Why, as a VR expert, I’m hoping for something bigger than just VR glasses next week

A cheaper version of the Quest 3 is likely to be in the spotlight at Meta Connect this year. But my hope lies in another announcement.

The end of September means two things to me: Firstly, Green Day is playing more and more on the radio again. Secondly, Meta is presenting new products at its Connect in-house exhibition. For the tenth time we will be able to see new things from the areas of VR, AR and MR.

What is almost certain: The Meta Quest 3s replaces the million-seller Quest 2 as a cheap alternative. However, it is still uncertain whether we will be able to catch a glimpse of Quest 4. In any case, there will be a lot to see about Meta Horizon, even if Meta’s social app seems rather monotonous so far

Dennis Ziesecke writes as a freelance author for GameStar. He has been a proven virtual reality expert for four years, as his house is home to pretty much every VR headset that has ever been released, from the Oculus Quest to the Valve Index. Dennis is also the founder of VR-Legion.de and podcasts on Reality Flight – The Zockstube’s XR podcast about virtual reality.

Although I’ve been a dedicated fan of virtual reality since the Oculus Rift DK1, I’m only very peripherally interested in new VR hardware this year. The quality of a Quest 3 or Pico 4 Ultra is currently enough for me to have fun. I find the developments in the area of ​​augmented reality (AR) more exciting.

The Quest Pro 2 is leaving, augmented reality is coming

AR had its first brief hype this year. The reason for this was the release of the Apple Vision Pro – although strictly speaking it doesn’t offer AR at all, only mixed reality. Shortly afterwards, the hype was gone again after users became aware of the limitations of the bulky debut helmet.

For me, AR is still more exciting than ever, just because of the potential. While I put the VR headset on my head to play for an hour or two in the evening, AR should visually change the environment and ideally continuously.

You can’t really imagine AR and MR yet? This picture might help…

So it’s much more important to have a small form factor with good performance and runtime at the same time. This is not that easy to implement, as Microsoft (Hololens), Google (Glass) and Xreal (Light), among others, have already discovered.

A project like this has to be given a correspondingly high priority in order for it to become something at all – probably one of the reasons why Meta has decided to release a new Pro model.

The Meta Quest Pro 2 also had to die because its price of over 1,000 US dollars would have been too high – for a VR headset that would probably be too similar to a Quest 4. The rather cautious reactions to Apple’s Vision Pro among users certainly also played a role.

Instead, under the name Puffin, Meta is now developing an AR headset that is significantly lighter at just over 100 grams and is more reminiscent of chunky sunglasses than mutated ski goggles.

And here’s my big hope: We could see something official about the Puffin project for the first time at this year’s Meta Connect – even if there probably won’t be any pre-orders yet. Puffin should not be ready for the market until 2027 at the earliest and there is still a high risk here too, after all, such projects can be discontinued at any time.

The smart glasses from Meta and Ray Ban are not full-fledged AR products – they lack a display.

I would at least like a first look at the AR project. The collaboration with Ray Ban results in stylish glasses with a few special functions, but my mind, which has been spoiled by decades of sci-fi consumption, demands much more.

Colleague Benjamin is also quite happy with the smart glasses from Ray Ban and Meta:

The Light AR glasses from Xreal in particular demonstrate this in part: they already come in the correct form factor sunglasses. However, there is still a problem with the fiddly operation. The Light AR glasses also have to make a compromise that the Puffin cannot avoid.

AR is not yet fully developed, but has a lot of potential

What do I mean? The electronics and battery are forced into an external unit connected by cable. That’s a bit annoying – but it still takes a while until the components are small enough to fit in the bracket.

In contrast to Xreal, Meta no longer has to reinvent the wheel, at least when it comes to software. Current Meta-Quest headsets already offer good finger detection and, thanks to increasing mixed reality functions, give developers important experience in developing AR software and controls.

Mixed reality like here in Assassin’s Creed: Nexus can simulate a little AR, but it’s not more than a small glimpse into the potential future due to the form factor of the quest.

So far I haven’t been able to try out any really convincing AR hardware. Apart from the unsightly form factor, MR, like the Vision Pro and Quest, comes at least remotely close to what I want – and yet remains a compromise that I don’t want to accept forever.

What would be a good start: narrow glasses with the option to show me videos on bus rides and navigation aids while cycling, on windows that move with me instead of sticking to the room.

This is still a distant dream; in the coming years, the industry will have to do a lot of miniaturization and research. But if a company has a good chance based on its experience with existing hardware and software, then it is Meta. A One more thing at Meta Connect would underline exactly that.

If you don’t want to watch Connect alone but with someone accompanied: I moderate a live show for the meta event on Die Zockstube’s YouTube channelchannel boss Patrick is there on location in the USA.