Inconsistency is the silent killer of the VR industry, but the Vision Pro may save it

And given the webspace that you’ve stumbled on to, I’m willing to wager that at least one of the following things is true about you:

• You’ve got a phone
• You want a phone

And that’s great! Because regardless of circumstance, the key takeaway here is that you’ve used a phone before. It could’ve been an iPhone 15 Pro Max, or a Galaxy S23 Ultra or even a Pixel 7a: different phones, different brands…

But they are all modern phones. And when I say that, I mean something quite specific that I’m sure that most of you can instantly understand, without me even having to bring it up. Something like this:

• A candybar form factor with a screen
• Probably has battery issues
• Questionable camera performance under low light
• Insanely powerful and tiny CPU that can magic up Fortnite for you
  ○ Not if you’re on Apple’s side, sorry
• It has an app store that you get apps from
• You probably believe that it’s listening to you and using those recordings to optimize a third party’s marketing strategies, geared towards abusing your anonymous buyer’s profile for the ultimate goal of making a profit

And it doesn’t matter if all of that is true! It matters that most of you are getting at least one of these vibes whenever I say the word “smartphone” in 2023.

But you know what’s nothing like that? VR headsets. And I think that this specific form of inconsistency will be the death of the XR industry, if leaders such as Meta don’t do something about it, lest our precious Quest 3 becomes the last of its kind.

PART I: OH, THE HUMANITY 

(no fries with that)

Hey, do you know who uses products a lot? That’s right: humans. Well, some products are made for pets, such as dog leashes or cat food, but can you guess who buys that? Because it’s not your friendly-household-AI-robot (yet): it’s humans, again.

Hence, all of those huge marketing budgets are being funneled in one core direction: you! Because, after all, you need to be nudged in the right wanted correct best possible direction.

But you know what sucks? Spending the cash to get the thing and then it feeling like it was made for someone else. Maybe even another species, if you’re lucky enough!

Best example I can ever think of: have you ever had one of those burgers that’s so insanely stacked that you can’t possibly take a bite out of it, so you end up disassembling the whole thing just so you can be capable of consuming it, while wondering why you paid for the assembly part to begin with?

Well, the VR industry is sort of like that right now, but instead of badly designed burgers, we get inconsistent headsets. Hear me out!

The majority of headset manufacturers — and even software developers! — aren’t placing humans first. And phones? Yes, those are selling like hotcakes, because when you buy one, you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into and that’s a good thing.

And when you buy a headset? Well, in the case of the Quest Pro, you’ll be happy if you manage to pair it first go. In the case of the Pimax Crystal, you’d be lucky if it even turns on. Some have cables, others don’t; most run Android, none have Fortnite. Ugh!

And I thought Apple was the only brand that had beef with Epic Games! What’s going on here? I just want to ensure that I’m getting proper interest on my V-bucks investments through my real-life triple-digit tech investment!

 

PART II: THE EXAMPLES

(aka nitpicking)

The core question here is: is Meta making headsets through robots for robots and consciously or unconsciously trying to turn you into a robot in the process, or are we still that young in the industry that all of this is just “a few honest mistakes tee-hee”?

Anyway, do you remember Android? Like the first version? Or like, Android 6? Don’t look it up to verify, but I’m willing to bet that you remember it having a PlayStore with apps and games, and menus with toggles. And the same can be said for iOS on the very first iPhone.

From those phones on out, if you wanted to play a game, you’d have to do this:

1. Open the respective OS app marketplace
2. Log in to your account or create one if you had none
3. Search or browse for the game in question
4. Click “Install” or “Get”, or “Download”
5. Get a warning that WiFi is not turned on
6. Turn WiFi on
7. Drink some coffee while waiting for the game to download
8. Tap the game
9. Play the game

Now, I’ve overcomplicated that a bit for the sake of comedy. But you know what I won’t be doing that with? The following summary of considerations that you need to experience in order to figure out if you can play Gran Turismo 7 in VR:

So, if you want to play Gran Turismo 7 in VR on PlayStation, you need to own a PS VR 2, because the VR mode won’t work for the PS VR (1). Also, you need to own a PlayStation 5, because the VR mode is a free update exclusive to that system, even though the game is available for both generations of hardware, just like both PS VR headset models are compatible with both the PS4 and PS5.

And, remember, kids: consoles are easy! They aren’t like those complicated PC things. Right?

Right?...

And this is just one of my favorite examples, due to how complicated it is in concept, but almost no brand is safe from atrocities like this. Meta? Oh, you bet. So you know how the Quest 3 launched recently and now all of us love it, right?

At the time of writing, this is still the most powerful consumer-oriented and commercially available XR headset on the market. As such, a ton of game devs have been pushing special updates that enhance the visuals on their games when running on the Quest 3’s standalone mode. Neat!

But let’s talk about how these updates work. Thanks to Meta’s wonderful decision to not fix its app store, everyone gets the update. But not everyone can take advantage of it. Here’s what I mean:

Better graphics means more particles and higher resolutions means bigger texture files, sometimes increasing the game’s size by gigabytes or even multiples of those. But since the Quest store doesn’t allow devs to deliver us model-specific versions of apps…

Everyone gets the bigger download, but only Quest 3 owners get to enjoy the better graphics.

This is just one example. I can also bring up the setup process for Quest headsets and how it’s a nightmare, but I’ve already talked about it at length here.

But since I’ve mentioned the Pimax Crystal too, let me say something about it as well: it took me three days to go through all possible documentation and every single online guide just to attempt to power the thing on.

Then I had to reach out to the community and to support, with no one being able to help me figure things out. Ultimately, it turned out that my specific unit has some sort of software bug related to charging, which could be fixed but only after I turn it on to get an update.

The issue? I couldn’t power it on. Through sorcery, I managed the task, but the headset would not connect to my PC, no matter what. But hey, now at least I can confirm that the Crystal’s displays are phenomenal! Too bad that the setup process wasn’t worth it.

So, okay, I’m dumb and my dumbnessness made me waste time on a headset that’s more expensive and smart than me. Boo-hoo, right?

Well, it isn’t really as simple as that, because while I was browsing community-created threads, I found countless of examples of other users, who were experiencing issues, seemingly unique to them and their own Pimax Crystal headset.

If that isn't an inconsistency, I don’t know what is. And it’s also a design that doesn’t put humans first. When you’re making a product — which is what VR headsets are — that is meant to be used by humans, you need to not only make it human-proof, but logical to humans as well.

And you know what? For the high asking prices that some of these headsets come with, us humans can absolutely expect that to be the case!

So… The core question here is: is Meta and everyone else making headsets through robots for robots and consciously or unconsciously trying to turn you into a robot in the process, or are we still that young in the industry that all of this is just “a few honest mistakes tee-hee”, but “money now please”? Food for thought.

PART III: VR IS GATEKEEPING ITSELF FROM US

(and that’s kind of lmao)

Have you ever sat down to carefully consider the reason why iOS and Android have ways in which they are similar? It’s not just about having a store for apps or a dropdown menu with on/off toggles or an all-encompassing account.

It’s about the logic flow of the entire thing.

Picture this: you’ve been using iPhones for years and decide to get a breath of fresh air and get an Android phone for a change. And you boot it up, but instead of the usual and expected setup process, you get a biometric reading request. After placing your thumb on the screen, the phone uses the DNA it found through the sweat on your finger to generate the best possible phone experience for you, specifically.

And you unlock your phone, and you see it: Fortnite, sitting there. Now you not only have the option, but you are bound to the obligation of amassing a V-bucks empire, because the phone doesn’t think that you’ll enjoy any other games.

But all of that would suck, because it is weird and strange, and seemingly untrustworthy and it removes all semblance of choice, which is unfun to say the least.

You may think that this isn’t possibly any sort of experience that you can have an encounter with in the consumer-grade world, but let me tell you: swapping headset brands is exactly like that.

Here’s what I mean:

• Some headsets have a standalone mode, others don’t
• Some play nice with PCs, others make your entire library of PC VR games void
• Some want a USB-C connection to PC, others want a display port, others want HDMI and almost none will allow you to change that requirement
• All headset brands want their own app
• Meta is calling its headsets Quest, but its apps are called Oculus
• The fact that the PC app’s version, compatible with the Quest Pro is actually the version of the app labeled as “Quest 2” on Meta’s website
• Some apps are for your phone, others for your PC, others have both on offer, but only one of them works
• Pico outright has two versions of its PC app and one of them just plain doesn’t work at all
• Meta offers AirLink as a free wireless PC linking solution, but most people use Virtual Desktop, which is a premium third-party solution and that should make all of us go HMMMM
• I have to buy Beat Saber separately on the Pico 4 and on the Quest 2, despite both of them effectively running off Android
• Google outright refusing to work to bring PlayStore games on VR headsets, despite the fact that most run on Android
• The fact that I need to own multiple versions of the same game for each platform

Cherry on top? 85% Of this isn’t clear out of the box. As soon as you get that headset home and something doesn’t go according to plan during setup, you’re suddenly faced with this overwhelming huge wall of knowledge that you need to overcome before you can even begin to enjoy your purchase.

And I’m not seeing any manufacturers that are looking to fix this. Which, in turn, means that if you want to get into VR, you have a ton of requirements to cover, with some skill-based ones thrown into the mix.

So just to be able to consider getting a VR headset, you must:

• Not be the type of person that gets nauseous easily
• Eyesight disabilities? Yeah, you better not have some of those
• Own a living space with at least one spacious room
• Oh, and, obviously have the funds to buy the headset
• Actually, add some more on top for extra almost-mandatory accessories
• Now find the time to read all about your purchase. Like setting up a board game! Isn’t technology fun?
• Make sure to have the skills required to find information online!
• … Combined with the required tech background so that you can understand said information too!
• Possibly own a PC so you can play PC VR games too
• Oh, that’s a separate purchase, sorry. But hey, at least it’s not mandatory!

And if you think that this is a rational amount of check marks required just to start considering if you’d buy a product, then I’m certainly going to vote for you during your next campaign.

Oh, and by the way, when I say “information online”, I don’t mean going to first-party websites. I’m talking about online communities such as Reddit, where a single bad actor can ensure that your headset’s warranty becomes void, so long as they decide to do so just for fun.

And phones, on the other hand? Those just work. They just work! You get an iPhone, turn it on, go through a form and you’re done! Same with an Android phone. And on the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got Meta, waiting for you with its equivalent of the entire paperwork required to join the European Union, delivered to you without the nifty trolley cart no less!

Don’t get me wrong! VR is awesome and everyone should at least try it. I honestly believe that most people would love it and manufacturers have made strides in recent to make things a bit easier.

But the problem is that we still can’t compare the experience of getting a VR headset to that of getting a new phone. And I’m using phones as my comparison point, because they’ve almost become commonplace nowadays.

And I honestly think that that was made possible all because Steve Jobs sat down to consider how to place humans first when drafting the first iPhone. Sure, Zuck’s one smart pea, but he’s also the star of a slew of memes about reptilians, so make of that what you will.

But I’ve made my point: VR needs to put humans first. And until I’m confident that my grandma can go out there with the clear intention of buying a Quest headset and then proceed to set it up completely on her own, I’ll hold off on saying that the XR industry has gotten there.

But who knows? Maybe thanks to Apple and the Vision Pro, that may happen sooner rather than later.