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Although Meta is reducing its support for the Oculus Quest, your copy of Quest 2 is currently secure

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the release of the first Oculus Quest virtual reality headset, but instead of celebrating this milestone, Meta appears to be slowly phasing down support for the device.

Meta informed Oculus Quest users through email that the company will be withdrawing some of its support for the device. There will be no more updates for the headset, users of the Quest 1 will be unable to host or attend parties, and as of March5,2023, you will no longer have access to the social elements of Meta Horizon Home.

You may still use your headset with compatible games, and Meta promises to provide important bug updates and security upgrades to the Quest 1’s software until 2024, but the headset’s features are being reduced.

Many fans have expressed their displeasure with the news on social media sites like Reddit, but this day has been a long time coming. Since the release of the Oculus Quest 2 in2020, you haven’t been able to buy a brand-new standalone headset like Meta’s. Additionally, the business has developed a number of unique experiences (including some of the top VR games) for their newest technology, including examples such as Resident Evil 4 VR.

There aren’t many good arguments for continuing to use the original Quest now that the Meta Quest Pro is on the market and the Oculus Quest 3 is slated to be released this year. Nonetheless, this probably won’t ease the pain for the die-hard Quest fans who are still in love with their VR headset.

For the Oculus Quest2, what does this mean?

This is bad news for Quest 1 customers, but it may leave some Quest 2 owners wondering whether their headsets will only be supported for a shorter period of time. After all, the Quest 2 is just 18 months younger than the Quest 1.

While the Quest 2 is clearly a powerful headset, many of its successors provide something the Quest 2 does not: full-color passthrough. Devices such as the future HTC Vive XR are still releasing with the same Snapdragon XR2 processor in them. Incorporating this function into headsets makes it possible to create more immersive and compelling mixed-reality experiences, which combine real and virtual components in the same setting.

If mixed reality takes off and Meta decides to shift its concentration there, the Quest 2 would likely suffer a similar decline in support to that of the Quest 1 if it is forced to choose between the two.

However, The Quest 2 offers a number of advantages, the largest of which is undoubtedly its large user base.

In April 2021, Meta (formerly Facebook) announced that the Quest 2 has outsold all previous Oculus headsets in just the first five months of availability. Since then, sales have been strong; forecasts for 2021 predict that Meta will ship 8.7 million headsets, nearly double the amount of VR headsets sold in 2020 across all brands. Also, by July 2022, it was reported that Meta had sold about 15 million Quest 2s since launch, while Sony was predicted to have sold 20 million PS5s.

Therefore, more individuals than were dissatisfied by the Quest 1 will be outraged by Meta’s decision to sunset the Quest 2. The Quest 2’s end of life might be postponed if the Quest 3 doesn’t have the same large adoption figures as the Quest 2, which means it won’t totally replace its predecessor for some time.

Given this, we think carefully before purchasing a Quest 2. It’s the best cheap option if you’re itching to try virtual reality, but unless you get a discount like the one we saw on Black Friday 2022, you might want to wait for the Quest 3 to come out. It is important that its components be improved, and that it has a longer period of support.