As you might have read, Oculus has announced that it is stopping support for the Oculus Go. Although they keep on maintaining the system software until the end of 2022, they wont accept any app updates after December 18th of this year.
Of course we knew the Oculus Go would eventually be phased out, we did not see it would be this sudden. The Go has been a Virtual Reality headset that has put VR on the map, most definitely in the business context.
Let us be clear, we are not a big fan of this move. Although we do see that VR technology is evolving, especially pushed by the consumer gaming market, using VR for business is something else. The Go in combination with interactive 360˚ video content is for many businesses a great way of learning new skills or knowledge. The Go has been a very simple and easy-to-use device for employees to use for immersive training. Simply pick it up and start playing. It is light weight and easy to set-up.
It makes sense that with 3D animated content headsets are moving towards 6-degrees-of-freedom (6 DOF). The same will happen with 360˚ video where technologies such as Light Field will bring even more immersion to video. As clients tell us, using 360˚ video for interactive and story-based learning experiences feels immersive, often emotional and therefore very close to reality. Content that is mostly made for 3-degrees-of-freedom (3 DOF) devices is seen as very valuable and provides businesses with tools to train their staff in ways never been possible before.
At Warp we see this potential and keep building products to create and share these powerful immersive learning experiences. We have seen so many great learning experiences made by our clients and our Warp Experts. And we know that there is still a lot more to come.
So, where does the sunset of the Oculus Go leave us? At Warp, we believe in developing tools for a wide audience. All professionals should be able to experience those immersive training scenarios they have access to. Therefore we have, alongside mobile VR headsets, always supported playing on smartphone or tablet on iOS or Android. We are platform agnostic. Next to iOS and Android, we support the Oculus Quest and are currently finalizing our support for the Pico ecosystem.
Next to Pico we will keep on looking for new platforms to support, if they fit our mission to bring highly realistic, immersive and story-based learning to all professionals.
Many of our clients have purchased the Oculus Go for their employees. If you are one of them, there is no need to worry. At Warp, we will continue to support our app and therefore your content for the Oculus Go.
Since Oculus decided to not continue supporting app updates, we will look into different methods of getting app updates for the Warp VR app to your devices. At the moment delivering these updates through a service called SideQuest, seems to be most likely.
What if you are looking for a VR headset to use for your immersive learning experiences, which one should you buy? That depends what you are looking for.
In case you would like to use the VR headset purely for the Warp VR app, at the moment we would advice to buy the Pico G2 4K (32 Gb) or Pico G2 4K S (128 Gb). Looking for a device that could also play 6 DOF content next to the Warp VR app, you would be best of with an Oculus Quest or Pico Neo 2.
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