The news quickly aroused widespread attention and discussion. HTC may no longer be the smartphone overlord of the past, but it is at least the pioneer of VR headsets. At one time, it could even be said to be the leader of the VR market.

Of course, HTC soon issued a stern statement denying rumors of withdrawing from the VR market in 2026. In the statement, HTC also said that VR virtual reality, AR augmented reality and AI artificial intelligence technology will be the three pillars of future technology. “These technologies will not only combine with human nature, but also release human beings’ infinite imagination, thus completely changing our world.” world.”

In short: the market potential is so huge that HTC will never give up.

However, CCS Insight’s predictions may not be reliable, and HTC’s solemn statement is not very convincing.

Some people may still remember that at the end of 2016, it was reported that HTC was about to sell its smartphone business. The official “stern statement denied” the same. However, in September 2017, HTC still officially announced that about 2,000 members would participate in the production of Pixel mobile phones. And the licensed patents were sold to Google – which basically hollowed out HTC’s mobile phone department.

Will history repeat itself?
The old and new forces are reshuffled, and HTC is gradually on the edge

Rumors that HTC will withdraw from the VR market can trigger discussions. The reality is that HTC’s VR business has developed slowly in recent years, and many people have not even heard about HTC Vive for several years. It was not until the CES show earlier this year that HTC launched its first wireless all-in-one head display: HTC Vive XR Elite.

Vive XR Elite, photo/HTC

But in the past two or three years, the AR/VR market has undergone a lot of changes

Meta’s bet on wireless all-in-one VR headsets has finally come to fruition. Quest 2 has detonated the VR headset market globally, achieving sales of tens of millions of VR headsets for the first time. It is also of great significance to Meta. . According to official disclosures, of the nearly 20 million units sold in the Quest series, Quest 2 has sold more than 18 million units.

At the end of last year, AR glasses brand Xreal (formerly Nreal) announced that the 100,000th unit of AR glasses had rolled off the production line, achieving the world’s first mass production of consumer-grade AR hardware exceeding 100,000 units.

Not to mention that the release of Apple’s Vision Pro this year has attracted the attention of all companies and practitioners, including Vision Pro’s potential competitors. As Xu Chi, founder and CEO of XREAL, said: “For the domestic VR/AR industry, This year is an exciting year. The emergence of Apple’s MR headset has allowed the entire industry to see the future development direction.”

Perhaps as HTC said, the three major technologies of VR, AR and AI will become the pillars of future technology, but the question is, can HTC occupy a place in this new wave of computing? This is the core.

You must know that a few years ago, HTC was still a pioneer and leader in the VR market, not only in terms of products and market share, but also launched a large number of ecological cultivation programs from a high position to support start-up companies in various VR industry chains.

However, many things have finally changed.
From smartphones to VR, HTC wants to seize the new wave of computing

2015 is a critical year for HTC

This year, HTC founder and chairman Wang Xuehong stepped onto the stage as concurrently CEO and took the helm of HTC. Former CEO Zhou Yongming switched to a research and development position. At the same time, HTC also began to officially bet on VR, and jointly released the first-generation VR headset-HTC Vive with Valve (the parent company of Steam).

In April of the following year, HTC held the VR China Strategy and Ecosystem Conference in Beijing. According to the memories of participants, the conference hall was packed with people at that time, and many people had to stand to listen to the entire meeting. Not only that, HTC has also launched a support project for global VR entrepreneurial teams, the Vive X Accelerator Program.

In the past, as a pure hardware manufacturer, HTC had basically no experience in ecological development. However, the Vive X accelerator program has launched three phases, investing in more than 90 start-up teams in Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei, and Los Angeles.

In addition, HTC has reached an in-depth cooperation with iQiyi to promote the implementation of iQiyi’s 4K ultra-high-definition VR videos on the Vive platform; it has also reached an exclusive cooperation with Warner Bros. to produce related VR content for the hit movie “Ready Player One”; and NetEase Games has reached a cooperation to launch the VR game “Dragon Caller of Dawn”.

Behind HTC’s all-out bet on VR, it is not only its own determination, but also catching up with a good time, because in the second year, Samsung, Google, Xiaomi, Huawei, Pico… Domestic and foreign technology giants and startups have launched Entering this blue ocean, mergers and acquisitions and investments in the field of VR are happening one after another, and a wave of VR fever is sweeping the world.

Xiaomi press conference, photo / Xiaomi

At that time, everyone from the media, investors to manufacturers were talking about the “first year of VR.” HTC China general manager Wang Congqing even optimistically predicted that VR device sales would surpass mobile phones in four years, with a future market value of more than $110 billion.

We all know the rest of the story. The VR industry soon experienced a new round of cold wave. The generally high cost and selling price of VR equipment, the immaturity of VR-related technologies, and the continued expansion of smartphones have all made VR manufacturers Faced with the dilemma of not being able to sell products.

Even though HTC Vive occupied the first place in JD.com’s VR sales during the 2017 Double 11 Shopping Festival, according to industry research company TrendForce’s calculations, total HTC Vive shipments in 2017 only reached 500,000 units. scale. In 2018, this number continued to decline to 230,000 units.

Will HTC Vive still be around in 3 years?

To answer this question, we must first go back to the premise of CCS Insight’s prediction that HTC will withdraw from the VR market – market uncertainty. There are two meanings here. One is whether the VR market will experience a downturn after the MR craze triggered by Apple’s Vision Pro; the other is whether HTC Vive will be further marginalized in the next three years.

The actual situation may be very pessimistic

In terms of products, the HTC Vive product line is basically positioned as high-end. The first-generation Vive is priced at US$800 and the latest Vive XR Elite is priced at US$1,099, which is between the Quest series and Vision Pro. , similar to the previous Quest Pro.

Vive XR Elite, photo/HTC

However, at this price point, if head display manufacturers want to persuade consumers to buy, they need to provide a strong driving force. The problem is that the failure of Quest Pro comes first. HTC has difficult to say advantages in hardware configuration, chips, algorithms, and funds. How to subvert the existing market perception?

Of course, Apple Vision Pro’s price of $3,400 also needs stronger reasons to convince consumers, but at least Apple has provided disruptive displays, interactions and ideas through the integration of self-developed chips and software and hardware. “Spatial Video “Immersive ultra-clear viewing” and Apple’s appeal to developers at least have a certain degree of confidence.

Moreover, HTC has missed the early dividends of wireless all-in-one VR headsets. A wider range of new generation consumer VR headset users trust Quets, PS VR and Pico. HTC Vive’s market appeal has long been sluggish.

Frankly speaking, under such a background, it is difficult to be optimistic about whether HTC can still make a comeback.

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According to Meta’s official website, in Eurozone countries, including Germany, France and Italy, the price of the basic model of Quest 3 with 128GB storage capacity has dropped from 569.99 euros to 549.99 euros , a decrease of approximately 20 euros, the UK price has also been reduced from 499.99 pounds to 479.99 pounds. There may be changes in other countries as well, but this is not yet certain.

There’s no change to the price of the Quest 3 in the United States, with the official website still showing the price announced in June: $499.99. Prices for higher storage capacity models have not yet been announced.

Meta Quest 3 will be the most expensive consumer Quest headset yet, with both the first and second generation Oculus Quest being slightly cheaper at launch. The Quest 2 ($299.99) and Quest Pro ($999.99) will continue to be available after the Quest 3 becomes available.

Quest 3 will have twice the processing power of its predecessor, a thinner and lighter profile, a higher-resolution display, pancake lenses, and support for color perspective.

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Meta says the child account created remains under parental control, allowing them to control which games and apps they download from the app store and to restrict their continued use of their account at any time.

Meta also makes it clear that it won’t push ads to kids’ accounts, but will recommend some age-appropriate apps.

Meta says Horizon Worlds will not be open to pre-pubescent kids, which is still 13+ in the U.S. and Canada; 18+ in Europe.

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Here is the translation:

ByteDance has been competing with Meta’s Instagram and Facebook services for users and advertising revenue as the popularity of its short-form video app TikTok has soared. The rivalry between the two companies intensified two years ago when Bytedance acquired Pico, a start-up that makes virtual reality headsets.

Pico’s shipments of headsets followed suit, industry data showed. Although Pico does not sell consumer-grade VR headsets in the US market, it has become the second-largest VR headset maker in the world after Meta in terms of market size, but with stronger growth momentum.

In 2021, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook’s name to Meta, in part to highlight his focus on the Metaverse business.

As a more immersive internet, the Metaverse is primarily realized through virtual reality headsets. Meta has also been investing heavily in the metaverse concept. In the company’s most recent quarterly earnings report, Meta said that while sales of the Quest 2 headsets led to a 17% drop in overall Meta Reality Labs segment revenue for the quarter, there are more than 200 apps on its virtual reality platform. Sales exceeded $1 million.

About a year ago, Meta’s virtual reality headsets held 90% of the market, but that has dropped to around 75% by the third quarter of 2020, according to market research firm IDC. During the same period, Pico’s market share more than tripled to around 15%. Apart from these two companies, no other VR headset maker has more than 3% market share.

The virtual reality headset market is worth $4 billion by 2022. According to IDC, Meta’s shipments of virtual reality headsets in the third quarter of last year fell 48% year-on-year, and ByteDance’s Pico was the only manufacturer of similar products that increased its shipments.

A Meta spokesperson said: “We’re excited that consumers have more ways to experience virtual reality, which helps drive an ecosystem that encourages developers to create more great content.”

Pico is currently launching consumer-grade VR headsets in European and Asian markets. Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC, said the Pico was able to attract more consumers in these markets in part because Meta raised the price of the Quest line by $100 last year. After the price adjustment, Meta’s Quest 2 device is priced at $399, while Pico’s flagship consumer-facing product retails for around $450. He said Pico has entered some overseas markets that Meta equipment has not yet entered.

Pico’s latest consumer device, the Pico 4, was released last October to rave reviews from the industry. But the latest figures don’t reflect Pico 4 sales. “If anything, you’ll see their momentum pick up in the fourth quarter,” Ubrani added. Last October, Meta also released a new product for professionals, the Quest Pro, which retails for $1,500.

Competition in the virtual reality headset market is getting fiercer. Apple is expected to launch an augmented reality headset later this year, and Microsoft is also launching a mixed reality headset called HoloLens aimed at businesses. According to IDC, the related headset market is expected to be a $16 billion industry by 2026.

“The space is going to be crowded with competitors,” said Rolf Illenberger, chief executive of virtual reality software company VRdirect.

A rich set of apps is critical to the appeal of an augmented reality platform, and Pico is still in the early stages of expanding its offering. There are currently about 250 apps in Pico’s app store, and more than 400 for the Quest line of products. When Pico released Pico 4 last fall, it launched a social gathering and virtual world app called Light World, similar to Meta’s Horizon Worlds.

Sonam Mobbs, 40, an IT support worker in Northampton, England, got his hands on the Meta Quest 2 the day it launched and plays games on it every day. On the first day the Pico 4 came out, Moebus bought the new device.

“When you switch between the two, the biggest difference I notice is the sharpness,” he said. “The lens on the Pico 4 is better.” He also said the Pico 4 is more comfortable to use.

Moebus said he spends at least five hours a week playing virtual reality games. After three weeks with the Pico device, he sold his Quest 2 on eBay.

According to Pico’s website, the company was founded in 2015 and initially focused on enterprise-grade headsets. After being acquired by ByteDance, Pico announced in May 2022 that it will start selling consumer-grade devices in European and Asian markets.

Glenn Kachmar, 55, lives in Vancouver, Canada, and teaches virtual reality courses. He said he only heard about Pico last year and had been using Meta’s Quest 2 before. Kachmar ordered a Pico device from Spain.

Kahmar said the Pico is “a better device in many ways,” noting that the Pico device has a higher-resolution screen and is more comfortable to wear, but he has been reluctant to give up his Quest 2. Kahmar said that he can access more games through the Quest device, and the games he has already purchased cannot be carried over to the Pico device.

“I really don’t want to waste a lot of money on an app that I already bought,” Kahmar said.

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The notice sent by Meta to users via email shows that the company will stop providing new features for Quest 1, and most of the original features will continue to work normally, but users will not be able to “create or join parties” in the future, and “can currently access Meta Users of Horizon Home social services will lose these features on March 5, 2023.” Meta also said that Quest 1 will receive “significant bug fixes and security patches” until 2024.

The original Quest, released in 2019 under the Oculus brand, was the predecessor to the Quest 2 virtual reality headset, which was released in 2020. The feature updates for both devices have been largely the same over the years, with only fundamentally different hardware configurations.

Quest 2 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip inside. The chip, released in 2020, is designed for use in augmented reality and virtual reality devices. In contrast, the original Quest used Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset, which was released in 2017, and used the Kryo 280 core. It is speculated that Meta stopped the feature update of the first generation of Quest this time. It may have encountered trouble in developing new features that match the hardware equipment, or it may be due to budget constraints and layoffs that the company does not want to continue to spend money on old hardware. It’s also possible that Qualcomm stopped supporting feature development for older chips.

Last month, well-known programmer and Oculus executive John Carmack announced his departure from Meta. Before that, he had been sharply critical of the company’s underutilization of hardware.

While this move will disappoint Quest 1 owners, there are already signs that Meta will stop updating the device’s features. Last year, Meta took some steps to prevent the virtual reality chicken game Population: One from running on Quest 1.

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Razer adjustable headband system

The first is the “Razer Adjustable Headband System”. Razer officially stated that in order to expand VR gameplay and improve comfort, Razer cooperated with ResMed, an expert in the field of human body research, to create an adjustable headband system for Meta Quest 2. , designed to bring players a long-lasting and comfortable gaming experience.

Razer’s adjustable headband system claims to be designed for long-lasting comfort and weight balance and is suitable for all head shapes. Highlights include:

Constructed of high-performance nylon for comfort and durability

Optimized weight distribution for player comfort and weight balance during intense gaming sessions

Soft adjustable straps for easy adjustment to the right size

The design of the quick hedging can also bring the player back to the game as soon as possible to obtain the ideal gaming experience

razer mask

Razer’s second VR peripheral is the “Razer Mask”. According to the official statement, the Razer Mask is designed and developed for greater comfort and has the following highlights:

Features an ultra-thin textured and contoured membrane that eliminates pressure on the face

Use medical-grade hypoallergenic materials to reduce skin irritation

Breathable shading design brings players a better sense of immersion and comfort

Seamless surface, more hygienic and easier to clean and maintain

Razer promised that two VR headset peripherals will be available later this quarter, but no pricing information was announced.

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Today Meta announced that it has increased the GPU computing power of the Quest 2 headset with today’s software update. Going forward, developers will be able to take advantage of the new 525MHz GPU frequency, which is a 7% increase over the previous 490MHz.

Best of all, developers don’t have to add any extra code to their projects to take advantage of this performance boost, as Quest 2’s dynamic clocking system automatically increases the GPU’s frequency when needed. Additionally, Meta says that dynamic foveation will be able to work with the new increased power by prioritizing graphics quality before starting foveation.

I don’t know how much this new change will affect the performance of existing and upcoming apps, but oddly, for now to be able to take advantage of the extra power, users will need to launch the app, then remove the Quest 2 headset, and then Wear it to activate extra power. However, the company said that with the upcoming V49 update, the above strange steps will no longer be necessary.

Meta did not disclose whether this update will reduce battery life, Quest 2 is now in the last year of its three-year life, Quest 3 will be launched later next year, and its new chipset can provide at least twice the battery life GPU performance.

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Meta published an official blog post stating that the company’s virtual reality headset “Meta Quest 2” will be available in retail stores in Germany before Christmas. Consumers will not be required to provide a Facebook account (Meta’s main social media platform) to purchase the hardware.

Previously, the German government’s antitrust agency, the Federal Cartel Office, and Meta reached an agreement to allow users of virtual reality hardware to log in using a separate account from the Facebook platform. Last month, the Federal Cartel Office announced that it had granted Meta another approval to sell virtual reality headsets in Germany.

In 2020, the German Supreme Court upheld allegations by the government’s antitrust authorities that Facebook (Meta’s old name) was abusing its dominant market position by requiring users to log in to virtual reality devices using accounts on its own platform. Subsequently, Facebook stopped selling these products in Germany.

Shortly thereafter, Andreas Mundt, director of the German Federal Cartel Office, said in a statement that after negotiations between the two parties, Facebook had responded to the German government’s concerns and, as a solution to the antitrust issue, the company agreed to give users of Quest virtual reality devices another option, namely to create a separate account outside of the Facebook platform The company has agreed to give users of Quest virtual reality devices the option of creating a separate account outside of the Facebook platform.

While the issue of user accounts has been resolved, in a November statement, the Federal Cartel Office also said that they were concerned about another antitrust issue involving Meta, namely whether and how user data is exchanged between Meta’s different Internet services.

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The VR headset device is aimed at creative people such as architects and architects, bringing their office scenes into the meta-universe. Last year, Meta released a Beta version of Meta Horizons Workrooms, creating VR spaces for team members to collaborate.

Meta Quest Pro extends existing functionality by adding more expressive avatars that more accurately portray emotions through eye tracking and face reading technology. It also adds breakout rooms, similar to those on Zoom, to create a separate room for teams in larger presentations.

Next year, individuals will also be able to join the studio with Zoom. In addition, Meta Quest Pro has improved Pancake optics with higher contrast than Meta Quest 2 to display text clearly in VR and reduce the size of the front of the headset.

Meta also added sticky notes, 3-D models (coming next year), three virtual screens and a Magic Room, a hybrid system that connects remote individuals with those actually present in the room. The Meta Quest Pro controller also features a 360-degree range of motion, including precise gestures, and provides haptic feedback, such as vibration.

In addition to this, Meta also mentions its partnership with Microsoft to bring productivity tools to the Meta Quest 2 and Pro. These tools include the integration of Microsoft Teams with Meta Quest, allowing users to share an immersive meeting experience. Individuals can access personalized apps, settings and content through Microsoft 365 on Meta Quest products.

Likewise, users can interact with 2D content such as Word and Excel documents in Meta Quest’s VR space. In addition, users can use their Meta Avatars to join Microsoft team meetings through the studio and enable security and management through Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Intune.

Meta and Microsoft will also work with Accenture to “change the way they interact with employees, interact with customers or create products and services in the Metaverse. As a result, individuals interested in joining the software vendor program to provide AR/VR/XR-related solutions can do so.

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Meta Quest TV is the VR homepage for the VR headsets Meta Quest and Meta Quest 2. Users need a Meta Quest 2 device to watch Scream Park. In August, Meta raised the price of Quest 2 from $299.99 to $399.99 due to high production costs.
Each episode will be seven minutes long and include “active playground scenes” that involve blinking lights, getting into the mouth of a creepy clown, and meandering turns and spins. Each episode is preceded by a warning that it is not suitable for photo-sensitive audiences. At launch, the first four episodes will be released. The remaining four episodes will roll out throughout the fall.

Unlike new games in Quest 2 such as Ghostbusters, Among Us, and Red Matter 2, BlackBox TV’s eight-episode series aims to provide users with non-interactive 360° VR entertainment, blending live action into a CGI world .

“The team is using VR gaming technology to build a dark, complex and relatable story in the cinematic space,” producer Tru Collins said in a statement. “The eye is a physical extension of the central nervous system, so when the visuals of 360° VR meet the emotional connection to the story, it hits the gut in a way that 2D entertainment can’t.”

The company claims that the video is “a new work from Meta,” and “to our knowledge, it is the first to incorporate live action into a CGI world (mostly the other way around), and one in the game universe. The immersive story/journey outside the 2D series feels more real than the 2D series,” BlackBox TV told TechCrunch.

“With Scream Park, we’re not trying to replicate reality in VR; we’re creating an experience you won’t find anywhere else,” said creator and director Tony E. Valenzuela.

While there are roller coaster games for Meta Quest devices, Scream Park is a narrative story video with characters acting as if speaking directly to the audience.

The Meta Quest 2 exclusive series also stars a familiar face from the hit Netflix show Stranger Things. Grace Van Dien — who played possessed cheerleader Chrissy on Stranger Things — will play Kelly Q on Stranger Things, who is trapped and needs to be rescued before the sun rises. Another live-action character in the series is American Horror Story star Zach Villa, who plays Will.

CGI characters such as robots will be voiced by Monique Colema, who starred in High School Musical. Online celebrity and singer Steve Zaragoza will voice villain Toby Terrific.

“Scream Park” is a continuation of BlackBox TV’s “Enter Scream Park,” which premiered on its YouTube channel in 2021 and currently has more than 680,660 views. The channel has 1.1 million subscribers. BlackBox TV claims that due to the success of the video, the horror/sci-fi studio decided to create a whole series for the world of Scream Park.

“We are excited to continue our Scream Park journey with the new series and thank Meta for their continued support,” added Valenzuela.

BlackBox TV specializes in VR/360° experiences and was founded by filmmaker Valenzuela. The studio has released various other series to Meta Quest such as Before Scream Park, Into Scream Park, Alan Wake in VR, The Monster Challenge, Freddy Krueger, Lights Out , Pennywise the Dancing Clown, and more.

The announcement of the 360° VR series comes ahead of Meta Connect, Meta’s annual conference on Tuesday, October 11. The meeting will include announcing “significant updates to Horizon and avatar graphics,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in his Instagram caption in response to a selfie of his avatar.

The Verge recently reported that Horizon Worlds experienced a number of performance issues, and even Meta’s employees wouldn’t use it.

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