Will Unity's splash screens get a MR makeover? Your vote could seal the deal!

Hey VR fans! You know how it is right now with VR headsets like the Meta Quest 3: one minute you're in your living room, and the next, you're stuck in a black void waiting for a game to load.

Unity — which, by the way, is a powerhouse cross-platform game engine — is considering an update that may allow for a passthrough on the splash screens for VR applications and games. However, it's not a done deal yet: it hinges on the votes of the developer community.

So, currently, when you fire up a MR app on any Unity-based program, you're greeted by not one, but two (or more) black loading screens. It's like stepping into a blackout curtain — and let's be honest, it's a bit of a mood killer — but this experience could soon be a thing of the past if Unity developers get behind the proposed update.

Meta, at its Connect 2023 event, dropped some exciting news. It’s planning to swap out that first black screen for a passthrough view in a December update.

What does that mean? Basically, you'll see your cat napping on the couch or your coffee mug on the table through your headset until your game or app is ready to roll. Pretty neat, right?



Now, let's talk about the second screen, which is all Unity. Right now, it's just a black void with the developer's logo floating around. But here's where things get interesting: Unity's thinking about adding “Splash Screen support for Quest Passthrough” to their AR/VR Roadmap. This means you could stay connected to your real world a bit longer, right up until your virtual world is primed and ready.

For all you Unity developers out there, this is your cue to jump in and tell Unity how much you want this. And for us, the users, it's all about keeping one foot in the real world until we're ready to fully dive into VR. It seems to be all about making the whole VR experience feel seamless and natural.

In my book, this isn't just a nice-to-have: it's an important feature. It's all about making VR more immersive and user-friendly. So next time you strap on your Quest 3, you might just notice that the journey into the digital world is a little less... dark.