Ryan shut down Sony London Studios right before he left was moronic, they should have been upgrading their hit game Blood & Truth for PS VR 2! What a stupid decision.
Retro gaming console emulator apps are now welcome on the Apple App Store and can even offer downloadable games.
Yep most probably
Definitely infact
It’s just since apple got official dualsense support a while ago, (ios 14.5, it was 2 years ago now) I thought it useful to post here
The beaten quite a few prolific companies the past like universal so it's not unwinable
From systems that could keep your beer cool, to oddities trying to get in on the popularity of VHS and laserdisc, you’ve got some very, very weird video game consoles out there.
I had the LaserActive... it was a nice collectors piece but not very practical. Especially when it came to needing recapping. I think i paid all of about $50 for the floor model from an incredible Universe back in the day. I ended up selling it many years later for $300 at the time due to it needing a new laser and the aforementioned recapping.
An honorable mention not on the list would be the VM Labs Nuon. It basically looked like any regular DVD player but it had ports on it for controllers to play specific games. one of which is still exclusive to it with Tempest 3000. It also offered nuon enhanced DVD movies with extra content not accessible by regular players.
Yeah I reckon this article nails it on the head. For some reason mainstream will suddenly "get" a Microconsole if it is an Apple product.
I think, if anything, Apple would be best taking a shot at Nintendo and filling the gap the Wii U Never filled. Big job, I know. But with the rumours of motion controls being bandied about and Apple's penchant for sappy video montages - you can imagine how the presentation would go down should they decide to go take this road.
If anyone has the ability to succeed in this space, it's going to be Apple. I think the genuine cult following that the company has for its gadgets surpasses anything like those other companies. Will love to see where this all ends up in a year's time.
Or looking at history it won't succeed because this isn't what gamers want. We want REAL consoles with real games. I don't need another device I can play Candy Crush on, that so called game is boring and claims to be original when it just stole everything from other games. Sorry apple, you clearly don't understand the gaming industry as much as the fools who made Ouya did.
People will only lap this up from media hype and the huge advertising they do. My phone already does the microcontroller crap and ps360x already is cheap enough to have a quality system. Alk this would be is another example of mindless consumers.